Solitaire Pyramid

Pyramid Solitaire is a pairing card game where cards are arranged in a pyramid shape of 28 cards (7 rows). The player removes cards by pairing two exposed cards that sum to 13. Kings, worth 13 on their own, are removed individually. The goal is to clear the entire pyramid. Its visual layout and simple pairing mechanic make it one of the most recognizable solitaire variants.

Rules

1. Pyramid: 28 cards are dealt face-up in a pyramid of 7 rows: 1 card in row 1, 2 in row 2, up to 7 in row 7. Each card partially covers two cards in the row below.
2. Stock and Waste: The remaining 24 cards form the stock. Cards are drawn one at a time to a waste pile.
3. Exposed Cards: A card is "exposed" (available for pairing) when no cards overlap it. Initially, only the 7 cards in the bottom row are exposed.
4. Pairing: Remove pairs of exposed cards that sum to 13:

• King (13) = removed alone
• Queen (12) + Ace (1)
• Jack (11) + 2
• 10 + 3
• 9 + 4
• 8 + 5
• 7 + 6

1. Drawing: Draw cards from the stock to the waste pile. The top waste card is available for pairing with exposed pyramid cards or the next drawn card.
2. Recycling: In some variants, the waste pile can be recycled through the stock once or twice.
3. Winning: Clear all 28 cards from the pyramid.

Strategies

• Remove Kings Immediately: Kings are removed alone, so clear them as soon as they are exposed.
• Look for Chains: Before making a move, scan for chain reactions — removing one pair may expose cards that enable further pairs.
• Balance the Pyramid: Try to remove cards evenly from both sides. A lopsided pyramid creates dead ends where buried cards cannot be reached.
• Manage the Stock Carefully: Don't just draw mindlessly. Check if the current waste card pairs with anything before drawing the next.
• Prioritize Pyramid Cards Over Stock: Pair two pyramid cards rather than pairing a pyramid card with a stock card, since clearing the pyramid is the goal.
• Plan for Deeply Buried Cards: Identify which key cards are buried and work out the sequence of removals needed to expose them.

Pyramid Solitaire's origins are difficult to trace, as patience card games were widely played in Europe from the late 18th century onward without formal documentation. The game appears in various early 20th century card game compilations, sometimes under names like "Pile of 28" or "Pyramid."

The game became widely known through its inclusion in early computer solitaire collections. It was one of the games featured in various shareware solitaire packages for DOS and early Windows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Its simple rules and appealing visual layout made it a natural fit for computer adaptation.

Microsoft significantly boosted the game's popularity by including it in the Microsoft Solitaire Collection, which debuted with Windows 8 in 2012 and is available on Windows 10, Windows 11, iOS, and Android. The Microsoft version features daily challenges, themed events, and difficulty ratings that have kept millions of players engaged.

Mathematically, Pyramid Solitaire has a relatively low win rate — estimated at around 1 in 20 deals (roughly 5%) in the standard version without waste pile recycling. With one or two recycles through the stock, the win rate improves to roughly 30-40%. This makes it one of the harder common solitaire games, and part of its appeal is the challenge of finding those elusive winning paths.