Practice Pyramid Solitaire with a coach

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The Pyramid Solitaire table

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Goal: take away all 28 cards of the pyramid, two at a time, in pairs of free cards that add up to 13. A king goes on its own. You may go through the draw pile three times. Undo has no limit, so you can try things without fear.

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About this practice game

One player, one deck of 52 cards. 28 cards are dealt face up in a pyramid, and your job is to take them all away in pairs of cards that add up to 13. Only cards that nothing covers can be used, so each pair you take uncovers more of the pyramid. Press Hint for a suggestion and Undo as often as you like. Not every deal can be won. New to the game? Press Watch a narrated deal above the table to see the computer play a whole deal, with every move explained.

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How Pyramid works

One player, one deck. You play against the cards, not against another person. Cards go in this order, lowest to highest: A (ace), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J (jack), Q (queen), K (king).
The pyramid. 28 cards are dealt face up in 7 rows: 1 card in row 1 at the top, 2 in row 2, and so on up to 7 in row 7 at the bottom. Each card is partly covered by the two cards just below it.
Free cards. A card is free when no card covers it. At the start only the 7 cards of the bottom row are free. When both cards below a card are gone, it becomes free.
What the cards count. A number card counts its number. An ace counts 1, a jack 11, a queen 12 and a king 13.
Pairs that make 13. Take away two free cards that add up to 13: an ace and a queen, a 2 and a jack, a 3 and a 10, a 4 and a 9, a 5 and an 8, or a 6 and a 7. Their suits do not matter. In this game a pair means two cards that add up to 13, not two cards of the same rank.
Kings go alone. A king counts 13 by itself, so a free king is taken away on its own.
The draw pile. The other 24 cards are the draw pile. Click it to turn over one card at a time onto the turned-over pile. The top card of the turned-over pile is free too, and can pair with a free card of the pyramid. The cards under it cannot be used until the cards on top of them are gone.
Three trips. When the draw pile runs out, click its empty space to turn the turned-over pile back over, without shuffling it, and go through it again. You may go through the draw pile three times in all.
Winning, and not winning. You win when every card of the pyramid is gone. Cards left in the piles do not matter. When no pair can be made and no card that can still come up pairs with a free card, nothing can change any more, and the game says the deal is lost.

How to use this page

Click a free card (it gets a red outline). The cards it pairs with are outlined too. Then click one of them, and both cards go to the removed pile. Click the first card again to put it back.
Click a free king to take it away on its own.
Click the draw pile to turn over the next card. Click the turned-over card to pick it.
Hint points at one good move with a gold outline and says why it is good. Undo takes back your last move, and you can press it again and again. New deal shuffles and starts over.
With the keyboard: press Tab to move between the cards and the piles, and Enter or Space to pick a card. Escape puts it back.
The counters show how many moves you have made and how many cards are left in the pyramid. There is no timer, and nothing is scored.
To watch instead of play, press Watch a narrated deal above the table. The computer plays a whole deal, and every move is explained: what it could take, which pair it chose and why. Press Next and Back (or the arrow keys) to step, Play to let it run on its own, and Jump to to skip ahead. Back to playing returns to your game exactly as you left it.

Four things beginners miss

Uncover cards first. A pyramid card can only go once nothing covers it. When you can choose between pairs, take the one that uncovers more cards.
Use the turned-over card before you turn over the next one. The next card turned over covers it, and it stays covered until the cards on it are gone.
Take kings at once. A king never pairs with anything, so keeping it only blocks the cards it covers.
Look for a card sitting on its partner. A card can never pair with a card it covers, because the lower one is not free while the upper one is there. A 6 lying on a 7 must go with another 7, often one from the turned-over pile.

Common beginner mistakes

Turning over a card when a pair could be made. The turned-over card you could have used is then covered.
Pairing a card that is covered. Even a corner of another card on it means it is not free yet.
Adding wrong with the picture cards. A jack counts 11 and a queen 12, so a jack pairs with a 2 and a queen with an ace.
Giving up too soon. Press Hint, or press Undo and try a different pair. The game tells you when nothing can change any more.

The full rules page →

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