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Find answers to the most common questions about Pyramid Solitaire, from pairing rules and pyramid layout to stock pile mechanics and scoring systems.
The pyramid consists of 28 cards dealt face-up in 7 rows. The top row has 1 card, the second row has 2, and each successive row adds one more card, down to 7 cards in the bottom row. Each card partially overlaps two cards in the row below it, creating a triangular shape. The remaining 24 cards from the 52-card deck form the stock pile.
Only fully exposed cards can be removed. A card is considered exposed when neither of the two cards overlapping it from the row below are still present. At the start, only the 7 cards in the bottom row are exposed. As you remove cards from lower rows, cards in upper rows become accessible. You cannot remove a card that is still partially covered by another card.
There are six valid two-card combinations:
Kings have a value of 13 and are removed by themselves without needing a partner. Suit does not matter — any two cards of the correct ranks can be paired regardless of whether they are Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, or Spades.
Kings have a rank value of 13, which is the target sum by itself. Since a King already equals 13 without needing a second card, it is simply removed on its own whenever it becomes exposed. This makes Kings particularly valuable — each King you remove opens up the pyramid without requiring you to find a matching partner.
When no exposed pyramid cards can be paired with each other, draw cards from the stock pile. Each drawn card goes to the waste pile, and the top waste card can be paired with any exposed pyramid card that brings the total to 13. It cannot be paired with another waste card, so drawing again buries it. When the stock is exhausted, flip the waste pile over to form a new stock. Our game allows unlimited passes, so the game only ends when no pair is left anywhere.
The stock pile contains the 24 cards not dealt into the pyramid. You draw one card at a time from the stock, placing it face-up on the waste pile. Only the top card of the waste pile is available, and it pairs with an exposed pyramid card, never with another waste card. A King on the waste can be discarded on its own. When the stock runs out, turn the waste pile over to recycle it. Our game allows unlimited passes; many rule sets allow one, and some allow none.
Pyramid has one of the lowest win rates in solitaire, but no published figure measures the rules used here. The familiar “1 in 50” is Morehead and Mott-Smith guessing at a harder job, discarding all 52 cards in one pass. Michael Keller's solver, with perfect information, one pass and waste-to-stock pairing allowed, cleared the pyramid in about 8 percent of a million deals. Our game allows unlimited passes and no waste-to-stock pairing, so neither figure transfers, and we have not measured our own.
Our game scores 20 points for every pair removed and 10 for every King discarded alone, with no time bonus, no penalty for cards left behind and no clear-the-pyramid bonus. Other implementations use:
No. Suit is completely irrelevant in Pyramid Solitaire. The only thing that matters is whether two cards' rank values add up to 13. A 9 of Hearts pairs with a 4 of Clubs just as validly as a 9 of Spades with a 4 of Spades. This is a key difference from most other solitaire games, where suit determines which cards can be stacked together.
No. Only the top card of the waste pile is accessible, and it can pair with an exposed pyramid card only. You cannot dig into the waste pile for buried cards, and you cannot pair the top waste card with the next one you draw. Some relaxed variants do allow pairing the top two waste cards, which raises the win rate, but that is not the game here.