Pyramid Solitaire Strategy Guide
Pyramid Solitaire is a fun solitaire game, with a very
distinctive opening tableua in the shape of a pyramid. There is
a large element of luck involved, but there are certain
strategies that can be used to dramatically increase your
chances of winning.
The aim of pyramid solitaire is to remove all the cards from the
tableua and the talon. Cards are removed in pairs, when their
combined total is 13. The exception to this is with Kings, which
are removed on their own. Cards can only be removed when they
are completely exposed (ie: When the whole card is visible, with
no cards above them) The combinations of cards you can remove
are:
-Ace and Queen
-2 and Jack
-3 and 10
-4 and 9
-5 and 8
-6 and 7
-King
Whilst the rules for pyramid solitaire are quite easy to
understand, the game itself offers come interesting
complexities. You have to plan out which cards to remove to
maximize potential options later in the game. Sometimes you must
leave a card for later in the game, or you will create an
impasse. And sometimes you have to carefully remember the order
of the cards in the talon, or you will have cards left over at
the end.
At the start of the game, scan the first four rows, looking for
any situations that will make the game impossible to complete.
This happens when all the cards that can be combined with a card
occur in the triangle below it.
This occurs because a card cannot be selected until all the
cards in the triangle below it are removed first.
For example, suppose part of the deal was like this (Taken from
Classic Solitaire deal 20064)
. . . 2 . . .
. . J . 8 . .
. Q . J . 8 .
6 . J . 4 . J
All of the Jacks occur in the triangle below the top 2. So to
expose the top 2, all the Jacks will have to be removed first...
But that's impossible, because the Jacks can only be removed in
combination with the 2's. We will be able to remove three of the
Jacks, but we cant ever remove the top Jack, because the 2 it
needs is above it.
So if the four combination cards appear in a cards underneath
triangle, then the game cannot be finished, and you may as well
redeal.
If only three of the combination cards appear in the underneath
triangle, then you have discovered a potential impasse later on.
Wherever that fourth combination card is, it MUST be combined
with the top card. So, if the fourth combination card is in the
talon, you must remember this, and be careful not to use it on
any card other than the top one.
Another impasse to check for at the beginning, is to see if all
the combination cards appear in the triangle above a card.
For example, suppose the deal was like this (Taken from Classic
Solitaire deal 3841)
. . . . . . 7 . . . . . .
. . . . . 8 . J . . . . .
. . . . 4 . 2 . 4 . . . .
. . . A . 6 . 8 . 2 . . .
. . 8 . 5 . 9 . Q . 2 . .
. 7 . 8 . 9 . 7 . K . 4 .
K . A . 5 . 3 . Q . 6 . 10
All the 8's occur in the triangle above the bottom 5, so the
game cannot be finished.
This last case doesn't occur very often though, so it isn't
worth spending too much time checking for it. Just a cursory
glance at the middle 3 cards on the bottom row is normally
enough.
So to summarize, before we have even started playing, we check
to see if the game is winnable (Make sure there are no cases
where the four combination cards occur in the triangle below or
above a card). We also check for times when three of the
combination cards appear below... as these will need special
attention, to make sure we don't waste the fourth card and
create an impasse.
So what about general play?
Well, to start with, always remove Kings whenever you can. There
is absolutely no reason not to remove the Kings, because they
aren't used in combination with any other cards, so you gain
nothing by waiting.
Another thing to consider is that often there is no need to
rush. You can cycle through the talon three times, so often it
will be better to wait and see what cards are remaining, rather
than jump in and remove a combination as soon as you can.
Finally, try and remove cards evenly between the talon and the
tableua. Ideally, you want to finish removing cards from the
tableua at the same time as the talon is used up.
You still wont be able to win every game of pyramid solitaire
with the above strategy, but you should find your probability of
winning has greatly increased.