The Pyramid layout
Pyramid belongs to the family of patience games where cards are removed by numeric rule rather than sequenced to foundations. The triangular layout — one card at the apex, expanding to seven cards at the base — gives the game its name and its distinctive challenge: each upper card is blocked by the two cards directly below it.
This version pairs cards totaling 13, using Jack as 11, Queen as 12, King as 13, and Ace as 1. Suits do not matter.
Full rules
The 52-card deck is split into a 28-card pyramid (rows 1 through 7) and a 24-card stock. Cards in the pyramid start face-up but are only available when both cards directly below them have been removed.
Available cards are uncovered pyramid cards and the top waste card. Pairs totaling 13 are removed together. Kings (value 13) are removed alone. Draw one card at a time from the stock to the waste; up to two stock recycles are allowed. Clear all 52 cards to win. The engine also permits a covered card to pair with its last remaining coverer when those two cards total 13.
Key strategic concepts
When two pairs are legal, compare which upper cards they expose. Removing one of two blockers does not by itself make the card above available; removing the second one does.
A pyramid-to-pyramid pair can remove two blockers without using a waste card. A waste-to-waste pair can still matter in the full-clear version because every stock and waste card must eventually be removed.
Read the full Pyramid strategy guide →
How it differs from other solitaires
Most solitaire games ask you to build sequences toward foundations. Pyramid asks you to destroy the layout entirely by pairing. Suit is irrelevant — only card values matter. The strategic tension is unique: the pair that looks useful now may be the only pair available for a critical removal three moves later.
Pyramid variants
All six variants are available from the variant selector above. A brief summary of what each changes:
- Relaxed Pyramid — win by clearing only the pyramid; stock and waste cards don’t need to be removed
- Tut’s Tomb — one waste pile with draw-three stock
- Apophis — three simultaneous waste lanes instead of one
- Giza — one pyramid and eight open reserve piles; no stock
- Triangle — inverted layout; win by clearing the triangle alone
Pyramid is part of Pyramid Park · Pyramid & peaks.
More Pyramid & peaks games
- Apophis — Pyramid with three waste piles.
- Giza — Eight open reserve columns, no stock phase.
- Relaxed Pyramid — Clear only the pyramid; stock may remain.
- Triangle — Inverted-pyramid layout variant.
- Tut’s Tomb — Pyramid with a three-card stock draw cadence.
Also try
- Baroness (Pairing & removal) — Discard pairs summing to 13.
- Golf (Golf & adjacency) — Play cards one above or below the waste top.
- Ninety-One (Grid & sequence puzzles) — Move top cards among thirteen piles until their values add to 91.
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