Pyramid Solitaire Rules: The Complete Guide

The Objective of Pyramid Solitaire

The objective in the Pyramid Solitaire rules is simple: remove every card from a 28-card pyramid by pairing exposed cards whose values add up to 13. Kings are worth 13 by themselves and are removed alone. The game is won when the pyramid is empty. It is lost when no legal moves remain and you have used all of your passes through the stock pile.

Unlike Klondike Solitaire, you are not building foundations from Ace upward. There is nothing to "sort." The entire game is about finding pairs that sum to 13 and managing the stock pile efficiently so the pairs you need stay available.

The Pyramid Solitaire rules described on this page are the classic ruleset used in the Microsoft Solitaire Collection and by the majority of reputable solitaire publishers. If you learned the game from a physical deck or from a family member, you will find nothing surprising — just a careful, written-down version of what you already know. A handful of variants exist (covered further down) but the standard rules are the starting point for all of them.

Card Values in Pyramid Solitaire

Every card has a fixed point value. These values are the same across almost every published Pyramid Solitaire rule set.

Aces through 10s

Aces count as 1. The number cards 2 through 10 count as their face value. Suits have no effect on the rules — a red 7 pairs with a black 6 just as well as two cards of the same color.

Face cards: Jacks, Queens, and Kings

Jacks are worth 11, Queens are worth 12, and Kings are worth 13. Because Kings already equal the target sum of 13, they are the only cards that can be removed on their own without a partner. Every other card needs a matching rank to make 13.

Pyramid Solitaire Setup Rules

The 28-card pyramid

Shuffle a standard 52-card deck (no Jokers). Deal the first 28 cards face up in a pyramid: 1 card on top (row 1), then 2 in row 2, 3 in row 3, and so on down to 7 cards in row 7. Each row overlaps the row above it by about half a card, so only the bottom row of seven cards is fully exposed at the start. A card in the upper rows is blocked until the two cards directly below it have both been removed.

The stock pile (24 cards)

The remaining 24 cards form the stock pile, placed face down beside the pyramid. You draw from the stock one card at a time when you cannot find more pairs on the pyramid itself. The stock is your safety valve when the layout stalls.

The waste pile

Each card flipped from the stock goes face up onto the waste pile. Only the top card of the waste pile is in play for pairing — the cards beneath it are inaccessible until you recycle the waste back into the stock.

The foundation

Some versions display a foundation area where removed cards pile up. It is purely visual — cards never move from the foundation back into play. Our version shows the most recent removed card on the foundation so you can see your progress at a glance.

A note on card backs and deck style

The Pyramid Solitaire rules do not specify card art. You can play with any 52-card deck, plastic or paper, red-back or blue. Our digital version uses the traditional Bicycle-style faces because that is what most players learned on. The card backs can be switched between classic red and classic blue under the Appearance menu. None of these choices affect which plays are legal — the Pyramid Solitaire rules only care about the rank and value of each card.

Pyramid Solitaire Movement Rules

There are only four movement rules, and all of Pyramid Solitaire follows from them.

Rule 1: Only exposed cards can move

A card is exposed (also called "uncovered") when nothing is on top of it. The bottom row is always exposed at the start of the game. A row-6 card becomes exposed only after both of its row-7 children have been removed. The diagram below shows which cards in a mini pyramid are playable right now.

Rule 2: Cards must pair to exactly 13

"Close enough" does not count. 6 + 7 = 13 is a legal pair; 6 + 8 is not. The two cards do not have to be the same suit or color. Both cards must be exposed at the moment of the match — you cannot pair a buried pyramid card.

Rule 3: Kings remove alone

A King on its own equals 13, so the rules allow an exposed King to be removed with a single click, no partner required. Good practice is to remove Kings the instant they become available; a stranded King will block everything beneath it.

