Alaska Solitaire
A same-suit cousin of Yukon with one generous twist: in the columns you can build up or down. More places to put each card means more games end in a win.
How to play Alaska Solitaire
- Build four foundations. Move each suit from Ace up to King onto the four spaces at the top right. Fill all four and you win.
- Build up or down in the same suit. A card can go on the card one higher or one lower of its own suit. The 6 of spades can go on the 5 or the 7 of spades.
- Move any face-up card, with everything on top of it. The cards on top come along even if they are out of order.
- Fill empty columns with a King. An empty column takes only a King, together with any cards on it.
- Hidden cards turn over by themselves when the cards covering them move away.
How the cards are dealt
Alaska uses the Yukon deal. Seven columns hold all 52 cards: one card in the first column and 6 to 11 cards in the others, with the top five face up and the rest face down. There is no stock.
The Yukon family at a glance
| Game | Building in columns | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Yukon | Down, alternating colors | Moderate |
| Russian | Down, same suit | Hard |
| Alaska | Up or down, same suit | Easier |
Tips that win more games
- Since you can build both ways, look at both neighbors of a card before choosing where it goes.
- Avoid building up past a card you will soon need on the foundation. A 3 resting on a 2 of its suit blocks that 2.
- Go after the face-down cards in the right-hand columns first.
- Moving a card to its foundation is always safe here.
- Tap Hint when you're stuck. It looks first for moves that turn over a hidden card.
Can every Alaska game be won?
Most can. When we ran our solver on random deals, it proved about 3 in 4 of them winnable, far more than Russian. Every deal on this page is one the solver has already won.