Alaska Solitaire
Added 02/2026
Alaska Solitaire: The Wild Frontier of Card Sorting
By Martin Petroff
If you loved the rule-breaking freedom of Yukon Solitaire but are looking for a completely different flavor of puzzle, you need to pack your bags for Alaska Solitaire. This brilliant variation uses the exact same layout and the same wildly liberating "move any stack" mechanic as Yukon, but it completely rewrites the rules of how you build your tableau. Instead of stacking cards in alternating colors, Alaska forces you to build strictly in the same suit. However, to balance this massive restriction, it gives you a superpower: you can build your columns in both ascending and descending order! It creates a fascinating, fluid puzzle where a single column can zig-zag up and down in numbers.
How to Play
Because there is no stockpile or waste pile, the entire game takes place directly on the tableau from the very first second. Here is how to navigate the wild mechanics of Alaska.
The Objective: Just like its cousin Yukon, your goal is to move all 52 cards into four "Foundation" piles at the top of the board, building them up by suit from Ace to King.
The Setup (The Tableau):
Shuffle a standard 52-card deck. There will be no stockpile.
Deal the cards into seven columns from left to right.
Column 1: Receives 1 card face up.
Columns 2 through 7: Receive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 cards dealt face down, respectively.
The Final Deal: Finally, deal 5 face-up cards onto the bottom of columns 2 through 7. (All 52 cards are now on the board).
How to Play:
The "Two-Way" Building Rule: You can build the tableau columns in either ascending OR descending order, but they must be the exact same suit. (For example, an 8 of Spades can be placed onto a 9 of Spades, OR it can be placed onto a 7 of Spades!).
The "Move Anything" Rule: This is the magic of the Yukon family. You can grab any face-up card in a column and move it, dragging every single card sitting on top of it along for the ride—even if they are a completely mixed-up, out-of-order mess. The only rule is that the bottom-most card of the group you are moving must form a valid ascending or descending same-suit match with its target.
No Wrapping: Ranks do not wrap around. You cannot place a King onto an Ace, or an Ace onto a King.
Untangling the Mess: Because you are building by the same suit, the game is highly restrictive. You must use the "two-way" building rule to temporarily stash huge chunks of cards while you hunt for buried Aces to move to your foundations.
Revealing Cards: Whenever a face-down card at the bottom of a column is fully exposed, flip it face up.
Empty Columns: If you completely clear one of your seven columns, you can only move a King (and whatever messy stack of cards is attached to it) into that empty space.