Pyramid Solitaire

Introduction to Pyramid Solitaire

Pyramid Solitaire is also known as King Tut and Tut's Tomb.

This particular version is actually the Relaxed Pyramid Solitaire variation because it allows a game to be won even if cards are left in the Stock.

The game is played with a 52-card deck of standard playing cards. There are two levels of difficulty. The Easy Pyramid Solitaire allows for 2 passes of the Stock, while this version allows only 1 pass.

History

A variation of Pyramid Solitaire called Tut's Tomb was release in 1990 in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack.

Goal

The goal of Pyramid Solitaire is to empty all the cards from the pyramid into the Foundation.

Rules

When the game starts, 1 random card is dealt face-up in the top center of the pyramid. Then 2 face-up cards are placed underneath in a horizontal row such that they both mostly overlap the top card but do not overlap each other. The process continues with 3 cards in the next row, then 4, and so on up to 7 cards in the bottom-most row to complete the pyramid. In all, 28 cards are dealt face-up into the pyramid.

The remaining 24 cards are set face-down and squared into the Stock. The player must click on the Stock when required to send a card to the Waste where it may be played.

Only exposed cards contain either in the Pyramid or the Waste are in play. An exposed card is a card that is in no way overlapped by any other card. In the Waste, the current top card is always considered exposed, but not so in the pyramid. At the start of a game, only the 7 cards in the bottom row of the pyramid are exposed. To expose a new card and bring it into play, the player must remove all cards that overlap it.

Every card has an ordinal value that is equated with its rank. Arranging the ranks in order from the Ace to the King, the ordinals run from 1 to 13.

The idea is to match two exposed cards whose ordinals add to 13. Since the King has the ordinal 13, whether in the Waste or the Pyramid, so long as it's exposed, it can be sent by itself to the Foundation, either by clicking or dragging it.

Two in-play exposed cards whose ordinals add to 13 may be sent together to the Foundation. This is accomplished by dragging one of the cards and releasing it onto the other. For example, when a Jack (=11) from the Waste is dropped onto a Two (=2) in the pyramid, they will automatically be sent to the Foundation. This may or may not result in one to four cards becoming exposed in the pyramid.

Play continues until either all the cards are removed from the pyramid, in which case it's a win, or until no more cards may be sent to the Foundation and the Stock will allow no more cards to be sent to the Waste, in which case it's a loss.

Strategy

• Don't play too quickly. It's easy to miss a good move.
• There is no reason to ever delay moving an exposed King into the Foundation.
• Sometimes there is a choice between more than one card that can be sent to the Foundation, if possible, choose the move that will expose a card that can then be used to create another pairing.
• It's generally better to pair a pyramid card with another one in the pyramid as opposed to with one in the Waste because it's bound to expose more cards and bring victory closer.
• It's better to remove Pyramid cards as evenly as possible so that more cards will remain exposed. There's nothing worse than having several cards left in the pyramid but only one exposed, and having to sort through the Stock for the only rank that can be played.
• If the player is keeping track and they know that they must pair two particular cards from within the pyramid, they should give priority to exposing those two cards.

Layout

The game screen is made up of 4 different areas.

In the upper part of the screen is the pyramid. This is where the cards are laid out at the start of a game and where most of the action occurs during gameplay.

The Foundation is located below the pyramid and to the right. When empty, it consists of a rectangle the size of a card. When cards are removed from play, they are sent to this area, face-up and squared.

The Stock and the Waste areas work together. They are located below the pyramid and to the left.

The Stock is a container for the reserve cards that will be put into play as the game progresses. It contains one or more face-down squared cards.

The Waste is directly to the right of the Stock. When it's empty, it's just the background of the game, and when it contains one or more cards, they are face-up and squared.

A click on a non-empty Stock causes one card to be removed from the Stock and placed into the Waste, where it can potentially be played by the player.