Alaska belongs to the Yukon family. You may lift any face-up card and carry every card above it, in any order. The twist is the building rule. Piles run in one suit, and you may build up or down. Play it free in your browser.
Goal: Move all 52 cards to four foundations. Each one runs from Ace up to King in one suit.
This is the Yukon idea, and it is the heart of the game. Say a pile shows the 9 of hearts with a 2 and a King on top. You may move all three onto the 8 or the 10 of hearts. The junk rides along and lands somewhere new.
Long columns hide the cards you want. Shift the top group somewhere safe, then take the next one. Each lift should turn a card or free a suit. A move that does neither usually costs you later.
An empty column is rare and worth planning for. Pick the King that frees the most cards behind it. Sometimes it pays to leave the space open for a better King.
Three games share the Yukon deal and the lift-anything group move. Only the building rule changes.
Russian Solitaire is the closest relative, and we have it on this site too. Same deal, same group move, same one-suit rule. The only gap is direction. Russian lets you place a card one rank below the target. Alaska also lets you place one rank above it.
That extra direction matters more than it sounds. In Russian a stranded 10 of clubs needs the 9 of clubs to be free. In Alaska the Jack of clubs will do instead. So Alaska gives you roughly twice the landing spots and is the easier of the pair. If you find Alaska too forgiving, Russian is the next step up.
Yukon accepts any card of the other colour, so it has the most landing spots of the three. Alaska trades that width for the up-or-down freedom. Yukon is the friendlier game; Alaska asks you to track suits.
Alaska is a hard game for skilled players. The suit rule is strict and there is no stock to rescue you. Careful play wins a modest share of deals.
No. That is Yukon. Alaska piles run in one suit.
Yes. This is what sets Alaska apart. A 9 of clubs can go on the 8 or the 10 of clubs.
Yes. Take any face-up card with everything above it. Only its own rank and suit must fit the target.
No. Only a King, or a group with a King at the bottom.
Yes. Both games deal face-down cards under the columns. The building rule is the real difference.
No. Some deals cannot be solved. There is no stock and no redeal, so a deal can run out. The game ends the deal as soon as no run of moves can bank another card. That can happen while cards are still legal to shuffle, so you are told at once instead of pushing a card back and forth to find out. Undo to try another line.
One suit, both directions, whole groups at once. Play Alaska Solitaire now.