The following rules seem to apply to the current run of Alaskan license plates. Some of these rules are only de facto rules because they come from nothing more than direct observation. Others are from the applicable laws and regulations or from information from the DMV.

• No non-personalized plate should have the letters Q, I, or O in it.

  The POW and KID plates are the only official exceptions that I know of. The Centennial E series had some plates with an EAQ prefix, but this was in error and has not yet been repeated..

• Most "series" plates (9999 XX, XXX 999) should start the series with 1000 or 100 rather than 0001 or 001.

  Exceptions I know of: the legislators' Centennial plates, the DMV suffix plates, the POW plates, and the KID plates.

• Only the AST (State Troopers), DAV/DAW (Disabled Vet), DMV, FWP (Fish & Wildlife), HCP (Handicapped) and KID series sometimes have the letters and numbers swapped (999 XXX instead of XXX 999).

  There are exceptions - I've also spotted [318EYE].

• The same plate cannot appear on multiple vehicles.

  The DMV has confirmed that legislators' plates are the only exception.

• There are no BY-, BZ-, or CX- passenger plates. So far, there are no DA-, DB- (except for the disabled vet DBx plates), DC-, DD-, or DE- prefixed plates, and the only D-- suffixed plates are DAV, DAW, and DMV.

  I have confirmed with the DMV that the DA-DE series is reserved for disabled veteran use later.

• Some series plates without the Alaska flag in the center of the plate (like XX, YY, and ZZ) seem to sometimes have a full space or a half-space in the middle, and sometimes not.

  See the exempt plates.

• No personalized plate should more than six characters (including spaces).

  There are exceptions, but there's no way to specify this on the DMV's request form, and the DMV tells me that there's no way to enter this into the system, either. The first one sighted was the [ADM KDM] plate. I have also seen [KS N OS], [A NET T], [FSH LPS], [SELL IT], [HUMM DL] and [NYY FAN] plates. I have never seen a regular-issue plate with seven non-space characters. See the exceptions for photos.

• The two personalized plates issued for a particular vehicle should be identical.

  John Carty has reported the [BYBY] vs. [BY BY] exception, but I have no photos yet.

• No personalized plate can have the pattern XXXX99, XXX999, 99XXXX, or 999XXX (where 9 is any digit and X is any character.)

  The 999XXX rule is relatively recent; I have seen personalized plates on the road that violate this rule, including [318EYE], [555WRC], [747DRV], [747CPT], and [888WPS], though I haven't seen them in a long time, and they may have been revoked or may have expired. There are, apparently, exceptions to the XXX999 rule ([FLY130],[PRO454],[LIN168],) but they may use I and 0 instead of 1 and O, respectively.

• No personalized plate should have any punctuation.

  Some people add their own punctuation. I have seen one ([10-24], with a dash) that MIGHT have been from the factory. I've seen accent marks, apostrophes, and one very impressive ampersand.

• No personalized plate can have an Alaska ham radio callsign.

  There are other procedures for obtaining these. Because of their role in helping out during the 1964 Alaska Earthquake, ham radio operators don't have to pay extra for ham plates.

  John Carty suggests that it is likely that there are exceptions, because many ham radio callsigns, especially those from other states, can be difficult to recognize.

• All personalized plates should have their text centered.

  The DMV paper form for getting plates lets you specify spaces as characters, so you can create your own justification. This is not available on the DMV on-line form.

  The most notable examples are the right-flush [OMA] and [RS] plates, and [SCAMMR]. see the exceptions for photos.

• "Ethnic, racial, or vulgar words, or words with indecent connotations, are not allowed."

  There are clear exceptions, but it's not really my place to point them out. :) The news page has some links to newspaper articles about this, though.