Pyramide Solitaire

Pyramide, rules and strategy

An addition-based solitaire game: 28 cards in a pyramid, a stock, and a waste. Remove two free cards whose values add up to 13, or a King on its own. This site explains the exact rules, strategy, and games verified card by card. To play: Pyramide Solitaire, on iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Read the rulesDownload the app

Available on the App Store and on Google Play.

Pyramide Solitaire on a phone held in landscape orientation, at the start of a game on green felt: the pyramid of 28 face-up cards, the stock and waste (4♠); the timer at 0:00, the score at 0, and no moves played.

Pyramide at a glance

Pyramide is played alone with a 52-card deck. 28 cards form a pyramid of 7 rows, all face up, with each card partly covered by two cards in the row below. One card goes onto the waste; the other 23 form the stock.

A card is free when nothing covers it. Two free cards are removed together if their values add up to 13: A + Q, 2 + J, 3 + 10, 4 + 9, 5 + 8, 6 + 7. The King is worth 13 on its own and is removed without a partner. The top card of the waste counts as a free card. You win by clearing the pyramid. Each card removed from the pyramid earns 10 points: 280 for a winning game. The rules explain each move in detail, and the strategy explains how to approach the game.

A deal from the app

Here is deal PY1-N-AAAAAAS as dealt by the app. At the start, only the 7 bottom cards are free; R♦ can be removed immediately, and 10♣ pairs with 3♠. Paste this code into the New Game window to play it; a game won in 33 moves is detailed on the Examples page.

Stock: 23 cards; waste: 7 of diamonds. Row 1: jack of diamonds; row 2: 6 of clubs, 7 of hearts; row 3: ace of spades, 4 of diamonds, queen of spades; row 4: 5 of hearts, 3 of diamonds, 6 of hearts, 8 of spades; row 5: king of hearts, king of clubs, ace of diamonds, king of spades, 9 of clubs; row 6: queen of clubs, 2 of clubs, 8 of diamonds, 10 of diamonds, 10 of spades, jack of spades; row 7: 7 of clubs, 10 of clubs, 3 of hearts, 4 of hearts, 3 of spades, king of diamonds, 7 of spades.

Deal PY1-N-AAAAAAS at the start: a pyramid of 28 cards in 7 rows; a stock of 23 cards, waste 7♦. Green outline: free cards.

Where to start?

On phone and tablet

The app is played in landscape orientation. It offers a code for each game to replay or share a deal, undo for the last 100 actions, statistics, and 36 languages.

Pyramide Solitaire on a phone, partway through a game: 18 cards removed from the pyramid, 180 points, 48 moves, timer 2:31; waste 7♥.
Phone, in landscape orientation.
Pyramide Solitaire on a tablet: the same game (18 cards removed, 180 points), on a larger screen.
Tablet, in landscape orientation.