Pyramid Solitaire

1 Overview

Pyramid Solitaire is a solitaire card game where the goal is to remove all 28 cards arranged in a 7-row pyramid by pairing cards that add up to 13. Kings (worth 13) are removed alone; all other cards must be paired with a card that brings their total to 13 (Queen+Ace, Jack+2, 10+3, 9+4, 8+5, 7+6). The remaining 24 cards form the stock.

Pyramid is one of the harder solitaire variants -- the win rate is relatively low. Its simple premise (pairs summing to 13) makes it immediately understandable, but the limited access to buried cards makes completion challenging and satisfying.

2 Setup

1. Deal 28 cards face-up in a 7-row triangular pyramid: 1 card in row 1, 2 in row 2, ... 7 in row 7. Each card in a lower row overlaps two cards in the row above.
2. A card is "uncovered" (available) when no cards below it overlap it.
3. Place the remaining 24 cards face-down as the stock.
4. Start with no waste pile.

3 Gameplay

1. Remove any pair of uncovered cards that sum to 13. Remove single Kings when uncovered.
2. After removing all possible pairs, flip the top stock card face-up to the waste pile. You can pair the waste top card with any uncovered tableau card summing to 13.
3. You can also pair two consecutive waste pile cards if they sum to 13 (house rule in some versions -- confirm before playing).
4. When stock is empty, you may optionally recycle the waste pile (flip it back) up to 2 more times (3 total passes through the stock in standard rules).

Win: Remove all 28 pyramid cards. Stock cards remaining don't matter -- clearing the pyramid wins.

4 Strategy

• Clear the apex first. The top card (row 1) is covered by the entire pyramid. Clearing a path to the top early opens major flexibility.
• Avoid burying needed cards. Before pairing two tableau cards, check if one of them is the only way to uncover a buried card you'll need later. Sometimes it's better to save a card even though you can pair it now.
• Track which ranks remain. If you've seen all the 6s and need a 7 (for a 6+7 pair), but haven't seen a 7 yet, it's in the stock. Plan your stock flips around missing card ranks.