Play Australian Patience — Yukon-Style Layout, Same-Suit Building

Australian Patience is a Yukon variant played with a single 52-card deck. Seven tableau columns of four cards each, all face-up from the start, plus a 24-card stock that deals one card to each column when you click it. The defining rule is the same as Yukon's lift-anything move, but the building rule is stricter: you build down by same suit, not alternating colors. The result is a deeper, harder puzzle than Yukon. Free in your browser, no sign-up. Works offline once the page has loaded.

How Do You Play Australian Patience?

Goal: build all four foundations from Ace to King by suit.

Setup

• Tableau: seven columns of four cards each (28 cards), all face-up.
• Stock: the remaining 24 cards face-down. Click to deal one card to each column.
• Foundations: four empty piles, top right. Build up by suit, Ace to King.

Rules

• Build tableau columns down by same suit. A 7 of hearts goes on an 8 of hearts only.
• Move any face-up card with everything beneath it as a single group, regardless of order. The Yukon lift-anything rule.
• Only Kings (or any group with a King at the bottom) can fill an empty tableau column.
• Click the stock to deal one card to each of the seven columns. The stock empties after a few deals.
• Foundations build up by suit, Ace to King. You win when all four are complete.

Australian Patience vs Yukon

Same lift-anything mechanic, different building rule and stock.

The strict same-suit building rule cuts mobility sharply. Yukon's alternating-color rule gives every card two legal placements per rank; Australian Patience gives only one. The stock provides some relief by adding new cards mid-game, but the same-suit rule still produces many unwinnable deals.

What's the Best Australian Patience Strategy?

• Plan before you deal from stock. Each stock deal adds seven new cards on top of your tableau columns, possibly burying useful cards. Exhaust the position fully before clicking.
• Build same-suit chains aggressively. A clean K-Q-J-10 of hearts is gold — you can move the whole block as one piece. Mixed-suit chains move one card at a time.
• Empty a column when you can. Empty columns let you re-arrange long stacks, but only Kings fill them. Keep a King ready before clearing.
• Watch the Aces. Send Aces to the foundations as soon as they're free. They serve no useful tableau role and unlock the cards above them.
• Use the lift-anything rule. A long messy stack on top of a target card can move as one unit if the top card is a legal placement. This is your main tool against the strict same-suit rule.
• Mid-rank cards are valuable. Don't rush 4s, 5s, 6s up to the foundation. They're useful for building tableau sequences and worth keeping in play.

A Short History

Australian Patience appears in mid-20th-century patience anthologies as a regional variant of the Yukon family. The name reflects publication popularity in Australian newspapers rather than a verified Australian origin — like many "national" patience variants, the geographic label is more tradition than history. The game has remained niche in print but is included in most modern multi-game digital collections.

About This Version

This Australian Patience runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install as an app on your phone or computer; once installed it works offline. Unlimited undo, statistics, and a daily challenge that gives every player the same deal that day so you can compare times.

Other Solitaire Games to Try

• Yukon — the alternating-color cousin with no stock
• Russian Solitaire — Yukon variant with same-suit building, no stock
• Klondike — the seven-column classic with foundations
• FreeCell — every card visible, almost every deal winnable