Alaska Solitaire
Deal – —
How to Play Alaska Solitaire
What Is Alaska Solitaire?
Alaska Solitaire is a clever member of the Yukon family, played with one standard deck of 52 cards. Every card is dealt at the start, so there is no stock pile to draw from and no hidden reserve waiting in the wings. What makes Alaska special is its unusual building rule: in the tableau you may build both up and down in the same suit. That two-way freedom gives you escape routes that its stricter cousin, Russian Solitaire, never allows, while still demanding real thought on every move. The goal is to move all 52 cards to the four foundations, each suit stacked in order from Ace up to King.
The Layout
Seven tableau columns are dealt across the middle of the table:
- Column 1 holds just one card, dealt face up.
- Columns 2 to 7 begin with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 face-down cards in turn, and then 5 face-up cards are dealt on top of each of those six columns.
Add it up and you get the whole deck: 1 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 = 52 cards, with 21 face down and 31 face up at the start. Above or beside the tableau are four foundations, one per suit. Each begins empty, accepts the Ace of its suit first, and then builds upward: Ace, 2, 3, and so on to the King.
Building in the Tableau: Same Suit, Either Direction
This is the rule that gives Alaska its name and its flavor. A card may be placed on another tableau card if it is the same suit and either one rank higher or one rank lower. On the 8♠ you may place the 7♠ or the 9♠. On the J♥ you may play the 10♥ or the Q♥. Suit is strict, so no black-on-black substitutions: the 7♠ still refuses to sit on the 8♣. But where Russian Solitaire gives every card exactly one home, Alaska gives it two. Note the special case at the ends of the scale: an Ace can only receive the 2 of its suit, and a King can only receive the Queen of its suit, since there is no rank beyond them. Ranks do not wrap around.
Moving Groups: Everything on Top Rides Along
Alaska keeps the famous Yukon group move. Any face-up card may be moved to a legal destination, and every card lying on top of it comes along, regardless of order, suit, or rank. The pile you carry can be complete chaos; only the bottom card of the group has to satisfy the building rule where it lands.
For example, imagine a column whose face-up cards read 10♣, 4♥, A♠, Q♦ from bottom to top of the visible stack. If either the 9♣ or the J♣ is exposed elsewhere, you may pick up the 10♣ and drop it there, and the 4♥, A♠, and Q♦ travel with it unchanged. Two possible destinations for one move is exactly the kind of flexibility that makes Alaska so much more forgiving than Russian Solitaire.
Empty Columns
Clearing every card out of a column creates an empty space, and that space accepts only a King, either alone or as the bottom card of a group it carries with it. Any suit qualifies. An empty column is precious, so it pays to know in advance which King you want to move there and what you plan to build on it.
No Stock and No Redeal
There is no stock in Alaska Solitaire, and no second deal. The 21 face-down cards are your only unknowns, and the only way to see them is to clear the face-up cards sitting above. Whenever a column's last face-up card moves away and face-down cards remain, the top one turns over automatically. Everything you need to win is on the table from move one.
How to Win
Victory means all 52 cards on the foundations, each suit in perfect order from Ace to King. Alaska is winnable considerably more often than Russian Solitaire, though still less often than standard Yukon, so expect a satisfying fight rather than a stroll.
Playing on This Site
Move cards by dragging and dropping, or double-click a card (double-tap on touch screens) to send it automatically to its foundation when it is ready. Above the table you will find buttons for a New deal, Undo, Redo, a Hint for when you are stuck, and Auto-finish to complete the game once the outcome is settled. Undo is unlimited, so experimenting costs nothing. Each deal also carries a seed number, letting you replay the identical shuffle later or pass it to a friend to try.
Alaska Solitaire Strategy & Tips
Make the Two-Way Rule Work for You
The heart of Alaska strategy is the up-or-down build. Every card has two possible tableau homes, the neighbor above and the neighbor below in its own suit, and good players keep both in mind at all times. When one direction is blocked, check the other before giving up on a move. This doubling of options is precisely why Alaska is far more winnable than Russian Solitaire, but only for players who actually look both ways.
