Yukon empty columns: which King should get the space?

Emptying a column in Yukon feels like progress, but an empty column does nothing on its own. Only a King, with the cards on top of it, may fill it. So the real question is which King deserves the space, and whether one is ready to use it.

Why Kings need the space

Three rules decide this:

• Any face-up card can be moved together with every card on top of it, even if those cards are not in sequence.
• The moved card must go on a card one rank higher of the opposite colour.
• Only a King, with the cards on top of it, may fill an empty column.

So every face-up card except a King can leave its column by landing on another card. No card is one rank higher than a King, so for a King an empty column is the only way out. That matters because a fresh deal has 21 face-down cards, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 in columns 2 to 7, and a King sitting on some of them keeps them locked away.

Three kinds of King

1. A King directly on face-down cards. It can only leave through an empty column. This is the King that needs the space.
2. A King in the middle of a pile, with face-up cards under it. Move the face-up card beneath it to a new home and the King travels along on top.
3. A King at the bottom of a column. It is already where an empty column would put it. Moving it gains nothing, and Hint never suggests it.

Worked example

Six of the seven columns, from the bottom of each column to the top:

• Column 1: 9♣, its only card.
• Column 3: two face-down cards, then K♠, 4♦, J♥, 7♣.
• Column 4: K♥, Q♣, 6♦, with nothing under the King.
• Column 5: three face-down cards, then 2♣, 8♠, K♦, Q♠, 5♥.
• Column 6: four face-down cards, then 10♥.
• Column 7: five face-down cards, then 9♦.

The clubs foundation holds only its Ace, and no top card can go to a foundation yet. Sort the Kings first:

• The K♠ sits directly on two face-down cards. It needs the space.
• The K♦ is in the middle of a pile, with the 8♠ and the 2♣ under it. The clubs foundation wants that 2♣ next.
• The K♥ is at the bottom of column 4. Leave it alone.

Now play:

1. Move the 9♣ onto the 10♥, a black 9 on a red 10. Column 1 is empty.
2. Move the K♠, with the 4♦, J♥ and 7♣ on top of it, into column 1. Column 3 turns over a card; one more is still face down.
3. Move the 8♠, carrying the K♦, Q♠ and 5♥, onto the 9♦, a black 8 on a red 9. The 2♣ is now the top card of column 5.
4. Move the 2♣ to the clubs foundation. Column 5 turns over a card.

Four moves: two face-down cards turned, one card home, one empty column used. Column 7 now reads 9♦, 8♠, K♦, Q♠, 5♥ over its five face-down cards, a big pile, but every card in it can still move with the cards above it.

Now put the K♦ into the empty column at move 2 instead. The 8♠ can still go onto the 9♦ and free the 2♣, but the K♠ has nowhere to land, so column 3 stays shut until another column empties. The same space turns one card instead of two.

Before you empty a column

Emptying a column has a price. While the 9♣ sat in column 1, a red 8 could have gone on it; once it leaves, column 1 accepts nothing but a King. So check three things first:

1. Is there a King that cannot leave any other way? That means a King sitting directly on face-down cards, or a King whose pile you cannot carry off by moving the card beneath it.
2. Can that King go in straight away? If not, you have swapped a landing spot for a space nothing else can use.
3. Which column is cheapest to empty? Column 1 starts with a single card and nothing under it, so it is often the first candidate. Other columns empty only once all their face-down cards are turned and their bottom card has somewhere to go.

When two Kings both qualify, give the space to the one sitting on more face-down cards, unless the other covers a low card the foundations need now.

Try it

Four columns, from the bottom of each column to the top:

• Column 1: empty.
• Column 4: two face-down cards, then K♥, 6♣, 3♦.
• Column 6: three face-down cards, then 5♦, K♣, Q♦, J♠.
• Column 7: four face-down cards, then 6♠.

Which King goes into column 1, and how do you open the other column without a second space?

Answer: The K♥, with the 6♣ and 3♦, goes into column 1, because it sits directly on face-down cards; column 4 turns over a card. Then move the 5♦, carrying the K♣, Q♦ and J♠, onto the 6♠, a red 5 on a black 6, and column 6 turns over a card too. Put the K♣ into column 1 instead and column 6 ends in the 5♦ with all three face-down cards still hidden, while the K♥ has nowhere to go.

Play it out in Yukon, see Yukon: moving whole piles for digging out face-down cards, and look up terms in the glossary.