How to play Pyramid

Pyramid is a solitaire game played with a single 52-card deck. Twenty-eight cards are built into a pyramid of seven rows, and the remaining twenty-four become the stock. The aim is to clear the whole pyramid by removing cards in pairs that add up to thirteen.

The layout

• The pyramid — seven rows, holding one card at the top and seven along the bottom. Each card rests on two cards in the row below and partly covers them.
• The stock — the twenty-four cards left over, face down.
• The waste — where cards go as you turn them over from the stock. Only the top one is in play.

Card values

Aces are worth 1, number cards their face value, Jacks 11, Queens 12 and Kings 13.

Suits and colours do not matter at all in Pyramid. Only the numbers count.

Removing cards

Take away any two available cards that add up to thirteen:

• Ace and Queen
• Two and Jack
• Three and Ten
• Four and Nine
• Five and Eight
• Six and Seven

A King is already thirteen, so it goes on its own.

A card is available when it is exposed — nothing is resting on top of it. In the pyramid, that means both cards below it have already gone. The bottom row is exposed from the start. The top card of the waste is always available too, and can pair with any exposed pyramid card.

The stock

Turn cards from the stock to the waste one at a time. When the stock runs out, the waste goes back and you can go through it again — as many times as you like.

That matters more than it sounds. With a single pass, a great many Pyramid deals are simply impossible, and a puzzle nobody can solve is not much of a puzzle. Unlimited passes turn it back into a game of planning rather than luck.

Winning, and scoring

You win by clearing all twenty-eight pyramid cards. Cards left in the stock and waste do not matter.

The daily is scored on how many pyramid cards you clear, not simply on whether you finished. Every player gets the same deal, so the number is directly comparable — and even on a deal nobody can clear, the result still says who played it best. Time only breaks ties.

A few pointers

• Look down before you look up. Removing a card only helps if it opens something useful beneath it. Two cards that clear one pyramid card between them are worth more than two that clear none.
• Count what you still need. If both black Sevens are gone and a Six is buried deep, that Six now needs one of the two remaining red Sevens. Keep track of which pairs are still possible.
• Do not empty the waste carelessly. A card on the waste is available every time it comes round again; a card you take early might have been the better partner for something you have not opened yet.
• Kings are free. Take them whenever they appear — they cost nothing and can only open up the board.