THE TWO-WAY YUKON
Alaska Solitaire
Play Alaska solitaire free online — no download, no sign-up, works on any device. Alaska takes Russian solitaire’s same-suit building and removes the one-way street: tableau sequences may run up or down in suit. The same open Yukon deal, the same move-any-group freedom, and a rare two-directional puzzle. Undo and hints are built in.
- 7
- tableau columns
- 21
- hidden cards
- ≈4/5
- solver lines found
8♠
Learn Alaska Solitaire in 90 seconds: rules and the two-way build
The no-stock deal, the group move, building in suit in either direction, and five habits that win more games. Full written rules follow below.
In this video
01 · THE WHOLE DECK IS OPEN
How Alaska solitaire works
The deal is the Yukon family’s: 52 cards in seven columns — a single face-up card on the first, one to six face-down cards topped by five face-up on the rest, with no stock and no waste. Any face-up card moves together with everything stacked on it, in order or not. The placement rule is Alaska’s own: the group’s bottom card must land on a card of the same suit exactly one rank away in either direction — the 8♠ plays on the 7♠ or the 9♠. Foundations still build Ace to King in suit, and banking all 52 wins.
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7 02 · ONE SUIT, TWO DIRECTIONS
Building in both directions
The two-way rule sounds like a small mercy and plays like a different geometry. Sequences can fold back on themselves — run a spade line 9-8-7, then climb it 7-8-9 later to relocate the whole thing. Cards that would be dead in Russian (a 9 with its 8 buried) often have a second exit upward. The cost is subtler: it is easy to build a beautiful ladder in the wrong direction and discover the card you need is inside it. Alaska trades Russian’s scarcity of moves for an abundance that must be sequenced correctly.
03 · THE FAMILY, SIDE BY SIDE
Alaska vs Russian vs Yukon
One family, three placement rules. Yukon: down, alternating colors — the roomiest. Russian: down, same suit — the cruelest. Alaska: same suit, both directions — measurably kinder than Russian (roughly twice the legal targets) yet still far stricter than Yukon, with a flavor all its own: no other common patience lets you reverse a sequence mid-game. If you enjoy suit-line planning but find Russian punishing, Alaska is the sweet spot.
04 · CLIMB TO DIG. DESCEND TO BANK.
Strategy: choose your direction late
Flips still come first — every face-down card freed is permanent progress in any variant of this family. Alaska’s own skill is direction discipline: before extending a suit line, ask which end you will need open later, and prefer moves that keep both ends reachable. Descending runs feed the foundations directly; ascending runs are for excavation — climb a line to lift it off a face-down card, then unwind it downward when the foundations call. Kings alone claim empty columns. The Hint button is backed by a search solver working from the actual deal: in our benchmark it finds a complete winning line on about four of five random deals, and hints then follow that line move for move; on the rest it plays the strongest continuation found. Deals stay honestly random.
05 · PLAY THE RULE
See the opening. Then move the loose group.
Both lessons restart to the same real deal. First make the move that turns new information face up. Then use Alaska’s two-way rule to carry a loose group of three or more cards.
01 Expose one hidden card Start with the universal Yukon-family priority: find the opening move that turns one face-down card face up. +
02 Move a loose group of three Feel the two-way rule: this deal opens with a group move of three or more cards. Remember the target may be one rank up OR down in suit. +
06 · FIVE WINNING HABITS
Five habits that win more Alaska games
Alaska gives you twice Russian’s options and twice its rope. These habits keep the extra freedom from hanging you.
- 01Flip before polishing
Flips outrank everything — a move that turns a face-down card beats any elegant re-stack.
- 02Protect both ends
Before extending a suit run, decide which end you’ll need later; a sequence with both ends buried is a wall, not a ladder.
- 03Climb to excavate
Use ascending moves to excavate and descending order to bank — climb cards off a dig site, unwind them when the foundation is ready.
- 04Keep a pivot free
Keep one “pivot” card free in each active suit — the card that lets a line reverse direction when the board demands it.
- 05Give Kings a purpose
Spend empty columns on Kings whose suit still has face-down cards to free; a finished suit’s King parks anywhere.
07 · QUICK ANSWERS
Alaska solitaire FAQ
01What’s the difference between Alaska and Russian solitaire?+
One rule: Russian builds down in suit only; Alaska builds in suit in EITHER direction — the 8♠ plays on the 7♠ or the 9♠. Everything else (the open Yukon deal, the group move, Kings to empty columns, the foundations) is identical, and the two-way rule makes Alaska noticeably more winnable.
02Can a sequence really run both ways?+
Yes — and it can reverse mid-game. A 9-8-7 spade run can later be climbed 7-8-9 to move it, because each single step is “same suit, one rank away”. Only the group’s bottom card is checked when it lands; the cards riding on top can be in any order.
03Is Alaska easier than Russian solitaire?+
Meaningfully — each card has up to two tableau destinations instead of one, so positions keep more escape routes. It remains much harder than Yukon, where any of two same-color cards can take your card. We log real games here and publish measured win rates for all three variants on our win-rates page once there is enough data; no invented percentages.
04Do the hints guarantee a win?+
Not on every deal — but they are solver-backed, like our Golf and FreeCell hints: the search works from the actual deal, finds a complete winning line on about 80% of random Alaska deals within its budget, and hints then walk that line. On deals where no line is found (a few are provably lost, a few exceed the search budget), hints play the strongest continuation instead. Deals are honestly random — no pre-filtered pool.
05What can I put on an empty column?+
Kings only, alone or carrying their stack — the family rule. In Alaska a well-timed King matters slightly less than in Russian (its suit has more ways to move), but empty columns are still the board’s scarcest resource.
06Where does Alaska solitaire come from?+
It is a modern member of the Yukon family, first appearing in computer solitaire collections as a Russian solitaire variant. The name follows the family’s northern theme — Yukon, Klondike, Alaska — rather than marking a documented origin.