How to play Yukon
A practical guide to the objective, legal flow, and decisions that matter in this playable version.
Objective
Yukon moves all cards to suit foundations from Ace through King. Like Klondike, tableau columns descend in alternating colours, but Yukon begins with no stock and allows a visible card plus every card below it to move together.
How a turn works
Select any face-up tableau card that can land on the opposite colour and next higher rank. The attached cards below it travel too, even when they are not internally ordered. Reveal a newly uncovered face-down card, fill an empty column with a King-led group, and advance exposed suit cards to foundations.
Strategy that changes the outcome
Yukon’s unusual group movement makes access more important than neatness. Move an imperfect packet when it reveals a key face-down card, but ensure the destination does not bury a needed foundation card. Empty columns create large transfers, so compare which King packet produces the strongest follow-up.
First decision: A visible run may move even when its internal order is imperfect, making access to buried face-down cards the central priority.
A common mistake to avoid
Players often assume a moved packet must already alternate and descend throughout. In Yukon, only the selected top card must fit the destination; the visible cards beneath it come along.
Three useful table habits
- Target face-down cards before polishing visible sequences.
- Check every exposed card inside a column as a possible starting point.
- Reserve empty columns for King packets that release useful cards.
A question players ask
How is Yukon different from Klondike?
Yukon has no stock, begins with more cards face up, and lets an exposed card carry the cards below it even when that lower packet is unordered. That rule creates bigger tactical rearrangements.
About this guide
We compare the rules shown in the game with the implemented legal moves, complete representative deals, and review desktop and mobile presentation. If a house rule changes play, the in-game How to play panel takes precedence. Read How games are researched and tested.