Yukon or Klondike: what changes when there is no stock?

At first glance Yukon looks like Klondike: seven columns, four foundations and a tableau that builds down in alternating colours. Then you notice there is no stock, and that a column can be split anywhere. Here is what changes when you switch.

The deal

• Klondike deals 28 cards to seven columns of 1 to 7 cards, only the top card face up, and leaves 24 in the stock.
• Yukon deals all 52 cards and has no stock. Column 1 has a single face-up card; columns 2 to 7 have 1 to 6 face-down cards with five face-up cards on top.

Both games start with 21 face-down cards, 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6. The difference is what you can see: Klondike shows 7 cards and keeps 24 in the stock, while Yukon shows 31 at once, in columns of 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 cards. Yukon has no Draw button, no waste and no recycles; every card is already on the table.

The move rule

• In Klondike only a face-up run in descending alternating order moves together.
• In Yukon any face-up card moves together with everything on top of it, even if those cards are not in sequence.

In both, the moved card must land on a card one rank higher of the opposite colour.

One position, two rule books

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

• Column 3: two face-down cards, then 9♠, 4♥, J♣, 8♦.
• Column 5: four face-down cards, then 10♦.
• Column 6: five face-down cards, then 5♣.

None of these cards can go to a foundation yet. Klondike never builds a column like column 3, because face-up cards only arrive in sequence, but apply each rule to it and the difference is plain.

Under Klondike's rule only the 8♦ can be picked up, because the 9♠, 4♥ and J♣ do not form a descending alternating run with the cards above them. The 8♦ needs a black 9, and none is showing here, so column 3 is frozen.

Under Yukon's rule there are two moves:

1. The 9♠, carrying the 4♥, J♣ and 8♦, onto the 10♦, a black 9 on a red 10. Column 3 turns over a card.
2. The 4♥, carrying the J♣ and 8♦, onto the 5♣, a red 4 on a black 5.

Play the first, because it opens a column. The jumble moves with it, and that is the Yukon trade-off: moves are easy to find, but big moves bury things. Afterwards the 4♥ sits under two cards.

Empty columns and foundations

• In both games only a King, or a group headed by a King, may fill an empty column. In Klondike the group must be a run; in Yukon it is whatever sits on the King.
• Both games build foundations up by suit from Ace, and in both only the top card of a column can go up.
• In Klondike a card can come back down from a foundation onto the tableau when the colour and rank rules allow it. In Card Lounge Yukon every move starts from a tableau column, so a card that goes up stays up.

So in Yukon, before you play a card up, ask whether a lower card of the other colour still needs it as a landing spot.

Finishing and losing

• Klondike offers Finish when every card is face up and the stock and waste are empty. From there every remaining card can go home in order, and Finish plays them all.
• Yukon offers Finish only when every column is a single face-up run in alternating colours, such as 9♠ 8♥ 7♣. Face up is not enough: a low card can be trapped under a jumbled pile, so you keep sorting until every column is in order, and then Finish plays the rest home.
• Klondike is lost when a full cycle of the stock and waste would bring nothing to play and no tableau or foundation move exists. Yukon, with no stock, is lost as soon as no legal move can change the position.

What carries over

• Turning over face-down cards is the main job in both games.
• Kings and empty columns follow the same rule, but in Yukon a King in the middle of a pile can travel with the card beneath it, so mainly Kings sitting directly on face-down cards need the space.
• Planning shifts: in Klondike you plan around the stock order, in Yukon around what each big move buries.

Try it

In Yukon, from the bottom of each column to the top:

• Column 2: one face-down card, then 7♥, 2♠, Q♦, 9♣, 4♦.
• Column 4: three face-down cards, then 8♣.
• Column 6: five face-down cards, then 5♠.

No card here can go to a foundation yet. Using only these columns, list the moves that start in column 2 under Yukon's rule, then under Klondike's.

Answer: Under Yukon's rule, the 7♥ can carry the four cards above it onto the 8♣, turning over the face-down card in column 2, and the 4♦ can go onto the 5♠. The 2♠, Q♦ and 9♣ have no red 3, black King or red 10 to land on. Under Klondike's rule only the 4♦ can be picked up, since the 9♣ and 4♦ are not a run, so the one move is the 4♦ onto the 5♠, which turns nothing over.

Play both: Yukon and Klondike Draw 1. The compare page lines up every Card Lounge mode.