Alaska Solitaire: the clever, stubborn cousin of Klondike

Alaska Solitaire is a one-deck patience game where every single card is dealt onto the table at the start. There is no stock pile to draw from and no second chances from a shuffle, what you see is what you get. The twist that gives Alaska its character is simple: in the tableau you may build by suit, either up or down. A 9 of diamonds can sit on the 8 of diamonds or on the 10 of diamonds. That one rule opens up dozens of extra moves, and it is also the rope you can quietly hang yourself with.

Alaska belongs to the Yukon family, so it shares Yukon's most enjoyable feature: you can pick up any face-up card together with every card stacked on top of it and move the whole lot, even if those cards are in no order at all. According to the Solitaire Central rulebook, Alaska differs from Yukon only in the tableau-building rules, but that difference changes the whole feel of the game. Solitaired notes that the game first appeared in the Pretty Good Solitaire collection in 1996, which makes it a relative newcomer next to Klondike.

If you enjoy a genuine thinking game with your afternoon cuppa, this is a beauty. If you want an easy win, start with Klondike and come back.

The deal: how the table is set up

All 52 cards go out into seven columns. Nothing is held back.

Above the columns sit four empty foundation spaces, one for each suit.

Full rules, in plain words

The goal

Build all four foundations from ace up to king, each foundation in a single suit: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K. Get all 52 cards up there and you have won.

Moving cards in the tableau

• You may place a card on a column's top card if it is the same suit and one rank higher or one rank lower. The 7 of clubs accepts the 6 of clubs or the 8 of clubs.
• Ranks do not wrap around. No ace on a king, no king on an ace.
• Group moves are free-form. Click or drag any face-up card and every card sitting on top of it comes along, in whatever jumble it happens to be. Only the card you grabbed has to obey the suit-and-rank rule.
• When a face-down card becomes the top card of its column, it turns face up straight away.
• An empty column can only be filled by a king, or by a group of cards with a king at the bottom.
• Cards move to the foundations one at a time, in order, by suit.
• There is no stock, no waste pile and no redeal. Every legal move is a tableau move or a foundation move.

That is the entire rule set. It takes about a minute to learn and a good while to master.

How to play Alaska here

This page is set up so you can simply start playing. The game is completely free, with no ads of any kind, no pop-ups and no paywalls. There is nothing to download or install, no sign-up, no account and no email address required. It was built for one reason only, enjoyment. No gambling, no in-app purchases, and no timer nagging you to hurry up.

• Large, clear cards and readable text, comfortable for older players and for anyone with tired eyes at the end of the day. A zoom control makes the whole board bigger.
• Every feature is free for everyone: Hint when you cannot see a move, unlimited Undo, Restart, and Auto Play to finish off a game once it is clearly solved.
• Drag and drop, or just tap to move cards, whichever your hands prefer.
• Runs in any modern browser on desktop, tablet and phone, so the same game waits for you on the laptop and on the phone.
• Sound can be switched off, fullscreen mode is there when you want no distractions, and you can change the table colour to suit your screen.
• Your wins, time and moves are tracked for the current game, so you can see how you are going.

Unlimited Undo deserves a special mention in Alaska. Because the game is hard, Undo is not cheating, it is how you learn. Try a line, see where it dead-ends, step back and try the other order. That is exactly how experienced players work out the patterns.

Strategy that actually works

1. Look before you touch anything

Every card except the face-down ones is visible from move one. Spend twenty seconds reading the board. Where are the aces? Which cards are buried under them? Alaska rewards a plan far more than it rewards speed.

2. Dig on the right, not the left

Columns 6 and 7 hide five and six face-down cards. Those hidden cards are your main problem, so aim your early moves at uncovering them. Column 1 has a single card and will empty quickly, which is useful only if you have a king ready to move in.

3. Use big group moves as a shovel

Since a group does not need to be in sequence, one well-chosen card can shift six or seven cards at once and expose a face-down card underneath. Look for the lowest face-up card in a column that has a legal landing spot elsewhere.

