Solitaire card games/Pyramid

In this game, you move cards from the Pyramid (stock) to the foundation

Rules edit

The object of the game is to remove pairs of cards that add up to the total of the highest card in the deck from a Pyramid arrangement of 28 cards.

Jacks value at 11, Queens 12, and Kings 13. So the highest value is 13. To set up the Pyramid, one card is dealt face up at the top of the playing area, then two cards beneath and partially covering it, then three beneath them, and so on completing with a row of seven cards for a total of 28 cards dealt. The remaining cards are placed to the side face down. This is the Stock.

To play, pairs of exposed cards can be removed to the Foundation if their values total 13. Thus, Kings can be removed immediately to the Foundation. Cards must not be covered. Thus when an Ace rests on a Queen, that Queen can not be removed.

You may draw cards from the stock one at a time and match it with any exposed card. If no match is made the drawn stock card is still discarded into the Foundation.

Once the stock is exhausted and/or no more pairs can be made, the game ends.

To score, count the number of remaining face-up cards in the Pyramid. A perfect score is, therefore, zero, where all cards have been matched into the Foundation. For the game to be considered won, all cards (cards from the Pyramid and cards from the stock) must be moved to the foundation; the game cannot be won if at least two cards cannot be moved from the stock.

Variations edit

  • Relaxed Pyramid Solitaire: to be considered won, all cards from the Pyramid must be moved to the foundation; the game can still be won with cards left in the stock.
  • Redeals may be allowed.
  • Three cards at a time from the stack, repeating until no matches can be made; placing all cards totalling 13 in a stack.
  • Alternatively, seven cards are dealt below the Pyramid. These cards can match each other exposed cards in the Pyramid or from the stack.
  • Another addition is playing Pyramid Solitaire with a cell, filled either from the tableau or from the waste upcard.
  • Several variations allow a card on the Pyramid to be removed in combination with a card covered by the first, so long as neither card is covered by a card not in the combo. For example, in the case of an exposed ace resting on a queen, the queen can be removed with the ace if no other cards are covering them, but if (for example) a jack is also on the queen, the queen cannot be removed. Other versions require that both cards be fully exposed to begin with.