How to play Pyramid Solitaire

The cards are dealt in a pyramid. The goal is to clear it by removing pairs of cards that add up to thirteen.

Number cards count as their number, a Jack is 11, a Queen 12 and a King 13. A King is removed on its own; a Queen pairs with an Ace, a Jack with a 2, a 10 with a 3, and so on.

Only cards with nothing on top of them can be used. Tap a card to pick it up, then tap its partner. Tap the face-down pile to turn over more cards; the top card of the face-up pile can be paired too.

Every deal you are given can be cleared — the game checks before it deals. If you are stuck, undo a few moves and try another pairing, or ask for a hint.

You can play entirely with the keyboard: Tab puts a cursor on the table, the arrow keys move it, Enter picks a card up and puts it down, and S reads out everything on the table.

Playing with the keyboard

Press Tab to put the cursor on the table. ← and → move between piles, ↑ and ↓ move up and down a pile. Enter picks a card up and puts it down again where you want it, and Esc puts it back. Press S at any time to hear everything on the table at once, pile by pile. Every card and pile says its name out loud for screen readers.

Settings

Card size

Card faces

Big numbers puts one large number and suit on each card instead of a row of pips. Automatic uses them when the cards are small.

Layout

Left-handed mirrors the table, so the draw pile and free cells sit on the right.

Table colour

Start a new game?

Your current game will be lost.

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Pyramid Solitaire

Pyramid is quick and gentle: clear a pyramid of twenty-eight cards by pairing up any two that add to thirteen. Kings are worth thirteen on their own, so they go straight off.

How to play Pyramid Solitaire

The cards are dealt in a pyramid. The goal is to clear it by removing pairs of cards that add up to thirteen.

Number cards count as their number, a Jack is 11, a Queen 12 and a King 13. A King is removed on its own; a Queen pairs with an Ace, a Jack with a 2, a 10 with a 3, and so on.

Only cards with nothing on top of them can be used. Tap a card to pick it up, then tap its partner. Tap the face-down pile to turn over more cards; the top card of the face-up pile can be paired too.

Every deal you are given can be cleared — the game checks before it deals. If you are stuck, undo a few moves and try another pairing, or ask for a hint.

You can play entirely with the keyboard: Tab puts a cursor on the table, the arrow keys move it, Enter picks a card up and puts it down, and S reads out everything on the table.

Questions people ask

Which cards add to thirteen?

Ace with Queen, two with Jack, three with ten, four with nine, five with eight, six with seven. A King is thirteen by itself and never needs a partner.

Why can I not use that card?

A card can only be paired while nothing is lying on top of it. Cards further down the pyramid open up as the ones above them are cleared.

Is Pyramid mostly luck?

There is more luck in it than in FreeCell, but the choices matter: when the same card would pair with two different partners, picking the one that opens more of the pyramid is usually what decides the game.

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