Pyramid (Traditional) — Rules
layout
- One deck, 52 cards
- Tableau piles: 28
- Clicking the stock deals 1 card to the waste
- The top card of the stock is face up and plays in pairs
- Total passes through the stock: 1
- Remove pairs of cards totalling 13 (ace = 1, jack = 11, queen = 12); kings are removed alone
goal & play
goal
Clear all 52 cards from the table — the 28-card pyramid and the whole stock. The game is won only when nothing is left anywhere.
The stock is gone through once and once only, and in that pass everything has to go. A pair is two cards adding up to 13: ace (1) with queen (12), 2 with jack (11), 3 with 10, and so on to 6 with 7. Only a card nothing covers is available: at the start, the bottom row of seven. The top card of the stock plays straight from the stock and pairs both with the pyramid and with the top of the waste. A king needs no partner — the helper takes it once it is free, and an empty waste draws from the stock by itself. Tapping a card highlights its partners, tapping one removes the pair.
nuances
One pass and no second one: whatever sits in the waste when the stock runs out stays there for good. Deals like this come out rarely — this is the hardest of the pyramids, and losing is the ordinary outcome. Both helpers can be switched off in the game menu.
tactics
Count what is still in the stock before you take a pair off the table: a card whose partner has already gone will stand there to the end.
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