Play Yukon Solitaire (Yukon Patience) Online for Free
What is Yukon Solitaire?
Yukon Solitaire is a no-stock patience game where any face-up card - along with every card resting on top of it - can be moved as a unit to any legal tableau column. Those cards do not need to be in sequence. This single rule separates Yukon from Klondike: instead of unlocking one card at a time you can reorganise whole sections of the board in one move.
Yukon Solitaire history
Yukon takes its name from the Yukon Territory in northern Canada and evolved from classic Klondike as players sought a harder, luck-reduced variant. Removing the stock pile and allowing non-sequential stack movement shifts outcomes almost entirely to decision quality - making Yukon one of the few solitaire games where skill genuinely dominates over deal luck.
Opening deal - what gets dealt where
All 52 cards are in the tableau from the start. No stock exists. The column structure tells you where the biggest hidden-card bottlenecks are:
| Column | Face-down | Face-up (fanned) | Total cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 4 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 5 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 7 | 6 | 5 | 11 |
How to play Yukon Solitaire
Priority move order
Apply this decision hierarchy every turn. Work top-to-bottom - only drop to a lower priority when nothing above it is available:
- Reveal a hidden card. Any move that flips a face-down card is almost always the strongest option. It generates new choices for every turn that follows.
- Prioritise the deepest column. When two moves each reveal a face-down card, prefer the column with more face-down cards remaining underneath - you want those deep columns open as fast as possible.
- Only clear a column when a useful King is waiting. An empty lane without an immediately playable King is a wasted resource. Filling it with a King that has no Queen ready wastes it too.
- Delay foundation pushes for connector cards. A 7 of Hearts on the tableau may unlock a 6. On the foundation it helps nobody. Only push when the card no longer contributes to tableau movement.
- When stuck, find chained unlocks. Move A makes move B legal, move B makes move C possible. Multi-step chains are often the only exit from locked positions.
Strategies to win Yukon Solitaire
- Hidden cards are the real objective. The foundation is the win condition, not the minute-to-minute goal. Your actual job is clearing face-down cards.
- Irreversible moves are expensive. Moving from a short column onto a long one may be permanent. Ask yourself if you can mentally undo this position before you commit.
- Preserve one flexible empty lane mid-game. An open column mid-game is worth more than a foundation advance - it lets you route around board deadlocks.
- Place Kings with purpose. A King in an empty column is only good if you have the matching Queen ready to continue the build immediately.
Yukon Solitaire rules and objective
Build four suit foundations (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣) from Ace to King. In the tableau, build down in alternating colors. Any face-up card and all cards above it can be moved together as long as the destination card is one rank higher and the opposite color. Card order within the moving stack is irrelevant.
Game setup
Seven tableau columns. Empty columns accept Kings only. No stock, no waste pile, no redeals. The complete deck is dealt across the tableau from the start.
Yukon Solitaire variants compared
| Game | Build rule | Stock | Difficulty | Win rate (skilled) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yukon | Alt. color, descending | None | Medium-hard | 20-35% |
| Russian | Same suit, descending | None | Hard | 8-20% |
| Alaska | Same suit, up or down | None | Medium-hard | 12-28% |
| Australian Patience | Same suit, descending | One pass | Medium-hard | 18-35% |
How difficult is Yukon Solitaire?
Yukon is harder than Klondike Turn 1 and easier than Russian Solitaire. The critical failure point is midgame: when two or three columns reach a state where no move reveals a hidden card and no useful King placement exists, recovery is extremely difficult. Skilled players lose approximately 65-80% of games - winning one in three to five is strong performance.
What is Yukon Solitaire win percentage?
Careful players see roughly 20-35% win rates across large sample sizes. Not all starting deals are theoretically winnable - some positions are dead regardless of perfect play, similar to Klondike but without any stock-draw luck to compensate.
What is the difference between Yukon Solitaire and Klondike?
Three key differences: (1) Yukon has no stock pile - all 52 cards are tableau-dealt from the start. (2) Yukon lets you move any face-up stack regardless of sequence order. (3) Decisions are more permanent in Yukon because there is no second chance from a stock draw.
Yukon Solitaire FAQ
Can you move partial stacks in Yukon Solitaire?
Yes - this is the game's defining rule. Any face-up card and every face-up card directly above it can be moved together to a legal destination (one rank higher, opposite color at the target). The moving group does not need to be ordered or sequential.
Is Yukon Solitaire harder than Klondike Turn 1?
For most players, yes. Klondike Turn 1 gives you a second-chance stock draw that can rescue stuck positions. In Yukon every card position is entirely the result of your own moves - there is no lucky draw to bail you out.
What is the best opening move in Yukon Solitaire?
The best opening move reveals a face-down card. If two or more such moves exist, prefer the one targeting columns 6 or 7 - they hold the most hidden cards and benefit most from early attention.
Can Yukon Solitaire be solved every deal?
No. Some starting positions are genuinely unwinnable regardless of perfect play. Unlike Freecell (where nearly every deal has a solution), Yukon contains a meaningful share of impossible deals. If you have been stuck for many moves with no reveals, accepting a new deal is a reasonable decision.
How do I increase my Yukon Solitaire win rate?
Use the priority hierarchy above on every single move. The biggest single gain is refusing to make a move that doesn't reveal a face-down card when a revealing move exists. The second-biggest gain is never filling an empty column without a purposeful King-plus-Queen continuation ready.
Other solitaire games you may enjoy
For a harder challenge on the same board structure try Russian Solitaire (same-suit building). For a more forgiving twist try Alaska Solitaire (same-suit but up or down). For a completely different puzzle style, FreeCell exposes the entire deck from turn one.