Rule 4: Empty spaces cannot be filled

When a card is removed, the spot it occupied stays empty. You cannot slide other pyramid cards into the gap, and you cannot drop a stock card into the pyramid. The only way a card leaves the pyramid is by being paired or removed as a King.

Those four movement rules, combined with the setup rules above, are the entire Pyramid Solitaire rules system. Everything else on this page — stock-pile management, win conditions, variant tweaks — follows from them. If you ever forget how a situation works, re-derive it from these four rules and you will almost always arrive at the correct answer.

Stock Pile and Waste Pile Rules

Drawing from the stock

Clicking the stock flips its top card face up to the waste pile. Only one card is flipped per click — no deal-of-three variants here. The new waste-top card is immediately available to pair with any exposed pyramid card summing to 13.

Pairing with waste cards

A waste-top card can pair with a pyramid card or with any King on the pyramid (well, the King would remove itself anyway, but you get the idea). What a waste card cannot do is pair with another waste card — only the topmost one is in play. Planning the order of your stock draws is a skill that separates frequent winners from everyone else.

How many stock cycles are allowed?

Our standard Pyramid Solitaire rules allow three total passes through the stock. When the stock is empty and the waste still has cards, click anywhere on the empty stock spot to recycle — the waste cards flip back into the stock in the same order they came out. After the third pass, any remaining cards are locked out of play, and the game typically ends in a loss shortly after. Las Vegas–style variants allow only a single pass, which makes the game significantly harder.

Winning and Losing Conditions

How to win Pyramid Solitaire

You win the instant every pyramid card has been removed. You do not need to empty the stock or the waste — only the pyramid matters. A win animation and a score summary appear immediately after the last pair comes off.

When the game ends in loss

A Pyramid game is lost when three conditions line up at once: no legal pairs between any exposed pyramid cards and the waste top, the stock pile is empty, and you have exhausted your allowed passes. If any of those three conditions is still open, the game keeps going — always check before giving up.

Why some games are unwinnable

Approximately 30% of random Pyramid deals are winnable with perfect play. The rest are not — because of the structural rules, certain layouts guarantee that at least two cards will be permanently trapped under blockages. There is no skill fix for a genuinely unwinnable deal. Click New Game and move on.

This is the most important thing to accept about the Pyramid Solitaire rules: the game is not deterministic from setup. A strong player wins more often than a beginner, but no one wins every round. Internalizing that fact early makes the game much more enjoyable — you stop blaming yourself for unwinnable deals and spend your energy on layouts where decisions actually matter.

Scoring rules (optional)

Most modern implementations of the Pyramid Solitaire rules use a simple additive score: a fixed number of points per pair removed, with a small bonus for King removals. Some Las Vegas variants use a dollar-based scoring system where you "pay" to start a game and earn back cash per cleared card. Our version tracks a straightforward score plus elapsed time so you can compete against your own best round.

Draws and ties

The standard Pyramid Solitaire rules do not allow for draws or ties — the game is fully deterministic once dealt, and each game ends in exactly one of three outcomes: win, loss, or surrender (you click New Game before the loss condition formally triggers). There is no "stalemate" where a game can go on indefinitely, because every move reduces the total card count by at least one.

Post-game etiquette in physical play

When playing Pyramid Solitaire with a physical deck, the tradition after a loss is to count the cards you failed to clear — players sometimes compete on who ended with the lowest "leftover" count rather than pure wins and losses. Some households use a house rule where a loss with fewer than four leftover cards still counts as a partial win. None of this is part of the canonical Pyramid Solitaire rules, but the tradition is charming and worth knowing.

Rule Differences in Pyramid Variants

Several popular Pyramid Solitaire variants tweak the core rules. Knowing the differences helps if you play on other sites and wonder why the rules "feel off."

Standard vs Las Vegas Pyramid

Las Vegas Pyramid Solitaire uses identical setup and movement rules but allows only one pass through the stock. The win rate drops sharply — perfect-play wins fall from roughly 30% to about 5%. Some casino versions tie scoring to a simulated dollar bet, paying out per card removed.

