Yukon Solitaire Variations and Relatives

Yukon's big idea, that you can pick up any face-up card and carry along whatever is lying on it, turns up in a whole family of solitaire games. Some change what a card may be placed on. Some change the deal. This page covers the main ones, and explains each of the House Rules you will find in the Settings of our free Yukon Solitaire game.

House Rules in Our Game

Open Settings during a game to find these options. A change to the rules takes effect with your next deal, and your statistics are kept separately for each set of rules, so an easy game never pads your standard record.

Yukon: Red on Black (the Standard Game)

This is the usual rule and the one the game starts with. In the columns, a card goes on a card that is one rank higher and the opposite color: a red 6 on a black 7, a black Jack on a red Queen. Each card has two possible landing places in the deck. The full rules are on the Yukon rules page.

Russian Solitaire: Same Suit

Russian Solitaire uses exactly the same deal and the same move-any-group rule. The one change is that a card must go on the next higher card of its own suit. The 6 of hearts goes only on the 7 of hearts. Not the 7 of diamonds, and not a black 7.

That small change makes a big difference. Each card now has only one landing place in the whole deck instead of two, so you have about half as many moves to choose from, and a single card buried in the wrong spot can sink the game. Expect to win far fewer games than in standard Yukon. On the other hand, the columns you build are already sorted by suit, so the ending goes quickly when you do get there.

Any Card May Fill an Empty Column

By the standard rule, only a King (with the cards on top of it) can be moved into an empty column. Many home players relax this and let any face-up card, with its pile, move into a space.

It is a much friendlier game this way. An empty column becomes a place to set a troublesome group aside while you get at the card beneath it, and you are no longer stuck waiting for a King to turn up. We suggest it for your first few games, or for a relaxed game when you'd simply like to win more often. You can combine it with either building rule.

Auto-Move to Foundations

With this on, which is how the game starts, cards that are safe to put up go to the foundations by themselves after each of your moves. "Safe" means you will never want that card back in the columns:

• Aces and 2s always go up.
• In standard Yukon, a higher card goes up by itself only when both cards of the other color that are one rank lower are already on the foundations. For example, the 6 of spades goes up on its own once the 5 of hearts and 5 of diamonds are up.
• In Russian Solitaire, any card that fits its foundation is safe, because the only card that could ever sit on it is already up.

You can always send a card up yourself by tapping it. Turn auto-move off if you'd rather make every move by hand. Either way, when every card is face up and the rest can simply go up in turn, the game finishes itself.

Other Rules You May Have Played

Taking Cards Back From the Foundations

Some rule books let you move the top card of a foundation back down onto a column when you need it as a stepping stone. Others say a card played to a foundation stays there. Our game follows the second, simpler rule. Because auto-move only sends up cards that are safe, and Undo is unlimited, you lose very little by it.

Dealing the Face-Up Cards Differently

The standard deal puts four extra face-up cards on each of columns 2 to 7, which leaves the first column with a single card. A few players spread the extra 24 cards across all seven columns instead. That makes the first column less of a ready-made space for a King. We use the standard deal.

Relatives of Yukon

Alaska

Alaska is Russian Solitaire with one extra freedom: in the columns you may build up or down in the same suit. The 6 of hearts can go on the 7 of hearts or on the 5 of hearts. That gives each card two landing places again, so it is a little kinder than Russian Solitaire, though the up-and-down piles take some getting used to.

Australian Patience

This game mixes Yukon with classic solitaire. Seven columns of four cards are dealt, all face up, and the other 24 cards form a stock that you turn over one card at a time, going through it only once. Columns are built down in the same suit, any face-up card can be moved with the cards on it, and only Kings fill empty columns. If you miss having a deck to turn, this is the one to look for.

Scorpion

Scorpion solitaire also lets you move any face-up card with its pile, and builds down in the same suit. But there are no foundations to send cards up to: you win by building four complete runs from King down to Ace inside the columns. Three cards are held back at the start and dealt out when you choose.

Klondike

Classic Klondike solitaire is Yukon's parent. The first 28 cards are dealt the same way, but the other 24 become a deck you turn over, and only ordered runs can be moved. Klondike leans more on luck; Yukon puts more in your own hands.

Which Should I Play?

Deal Numbers

Every deal has a number from 1 to 999,999, shown above the cards. The same number always gives the same layout, under any of the house rules. To play a particular deal, open Settings and type its number. It's a nice way to share a good game with a friend, or to take another run at one that beat you.

Deals are shuffled at random and are not tested in advance, so some of them cannot be won. If a deal seems hopeless under the standard rules, try the same number again with the easier empty-column rule.