Move the lead card; carry its tail.
Yukon has the alternating-color tableau and suit foundations familiar from Klondike, but all 52 cards start in the tableau. Its defining move carries every face-up card above the chosen card, whether that tail is ordered or not. This makes access to buried cards a different puzzle from ordinary Klondike.
Last updated: September 2026
Read the lead card before moving a group
Column one starts with one face-up card. Each of columns two through seven has face-down cards underneath five face-up cards. There is no stock or waste. A group can move when its chosen face-up lead card lands one rank below a card of the opposite color. The cards above the lead travel with it even if they form no sequence. Only a King-led group can enter an empty column.
One column ends with a face-down card, 9 of hearts, then jack of clubs on top. Another column ends with 10 of clubs. Move the 9 of hearts together with the jack of clubs onto the 10 of clubs. The 9 is the lead card that makes the placement legal; the jack comes along although 9 to jack is not a valid build. The move turns over the newly exposed face-down card. Moving the jack alone onto a red queen would leave the 9 in place and reveal nothing yet.
The unordered tail remains on top at its destination. Before moving, check whether its top card blocks the next transfer you need. A reveal can be worth that cost, but the two effects should be compared.
Trace the next hidden card
Find a column whose lowest face-up card sits directly above a hidden card. Look for a destination for that face-up card and its tail. If several destinations exist, compare the new top cards they leave accessible. If there is no direct destination, a different group move may expose the required parent rank first.
Do not assume a visible Ace or Two tells you what lies beneath another column. Yukon’s unseen cards are shuffled; their positions are not inferred from the visible rank. Foundation progress is useful when it releases a top card, but an early foundation move can also remove a card needed as a tableau landing place.
Empty columns have a King condition
Clearing a column can create room for a King-led group. A non-King group cannot be parked there. Before spending several moves to empty a pile, identify which King is available and what moving it would expose at its source. An empty column without an accessible King may still matter later, but it is not immediate general-purpose storage.
How this differs from Klondike
Klondike can draw from stock and only moves properly ordered face-up runs. Yukon has neither a stock draw nor that run restriction. Both games build down by alternating color and use Kings in empty columns. The shared question is which move opens a useful card; the method of reaching it is different.