Pyramid is a patience or solitaire game where the object is to get all the cards from the pyramid to the foundation.
Rules
The object of the game is to remove pairs of cards that add up to a total of 13, the equivalent of the highest valued card in the deck, from a pyramid arrangement of 28 cards. When using the standard 52-card deck, Jacks are valued at 11, Queens at 12, and Kings at 13. To set up the pyramid, one card is dealt face up at the top of the playing area, then two cards beneath and partially covering it, then three beneath them, and so on completing with a row of seven cards for a total of 28 cards dealt. The remaining cards are placed to the side face down. This is the Stock. To play, pairs of exposed cards can be removed to the Foundation if their values total 13. Thus, kings can be removed immediately to the Foundation. In order to be removed, cards must not be covered, so when an Ace rests on a Queen, that Queen can not be removed. You may draw cards from the Stock one at a time and match it with any exposed card. If no match is made the drawn Stock card is still discarded into the Foundation. