Yukon

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order and colours
3. The parts of the layout
4. Setup
5. Playing
6. Winning
7. Tips for beginners
8. Variants

Overview

Yukon is a patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire) closely related to Klondike. Your goal is to sort the whole deck into four piles, one for each suit, each running from Ace up to King. Unlike Klondike there is no stock: all 52 cards are dealt at the start. In return, you may move any face-up card in the layout, together with all the cards lying on top of it – even if they are not in order.

• Players: 1
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers, and room for seven long columns.

Card order and colours

The Ace is low. From lowest to highest: A – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – J – Q – K.

♥ hearts and ♦ diamonds are the red suits, ♠ spades and ♣ clubs are the black suits.

The parts of the layout

• Tableau: the seven piles (columns) where you rearrange the cards. Each column is spread downwards so every face-up card can be seen. The last card of a column is the one nearest to you, not covered by any other card.
• Foundations: four spaces above the tableau, one per suit, empty at the start. Here you collect the cards in order, starting with the Ace.

Setup

1. Deal 28 cards exactly as in Klondike: one card face up on column 1 and one face down on each of columns 2–7; then one face up on column 2 and one face down on each of columns 3–7; and so on, until column 7 has 6 face-down cards and 1 face-up card.
2. Deal the remaining 24 cards face up, row by row, onto columns 2–7 – four more cards on each. Column 1 gets nothing more.

All 52 cards are now in the tableau.

Playing

There are no turns – you make one move after another in any order you like.

1. To a foundation: an Ace that becomes the last card of a column may go up at any time and starts a foundation. On it goes the 2 of the same suit, then the 3, and so on up to the King. Only the last card of a column can go to a foundation.
2. Building in the tableau: you may put a card onto the last card of a column if it is one rank lower and of the other colour – for example a red 9 (9♥ or 9♦) onto a black 10. This is called building down in alternating colours. Nothing may be built on an Ace.
3. Moving a group: you may pick up any face-up card, no matter how deep in its column, and move it onto the last card of another column – as long as that card fits by rule 2. All the cards lying on top of it move with it as one unit, even if they are not in order.
4. Turning up cards: when the last face-up card of a column has gone, turn over the face-down card beneath it. It is now in play.
5. Empty columns: a column that becomes empty may only be filled with a King – any face-up King in the tableau, together with all the cards on top of it.

Example: Column 3 ends in 8♣, and column 6 shows (from top to bottom) 6♠ 7♥ 2♦ Q♣ 5♥. The 7♥ is one lower than the 8♣ and red – so you move 7♥ with the 2♦, Q♣ and 5♥ on top of it onto the 8♣. Column 6 now ends in the 6♠, and column 3 ends in the 5♥.

Winning

You win when all 52 cards lie on the four foundations. If no useful move is left, the game is lost – shuffle and try again. According to Morehead and Mott-Smith, about one game in four can be won.

Tips for beginners

• Turning up face-down cards comes first – once all cards are face up, the game is usually won.
• Look for face-up cards in the middle of a column that fit somewhere: moving them is how you dig down to the hidden cards.
• Play Aces to the foundations at once; with higher cards, don't hurry – you may still need them to build on.
• Don't let one foundation get far ahead of the others.
• Only empty a column if a King is ready to fill it, and choose the King whose move uncovers a face-down card.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Russian Solitaire: the same game, but in the tableau you build down in the same suit (8♣ only on 9♣) instead of alternating colours. Harder.
• Any card in a space: an empty column may be filled with any face-up card (with the cards on top of it), not only a King. Easier.