Solitaire is not one game but a whole family of them, and three of the most beloved members are Klondike, Spider, and Yukon. They share a deck of cards and the goal of bringing order from chaos, yet each plays with its own personality. Klondike is the familiar classic, Spider is the marathon of suits, and Yukon is the open-board puzzle. Knowing how they differ helps you pick the right game for your mood and carry skills from one to the next.
This guide compares the three side by side: how they are dealt, how you build, how you win, and what makes each one tick. You can play all three here, so open Dragon Solitaire for classic Klondike, and keep Spider and Yukon ready to compare as we go.
Klondike: The Classic Standard
Klondike is the game most people mean when they say solitaire, and it is exactly what Dragon Solitaire plays. It uses one 52-card deck dealt into seven tableau columns, with a stock and waste for drawing extra cards and four foundations to fill.
If you have ever played the solitaire that came bundled with a desktop computer, you have played Klondike, and therefore you already know Dragon Solitaire. That familiarity is a real advantage, because it means the vast majority of solitaire advice, tutorials, and strategy you find anywhere applies directly to the game on this site.
How Klondike Plays
You build the tableau downward in alternating colours, move Kings into empty columns, and draw from the stock when you run dry. Victory means building all four foundations up from Ace to King by suit. It is approachable, endlessly replayable, and the ideal starting point, covered fully in our how to play Dragon Solitaire guide.
Klondike's staying power comes from its balance. It gives you a stock to fall back on when the tableau stalls, but not so freely that skill stops mattering. It hides enough cards to create suspense yet reveals enough to keep hope alive. That equilibrium is why it became the default solitaire for most of the world, and why it is the sensible variant to master before branching out to the others.
Spider: The Two-Deck Marathon
Spider is a bigger, longer game that uses two full decks, 104 cards, and deals ten tableau columns. There is no separate waste pile; instead the stock deals a new card onto every column at once when you call for it. This scale gives Spider its epic, absorbing feel.
How Spider Differs
The defining difference is how you win. Rather than filling foundations one card at a time, in Spider you build complete descending sequences from King down to Ace within the tableau, and when a full same-suit run is assembled it is removed from the board. Clear all eight sequences and you win. Spider also comes in one-, two-, and four-suit versions, and the number of suits sets the difficulty: one suit is a gentle introduction, four suits is a serious test. Try it on the Spider board to feel the difference in scale.
Spider's strategy centres on suit management. Because only same-suit runs are removed, mixing suits within a column creates tangles you must later unpick, so skilled Spider players work hard to keep sequences pure and to open empty columns for reshuffling. The ten columns and two decks mean there is always something to do, which is exactly why a single game of Spider can absorb a long, satisfying stretch of time.
Yukon: Klondike With the Lid Off
Yukon looks like Klondike at first glance, with seven tableau columns and the same Ace-to-King foundations, but it makes two radical changes that transform the game. There is no stock or waste at all; every card is dealt to the tableau from the start, and far more of them are face up.
How Yukon Differs
Because there is no stock, every card you need is already on the board, visible or waiting under a few face-down cards. The second twist is the move rule: in Yukon you can pick up any face-up card along with everything stacked on top of it, regardless of whether those cards form an ordered sequence, and move the whole group onto a valid target. This grouped-move freedom makes Yukon a game of deep planning where almost everything is in play from the first move. Explore it on the Yukon board.
The payoff of Yukon's design is a game almost entirely about planning rather than luck. With no stock to hope from, you win or lose on how cleverly you use the cards already in front of you, unburying face-down cards by shifting the loose stacks piled on top of them. Many players find Yukon deeply rewarding precisely because a loss feels earned: the winning line was there to be found, and you simply missed it.
The Key Differences at a Glance
Reading the comparison below, it helps to notice that Klondike and Yukon are close cousins, sharing the seven-column layout and the Ace-to-King foundations, while Spider stands apart with its two decks and its sequence-clearing win. Here is how the three variants compare on the features that matter most:
- Decks used: Klondike and Yukon use one deck; Spider uses two.
- Tableau columns: Klondike and Yukon deal seven; Spider deals ten.
- Stock and waste: Klondike has both; Spider deals to all columns with no waste; Yukon has neither.
- Building rule: Klondike and Yukon build down in alternating colours; Spider builds down regardless of suit but clears only same-suit runs.
- Winning condition: Klondike and Yukon fill four foundations; Spider assembles and removes eight King-to-Ace sequences.
- Move rule: Yukon lets you move any pile of stacked cards, ordered or not, which the others do not.
Which Should You Play?
Each variant suits a different mood, and there is no single best one. Consider what you are after:
- Want the familiar classic? Play Klondike (Dragon Solitaire). It is the balanced, approachable standard.
- Want a long, absorbing session? Play Spider, and choose the suit count that matches your skill.
- Want everything visible and a deep puzzle? Play Yukon, where no stock means it is all about planning.
- Want to improve overall? Rotate all three; the shared instincts of uncovering cards and planning ahead transfer between them.
The core skills you build in one game strengthen the others. The card-uncovering discipline from our Klondike strategy guide, for instance, pays off in every variant, and the shared vocabulary is defined in our solitaire glossary.
A good progression is to learn Klondike first, since it teaches the fundamentals of building down in alternating colours and feeding the foundations. Once that feels natural, one-suit Spider introduces the sequence-clearing idea gently, and Yukon stretches your planning by putting every card on the table at once. Moving between the three keeps the pastime fresh and steadily broadens the instincts you draw on in each.
Conclusion
Klondike, Spider, and Yukon are three faces of the same great pastime. Klondike is the balanced classic behind Dragon Solitaire, Spider is the two-deck marathon of same-suit sequences, and Yukon is the stockless, everything-visible puzzle with free grouped moves. Each rewards the same patient, forward-looking play in its own way. Try them all: start with Dragon Solitaire, stretch yourself on Spider, and plan your way through Yukon. Every variant is waiting on the dragon-solitaire.com homepage.