Away from the screen
Play Pyramid with a real deck
Use one standard 52-card deck with the jokers removed. You need room for seven overlapping rows, plus a stock and waste pile.
Deal the pyramid
- Deal one card face up for the top row.
- Deal two face-up cards beneath it so each overlaps the lower half of the top card.
- Continue with rows of three, four, five, six, and seven cards. Each card above should be covered by two cards in the row below.
- Place the remaining 24 cards face down as the stock. Leave room beside it for a face-up waste pile.
Rules version 1.0.0
Pyramid rules
Use only exposed cards
A pyramid card becomes available only after both cards that cover it have been removed. All seven cards in the bottom row begin exposed.
Make thirteen
Remove two available cards whose values total 13. Aces count 1, numbered cards use their number, jacks count 11, and queens count 12.
Remove kings alone
A king already counts 13, so remove an exposed pyramid king or a king on top of the waste without pairing it.
Draw once through the stock
Turn stock cards face up one at a time. Only the current waste top may pair with an exposed pyramid card, or leave by itself if it is a king. There is no redeal.
Respect the waste order
Drawing a new card covers the previous waste top. A covered waste card becomes available again only if every card above it is later removed.
How the deal ends
You win as soon as all 28 pyramid cards are gone, even if cards remain in the stock or waste. If the stock is empty and no available pyramid or waste removal remains, the deal is stalled.
Plan beyond the obvious pair
Pyramid strategy
Prefer removals that uncover new cards or release a card whose other covering child is already gone.
Check every exposed board-board pair first. A new draw buries the current waste top and may make it difficult to recover.
An available king needs no partner. Removing it can uncover options without consuming another useful rank.
Think in fixed pairs: ace–queen, two–jack, three–ten, four–nine, five–eight, and six–seven.
Before you remove
Common mistakes
- Treating a half-covered card as available. Both covering cards must be gone before the card above can move.
- Pairing two waste cards. Only the waste top is available, and it can pair only with an exposed pyramid card.
- Looking for a partner for a king. Kings leave on their own because they already equal 13.
- Turning the waste over for another pass. This version uses the 24-card stock once and never redeals it.
- Trying to empty every pile. Clearing the pyramid wins immediately; leftover stock and waste cards do not matter.
Choose the rules before the deal
Pyramid variants
Pyramid has many published and house-rule variations. The playable game above intentionally uses one precise ruleset so a saved deal, its hints, and its replay all keep using the same rules.
Draw one card at a time, use only the waste top, and make a single pass through the stock with no redeal.
Some tables permit one or more additional stock passes. That changes which deals are solvable and is not enabled here.
Other versions deal extra cards into exposed reserve spaces. Those cards and their additional choices are not part of this 28-card layout.