Walk Sequences to Unbury Cards
Two-way building lets you do something no one-way game allows: walk a sequence back and forth to shuffle cards around a blockage. Suppose the 9♦ is trapped under a pile, and elsewhere you hold the 8♦ with useful cards beneath it. You might move the 8♦ up onto the 9♦ later, or move a 10♦ down instead, whichever direction frees the cards you need. Reversing direction mid-column is legal too: an 8♠ on a 9♠ can still receive either the 7♠ or another 9-neighbor chain built the other way. Before every move, glance at both rank neighbors of the card in your hand and pick the destination that uncovers more.
Covering a Card Still Has a Price
Forgiving is not the same as free. When you cover a card in Alaska, two cards in the deck can still rescue it instead of one, but if both of those are themselves buried, the trap is just as real. So keep the Russian habit: before dropping a card or a block onto anything, ask what you are covering and how it gets out. Be especially careful around Aces and Kings in the tableau, since each has only one usable neighbor, not two, and around cards whose two neighbors both sit deep under face-down piles.
Dig Where the Face-Down Cards Are
The 21 face-down cards decide the game. Columns 6 and 7, with five and six hidden cards, deserve your earliest attention, because they take the longest to open and most often hide the exact card you will be desperate for later. A move that flips a face-down card is almost always better than a move that merely rearranges what you can already see. Use the ride-along group move aggressively here: hauling a messy six-card block off a deep column in one motion is often the fastest shovel you have.
Kings and Empty Columns
Empty columns accept Kings only, so treat every potential empty space as a promise you must be able to keep. Emptying a column when no useful King can reach it wastes the effort. When you do have a choice of Kings, prefer the suit that is most tangled on the table, since that column will become the sorting ground for the whole suit. And remember a King can arrive carrying a full load of cards, which is sometimes the cleanest way to relocate an entire problem pile at once.
Pace the Foundations and Use Your Tools
Do not race cards to the foundations. A low card kept in play can still receive its neighbor and serve as a stepping stone; once it leaves for the foundation, that door closes. Send cards up when they no longer help in the tableau, or when Auto-finish makes the ending obvious. Between the Hint button, unlimited Undo, and replayable seeds, you can afford to treat every deal as a puzzle to be studied, and your win rate will climb steadily as you do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Alaska Solitaire have a stock pile?
No. The entire deck of 52 cards is dealt into the seven tableau columns at the start, so there is nothing left to draw. The only hidden cards are the 21 face-down ones, which flip over as you clear the cards above them.
Can I really build both up and down?
Yes, and that is the defining rule of Alaska. On any tableau card you may place the card one rank higher or one rank lower, as long as it is the same suit. On the 8 of spades, both the 7 of spades and the 9 of spades are legal plays.
Do the cards I move need to be in order?
No. Any face-up card can be moved along with every card sitting on top of it, no matter how scrambled that pile is. Only the bottom card of the moving group must form a legal same-suit connection where it lands.
What goes on an empty column?
Only a King, of any suit, either by itself or at the bottom of a group it carries along. No other rank may start a new column, so plan which King you want there before you empty the space.
How does Alaska differ from Yukon?
The deal, the group moves, and the Kings-only rule for empty columns are all the same. The difference is building: Yukon builds down in alternating colors, while Alaska builds strictly within one suit but in either direction, up or down.
Is Alaska easier than Russian Solitaire?
Noticeably, yes. Russian Solitaire builds down in suit only, giving each card a single possible landing spot, and is winnable only a few percent of the time. Alaska's two-way building doubles your options, so wins come much more often, though still less often than in Yukon.
Does it cost anything to play?
No. Alaska Solitaire on this site is entirely free, with no download and no account required. Just load the page and play as many deals as you like.
Can I play on mobile, and what does the seed number mean?
Yes, the game works in any modern browser on phones, tablets, and computers, with finger dragging and double-tap support on touch screens. The seed is the number behind each shuffle: enter or share it to replay that exact deal any time.