How to play
Pyramid is solitaire as arithmetic. There’s no building down in alternating colours and no foundations to fill. You clear cards in pairs whose values add up to 13, and the goal is to take the whole pyramid apart before the stock runs dry for good.
The layout. Twenty-eight cards are dealt face up into a pyramid seven rows tall: one card at the peak, two beneath it, down to seven across the bottom. Each card is partly covered by the two cards in the row below it. The remaining 24 cards form the stock, with an empty waste pile beside it and a discard spot for removed cards.
Card values. Ace = 1, 2 to 10 = face value, Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13.
What you can do:
- Remove a pair totalling 13. The matches are A+Q, 2+J, 3+10, 4+9, 5+8 and 6+7. Tap one card to select it, then tap its partner, and both go to the discard.
- Remove a King by itself. It’s already worth 13; one tap sends it away.
- Turn the stock. Tap the stock to flip its top card onto the waste. The top waste card counts as available and can pair with a free pyramid card.
- Recycle the waste. When the stock is empty, tap it to turn the waste pile back over and go through again. You get two recycles, so three passes through the stock in total.
Only uncovered cards can be used: a pyramid card becomes free once both cards resting on it from the row below have been removed. The bottom row starts free.
You win when every one of the 28 pyramid cards is gone. Cards left in the stock or waste don’t matter. If you run out of passes and pairs, the game ends.
Undo steps back as far as you like, Hint highlights a good pair, and the move counter and timer track your game. Progress is saved automatically.
Reading the pyramid
The shape decides most games. To reach the peak card, all 27 cards beneath it must go. To free a card in the second row from the bottom, two specific bottom-row cards have to be removed first.
That creates the classic Pyramid trap: two partners stacked in the same line. Say a 4 sits in the fifth row and the only 9 you haven’t seen yet lies directly underneath it. The 4 can’t be freed until the 9 is gone, and the 9 can’t be removed without a partner. If the other three 9s have already been paired off, that 4 is stuck for good.
Strategy
Spread your work across the bottom. Every card above the bottom row needs two neighbours cleared. Taking pairs from one end only leaves the other half locked; working evenly opens more choices.
Prefer pyramid-to-pyramid pairs. Pairing two pyramid cards clears two spots and can open up cards above both. Using a waste card instead clears only one spot. When both options exist, the pyramid pair usually comes first.
But don’t waste the waste. A waste card you skip goes under the next one, and you won’t see it again until the next pass. If the top waste card is the only partner for a free pyramid card, take it.
Count partners. Each value has exactly four partners in the deck (four Queens for the aces, four 9s for the 4s, and so on). Keep a rough count of what’s been removed. When a buried card is down to its last possible partner, plan the clearing so you reach it in time.
Kings are free points, but timing matters. A King on the bottom row should go immediately, since it costs nothing. A King turned up from the stock can be tapped away straight from the waste.
Use the first pass to learn. You’ll go through the 24 stock cards three times. On the first pass, notice where the useful cards sit; on the second and third, you’ll know what’s coming and can hold pyramid cards back for them.
Many deals can’t be won. Pyramid is known for low win rates, because stacked partners and a limited stock often leave no solution. A loss is usually the deal, not your play.
If you like pairing puzzles, TriPeaks runs on adjacent ranks instead of sums, and Klondike is the classic build-down game.
If you enjoy Pyramid Solitaire, try Rummy 500 or Scopa next.
