Pyramid Solitaire

How to play Pyramid Solitaire

Pyramid Solitaire is a pairing game. Twenty-eight cards are dealt face up in a pyramid of seven rows, each row overlapping the one above it. Your goal is to take every pyramid card out of play by pairing cards that add up to 13.

• Card values: Aces count 1, number cards count their number, Jacks 11, Queens 12 and Kings 13. So a 6 pairs with a 7, a 5 with an 8, a Jack with a 2 and a Queen with an Ace.
• Kings already make 13, so a King comes off on its own.
• Only uncovered cards play. A pyramid card is free once both cards overlapping it from the row below are gone. At the start, only the bottom row of seven is free.
• The stock: the other 24 cards sit face down at the top left. Click it to turn one card into the drawn spot. Turning the next card moves the drawn card onto the waste pile beside it.
• Two stock cards play at once: the drawn card and the top card of the waste. Either can pair with a free pyramid card, or with each other.
• Passes: when the stock runs out, click the empty stock to turn the waste back over and deal it again, in the same order. How often you may do that depends on the passes setting.
• Winning: clear all 28 pyramid cards. Cards left in the stock or waste don't matter.

Controls

• Computer: click a card, then a card that adds up to 13 with it, and both come off. Or drag one card onto its partner. Click the stock, or press D, to draw.
• Keyboard: the arrow keys move between the cards you can play and the stock. Enter or Space picks a card, and picking its partner makes the pair. Esc lets go of a picked card, and Ctrl/Cmd + Z undoes.
• Phone or tablet: tap a card and then its partner, or drag one onto the other. Tap the stock to draw.

Settings and features

• Passes through the stock. Choose 1, 2 or 3. With 1 pass you see the stock once, which makes most deals impossible. With 3 passes you can turn the waste over twice. Poozee starts you on 3 passes, and the Pass counter above the table shows which pass you're on.
• Winnable deals only. When it's on (the default), a solver plays out each new random deal before you see it and skips any it can't win with your pass setting, so every game you get has a solution. Turn it off for fully random deals.
• Numbered deals. Every deal has a number from 1 to 1,000,000, and the same number always gives the same cards. Click Deal # to replay one or to share it with a friend, or link straight to it, like poozee.com/games/pyramid-solitaire?deal=52.
• Hints from a solver. Press Hint and the solver looks for a way to clear the pyramid from exactly where you are. It lights up the pair to make, or the stock when the best move is to draw. If the deal can no longer be won from your position, it tells you, so you know to undo.
• Unlimited undo and restart. Take back any number of moves, or start the same deal over.
• Score, time and stats. Each pyramid card is worth 10 points, each stock card 5, and clearing the pyramid adds 100. Your games, wins, win streak and best time (for wins without Hint) are saved on this device, separately for each pass setting.

Quick strategy

1. Take Kings out right away. A King can't pair with anything, so it only ever gets in the way.
2. Look for cards stacked on their own partner. A card can never pair with a card it covers, so a 9 sitting on a 4 needs a different 4. Save one for it.
3. Don't grab every pair. When two 6s could take the same 7, pick the one that frees the cards you need next. Sometimes the right move is to draw and keep a card in reserve.
4. Count what's left. Before pairing two stock cards with each other, check that no pyramid card needs one of them.

Our Pyramid Solitaire strategy guide measures how often deals can be won with 1, 2 and 3 passes, tests simple strategies against perfect play, and walks through two positions where one choice decides the game.

Pro tip: On your second and third passes, you have already seen every stock card and the order they come in. Plan your pairs around the cards you know are coming.