Relaxed Pyramid rules (multi-card match)

The Relaxed variant lets you combine three or more exposed cards into a group summing to 13 (for example 3 + 4 + 6). It is much easier to win — over 60% of random layouts become solvable — but many players find the extra flexibility less interesting.

Cheops variant (sequential match)

Cheops replaces the sum-to-13 rule with a consecutive-rank rule: two exposed cards can be removed if their ranks differ by exactly 1 (a 7 and an 8, for example). The layout and stock rules are the same. Cheops is a specialty variant, mostly seen in older European rule books.

Giza Pyramid and double-deck variants

Giza Pyramid Solitaire uses the same pair-to-13 rule but changes the setup: you deal three rows of eight cards below the main pyramid, all face up, giving you more starting options. Double Pyramid uses two full decks (104 cards) with a bigger pyramid and a larger stock. Both variants share the core Pyramid Solitaire rules — only the layout numbers change.

Which variant should you learn first?

Stick with the standard Pyramid Solitaire rules on this page until you win comfortably, then branch out. Las Vegas is a good next step if you want more challenge, and Relaxed is a nice way to unwind after a hard day. The variants are intentionally designed to feel different from the base game — each one rewards a slightly different kind of thinking.

Advanced Rule Edge Cases

Can you move a pyramid card onto another pyramid card?

No. Pyramid cards never move within the pyramid. They leave it only by being paired, removed alone as a King, or remaining stuck at the end of the game. There is no concept of "building" or "stacking" as in Klondike.

What if you run out of moves before the stock is empty?

You can still draw. Drawing from the stock is always allowed as long as the stock has cards. A fresh card on the waste pile might immediately unlock a new pair, which is the entire point of having a stock in the first place.

Are undo moves allowed?

Tournament and scored play traditionally disallow undo, but casual Pyramid Solitaire — including our version — allows undo freely. An undo reverses the last move only; it does not rewind multiple moves at once. Hardcore players often treat undo as a learning aid rather than a crutch.

Can two Kings be exposed at once?

Yes, and it happens more often than you might think. When two Kings are exposed at the same time, the Pyramid Solitaire rules let you remove them in any order with two separate clicks. They do not pair with each other (pair sums to 26, not 13) and they do not combine into a single action. Just click each King individually.

What about timing and game clock?

A running clock is optional and not part of the core Pyramid Solitaire rules. Most digital implementations, ours included, display elapsed time for players who want to compete against their own best round. The clock does not affect which moves are legal — it only adds an extra self-imposed challenge for speed players.

Is there a maximum or minimum number of moves?

The minimum number of moves in a perfect game is 14: fourteen pairs of two cards plus the four required King removals, giving 28 cards off the pyramid. In practice most winning games use 25 to 40 moves because stock-pile draws count. The Pyramid Solitaire rules do not impose a move limit — the game ends by win, loss, or the player giving up.

House rules you might encounter

Beyond the standard and the named variants, a handful of "house rules" show up in family play. Some players allow one free peek at an upcoming stock card per game. Others add a partner-hint rule where children can ask for help without penalty. A few house rules let players "save" an exposed King for later rather than forcing immediate removal. These adjustments do not change the underlying Pyramid Solitaire rules — they are comfort features, not new mechanics. Agree on them with anyone you play with before you start so there is no confusion mid-round.

Pyramid Solitaire Rules FAQ

The five questions about Pyramid Solitaire rules we see most often from readers.

Rules Summary in One Minute

If you only remember six things, remember these. Deal 28 cards into a pyramid plus a 24-card stock. Pairs of exposed cards must add to 13 to be removed; Kings remove alone. Only exposed cards move, and empty pyramid spaces stay empty. You have three passes through the stock. Win by clearing the pyramid, lose when no legal moves remain and your passes are spent. That is the whole game — everything else is strategy.