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Cards to Draw: 3

Play Pyramid Solitaire Online Free

Pyramid is a quick solitaire game about simple sums. Instead of building columns you take cards away in pairs that add up to 13, and the goal is to take apart a pyramid of 28 cards. A game lasts a few minutes, but the order you remove cards in matters more than it first seems. It is free here, with no download and no signup. Every deal has a number you can share, and Hint and Undo have no limit.

How to play Pyramid Solitaire

The deal lays out 28 cards face up in seven rows: one card at the top, two below it, and so on down to seven at the bottom. Each card is partly covered by the two cards in the row below it. The other 24 cards go face down into the stock.

  • Card values: an ace is 1, number cards are worth their number, a jack is 11, a queen 12 and a king 13.
  • Pairs: remove two cards whose values add up to 13: ace and queen, 2 and jack, 3 and 10, 4 and 9, 5 and 8, 6 and 7. Tap one card and then the other, or drag one onto the other.
  • Kings: a king is already 13, so it is removed on its own with a single tap.
  • Which cards can be played: a pyramid card is playable once both cards covering it are gone. The top card of the waste pile is playable too.
  • The stock: tap it to turn one card onto the waste. When it is empty, tap it again to turn the waste back over. You get three passes through the stock in all.
  • Winning: clear all 28 pyramid cards. Cards left in the stock or the waste do not matter.

Pyramid strategy

Before the first move, look at what each pair would uncover. Taking a pair from the bottom row is only useful if it frees a card above it, and a card is freed only when both of its covering cards are gone. Prefer pairs that work on the same part of the pyramid over pairs that nibble at two different corners.

Count the ranks. There are four cards of each rank, so there are four of every partner. If a 6 sits directly on top of a 7, those two can never be removed together, and you will need another 7 for that 6 and another 6 for that 7. When the pyramid has several cards of the same rank, decide which one each partner is for before you spend it. A 9 used on a waste 4 is a 9 that cannot free a 4 in the pyramid later.

Treat the stock as a resource you can learn. After the first pass you have seen every card in it, and the order never changes, so on the second and third passes you know which card is coming next. Kings in the stock cost nothing: remove them when they turn up. If you are stuck, Hint points at a king or a pair you can remove, or at the stock when there is nothing else, and Undo takes back as many moves as you like.

Many Pyramid deals cannot be cleared even with perfect play, so a lost game is not always a mistake.

Features

  • Numbered deals: every game from #1 to #1,000,000 has its own link, so a friend can play the same cards.
  • Hints and undo: Hint shows a pair you can remove, and undo and redo have no limit.
  • Your stats: games played, wins, streaks and best times are kept in this browser, with no account.
  • No download, no signup: open the page and play, on desktop or phone.

For longer games, try Klondike Solitaire, FreeCell or Spider Solitaire.