# Yukon: moving whole piles to reach face-down cards

In Yukon you can pick up a card from the middle of a column and carry everything above it, even a jumble. How do you use that to reach the face-down cards, and why does it matter so much that only a King may fill an empty column?

## How Yukon is dealt

Card Lounge [Yukon](../play/yukon.html) has no stock: all 52 cards are dealt into seven columns at the start. Column 1 holds a single face-up card. Columns 2 to 7 hold 1 to 6 face-down cards with five face-up cards on top.

That makes 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21 face-down cards. The round is won only when every card is on the foundations, which build up by suit from Ace to King, so all 21 of them have to be dug out. The skill is doing that without burying the cards you need next.

## The rule that changes everything

The tableau builds down in alternating colours, just as in Klondike: the card you pick up must land on a card one rank higher of the opposite colour. The difference is what comes with it. In Yukon, **any face-up card can be moved together with every card on top of it**, even if those cards are not in sequence.

So the only question is whether the bottom card of the pile you want to move has a home: a card one rank higher, of the other colour, at the top of another column.

## Digging to a face-down card

To turn over a face-down card, you have to move the lowest face-up card above it, along with everything on top. A simple routine:

1. Look at the lowest face-up card in the column you want to open. Say it is a black 7.
2. Look for a red 8 at the top of another column. If there is one, move the 7 and its whole pile there.
3. If there is not, look for a red 8 that is buried. It becomes a home as soon as the cards on top of it move somewhere else.

Step 3 is where Yukon gets interesting: the cards covering that red 8 can often go onto the very column you are trying to open.

## Worked example

Take a fresh deal and look at two columns, listed from the bottom of the face-up cards to the top:

- Column 2: one face-down card, then 7♣, Q♦, 3♠, 10♥, 6♦ (6♦ on top).
- Column 5: four face-down cards, then 9♦, 4♠, 8♥, 5♣, 2♥ (2♥ on top).

The goal is the face-down card in column 2. Its lowest face-up card is 7♣, which needs a red 8. There is one, the 8♥ in column 5, but it is covered by 5♣ and 2♥, and you can only place cards onto the top card of a column.

Move 1: pick up 5♣, which brings the 2♥ with it, and put it on 6♦ at the top of column 2. A black 5 on a red 6 is legal; the 2♥ travels along, in sequence or not. Column 5 now ends in 8♥, and column 2 reads 7♣, Q♦, 3♠, 10♥, 6♦, 5♣, 2♥.

Move 2: pick up 7♣ with all six cards on top of it and put the whole pile on 8♥. A black 7 on a red 8 is legal. Column 2 is left with just its face-down card, which turns over.

Two moves, one new card. Now look at the price. Column 5 has four face-down cards under ten face-up cards: 9♦, 4♠, 8♥, 7♣, Q♦, 3♠, 10♥, 6♦, 5♣, 2♥. To reach those four hidden cards later you will need a black 10 for the 9♦. And the 3♠ now has four cards on top of it, so when the spade foundation reaches 2♠ you will have work to do before the 3♠ can follow. Big moves are cheap to make; the cost shows up as buried low cards.

## Empty columns take Kings only

Only a King, with the cards on top of it, may fill an empty column. That decides when emptying a column is worth it:

- An empty column is useful only if you have a King you want to move.
- The best candidates are Kings sitting directly on face-down cards, or Kings in the middle of a pile you want to break up.
- A King that is already the bottom card of a column, with nothing under it, gains nothing by moving.

In the worked example, column 2 now holds a single card; if it can go to a foundation or another column, column 2 becomes empty. Before you do, check that a King is waiting for the space.

## Try it

Three columns, listed from the bottom of the face-up cards to the top:

- Column 1: 7♦ (its only card).
- Column 3: two face-down cards, then 6♠, J♥, 9♣, 2♦, Q♣.
- Column 6: five face-down cards, then 8♦, 3♣, 10♣, 4♥, K♠.

Using only these columns, which single move turns over a face-down card? Afterwards, how many cards sit on top of the 2♦?

Answer: move 6♠, with J♥, 9♣, 2♦ and Q♣ on top of it, onto the 7♦ in column 1 (black 6 on red 7). Column 3 turns over its top face-down card. Column 1 then reads 7♦, 6♠, J♥, 9♣, 2♦, Q♣, so one card, the Q♣, sits on the 2♦. Column 6 cannot be opened yet: its 8♦ needs a black 9 at the top of a column, and none of these columns shows one.

Try it on [Yukon](../play/yukon.html), then compare the stricter run rule in [Klondike](../play/klondike.html) and [Klondike: your first moves](klondike-first-moves.html). For more general habits, see [strategy](../strategy.html), and look up any unfamiliar term in the [glossary](../glossary.html).