# 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](../play/yukon.html), see [Yukon: moving whole piles](yukon-moving-buried-cards.html) for digging out face-down cards, and look up terms in the [glossary](../glossary.html).