Pyramid Solitaire

Only uncovered pyramid cards are playable. Pair any two exposed cards whose values total 13: Ace with Queen, 2 with Jack, 3 with 10, 4 with 9, 5 with 8, 6 with 7. Suit does not matter. Flip stock cards onto the waste and pair those too.

• Goal: clear the 28-card pyramid.
• Pairs sum to 13; Kings remove alone.
• Stock: one pass, draw one at a time to the waste.
• This page uses the relaxed win: empty pyramid counts even if stock remains.

Demolish the pyramid. Strict table rules also want the stock and waste empty; here the pyramid alone decides the win.

1. Deal 28 face-up cards in rows of 1 through 7, overlapping downward.
2. Stack the remaining 24 face-down as the stock.
3. Leave space for a waste pile beside the stock.

1. A pyramid card is exposed when nothing in the row below covers it.
2. Tap two cards that sum to 13 to remove them, or tap a King once to clear it.
3. Draw from the stock when you need another available card on the waste.
4. When the stock is empty and no pairs remain, the deal is over.

Win when every pyramid slot is empty. Losses leave cards stuck in the pyramid with no legal pair and an empty stock.

• Strict Pyramid: stock and waste must clear too.
• Redeals: turn the waste back into a stock once or twice.
• Tut's Tomb: draw three stock cards at a time.

• Clear Kings the moment they expose.
• Before pairing, check whether either card has a second partner elsewhere.
• Work the base row from the edges inward so upper cards free earlier.

Exposed card

A pyramid card not covered by the row below.

Pair of 13

Two ranks whose values add to 13; Kings count as 13 alone.

Pyramid patience shows up in the 1800s as a teaching game for rank arithmetic. Computer solitaire packs in the 1990s, and later phone apps, made the Egyptian layout the default look.