4. Be careful with the up-and-down rule

This is the trap that catches new players. Building 6♠, 7♠, 6♠... a zig-zag pile looks productive but buries cards you will need later in the wrong order. As Solitaire Bliss puts it, mixing directions often just pushes your problems down the road. Change direction only when it buys you a face-down card or an ace.

5. Do not rush cards to the foundations

A 3 of hearts sitting in the tableau can hold a 2 or a 4 of hearts and help you dig. Once it is on the foundation it can do nothing for you. Send cards up when they are no longer useful as anchors, or when you are on the home straight.

6. Empty a column only with a purpose

An empty column is worth very little unless a king (with an awkward pile on top of it) is waiting to move there. Plan the king first, then make the space.

7. Common mistakes to avoid

• Playing the first legal move you spot instead of the best one.
• Burying a needed low card under a long group.
• Filling your only empty column with a king you did not need to move.
• Forgetting that a card can go up as well as down, many "stuck" boards have a move hiding in the other direction. Tap Hint if you doubt it.
• Restarting the moment things look grim. Undo a few moves instead and take the other fork.

Verified numbers: just how hard is Alaska?

Alaska is one of the genuinely difficult patience games, and the published data backs that up.

• Solitaired reports that of 153,526 random Alaska games played on its site, 7,799 were won, a win rate of 5.08%.
• By comparison, the same site's difficulty data puts standard Yukon at 13.69%. So Alaska's extra freedom does not make it easier, it makes it roughly two and a half times harder to finish.
• Solitaire Bliss lists Alaska's winning statistics as about 3 in 100 games.

Two honest points about those figures. They come from games played by real people, so they measure human results, not what a perfect player could achieve. And they are pooled world-wide, nobody publishes Alaska win rates for New Zealand alone, so we are not going to pretend otherwise.

Playing patience in Aotearoa

What we can say about New Zealand is that we are a nation of comfortable online habits. InternetNZ's Internet Insights 2023 survey, run by Verian with 1,001 New Zealanders, found that 63% of us spend two to four hours a day online outside of work, and 27% spend five hours or more on the internet for personal use. A quiet card game is one of the gentler ways to use some of that time.

New Zealand also has real card-playing form. Five Hundred and Euchre have been fixtures at kitchen tables, in woolsheds and at the bach for generations, and patience has always been the game you play on your own when the weather closes in. Alaska suits a Kiwi winter evening in June or July perfectly: no rush, no noise, and a puzzle that lasts longer than the rain.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Alaska, Yukon and Russian Solitaire?

All three use the same deal and the same free-form group moves. Yukon builds down in alternating colours. Russian Solitaire builds down in suit. Alaska builds in suit but either up or down. Try Yukon Solitaire first if Alaska feels brutal.

Is every Alaska deal winnable?

No. Some deals cannot be solved no matter how well you play, which is normal for games with no stock pile. That is why a low win rate is nothing to be embarrassed about.

Can I really move a messy pile of cards together?

Yes. Pick up any face-up card and everything above it travels with it, in any order. Only the card you picked up must match the destination by suit and by one rank up or down.

Can I put a queen in an empty column?

No, only a king, or a group of cards with a king at the bottom.

Do I have to register or pay?

Never. No account, no email, no download, no install, no ads and no charges. Hint, Undo, Restart and Auto Play are all included for everyone.

The cards are small on my screen. Can I fix that?

Yes. Use the zoom control to enlarge the board, and switch on fullscreen for more room. You can also change the table colour if the contrast suits your eyes better.

Will it work on my iPad or phone?

Yes, in any modern browser, on desktop, tablet or phone. Tap to move cards if dragging is fiddly on a small screen.

What should I play if I want a break from Alaska?

Have a look at FreeCell for pure logic, Spider Solitaire for a long build-up, Pyramid or Golf for something quicker, or browse the full list on our games page. There are more tips and write-ups on the blog.

Now shuffle up and have a go. Read the board, dig on the right, keep Undo handy, and when one of those 5-in-100 wins finally lands, you will know you earned it.