How to Play Pyramid Solitaire

Overview & Objective

Pyramid is a one-player card game with a standard 52-card deck. Twenty-eight cards are dealt face up in the shape of a pyramid, and your job is to remove every one of them by pairing up cards whose values add up to 13. Because every pyramid card is face up, you can plan ahead — but only cards that nothing overlaps may be used, so the pyramid has to be dismantled from the bottom up.

Setup: The Pyramid, Stock & Waste

• Players: One.
• Deck: A standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
• The pyramid: 28 cards face up in seven rows — 1 card at the top, then 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Each row overlaps the row above it, so every card except the bottom row is partly covered by the two cards beneath it.
• Stock: The other 24 cards, kept in a pile at the top left. On CardCouch the top card of the stock is face up and can be paired; many other versions keep the stock face down, so only the waste top is in play.
• Waste: An empty space next to the stock where drawn cards go, face up. Only its top card is in play.
• Card values: Ace = 1, number cards their face value, Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13. Suits never matter.

Which Cards Are Uncovered

The single most important rule: a pyramid card can only be used when it is uncovered — when both cards directly below it have already been removed. At the start only the seven cards in the bottom row are uncovered. Remove two neighbours in the bottom row and the card they were both covering, one row up, becomes available. The apex card at the very top is the last to come free. On CardCouch, uncovered cards are the ones you can tap; covered cards are still visible so you can plan, but they do nothing until they are freed.

Pairs That Make 13

A move is removing two uncovered cards whose values total exactly 13. There are only six combinations, and they are worth learning by heart:

• Ace + Queen (1 + 12)
• 2 + Jack (2 + 11)
• 3 + 10
• 4 + 9
• 5 + 8
• 6 + 7

The two cards can come from anywhere that is in play: two pyramid cards, a pyramid card and the waste, a pyramid card and the stock top, or the waste and the stock top. Tap the first card to select it, then tap its partner; tap the selected card again to change your mind. To use the stock top, select its partner first — a tap on the stock with nothing selected draws the card instead.

Kings

A King is worth 13 all by itself, so it needs no partner: an uncovered King in the pyramid or on the waste is removed alone with a single tap. (A King on top of the stock is drawn to the waste first, then removed from there.) Kings are therefore the easiest cards in the game: every King in the pyramid is one card you never need a partner for.

The Stock, Waste & Passes

1. When no pair is available (or you would rather not take one), tap the stock to draw its top card onto the waste. There is no limit on drawing.
2. The top card of the waste is always in play. Cards underneath it come back into play as the ones above are removed.
3. When the stock is empty, tap it to recycle the waste into a new stock, in the same order as before.
4. On CardCouch you may go through the stock three times in total — the first pass and two recycles. The table shows how many recycles (passes left) remain. After the third pass the stock stays empty. The number of passes is the rule that varies most between versions: the strict traditional game allows one, some apps allow unlimited.

Winning (and Getting Stuck)

On CardCouch you win the moment the pyramid is empty — all 28 cards removed. It does not matter how many cards are still in the stock or waste (the strict traditional game also requires those to be cleared, which is why it is won far less often). If the stock is exhausted, no passes remain and no uncovered pair makes 13, the game is stuck; CardCouch tells you so, and you can use Undo to go back as far as you like and try another line, or deal a fresh game. Your moves and time are counted, and your best time, fewest moves and total wins are saved on your device.

Beginner Tips

• Start with the bottom row. Every card you clear there frees something above it; nothing else does.
• Look for the 13s before you draw. A pair that takes cards out of the pyramid is usually better than one that only uses the waste and stock, because only pyramid removals uncover anything.
• Remove Kings whenever they are available. A King can never be used for anything else, so removing it costs nothing and can only open things up.
• Count the partners. Each rank has four cards. If a card in the pyramid has only one partner left anywhere, don't pair that partner with something else — once all four partners are gone, the pyramid card and everything above it is stuck for good.
• Use Undo freely while learning. Seeing why a line failed is the fastest way to improve.

Ready for more? Our Pyramid Solitaire strategy guide goes deeper on clearing more deals.

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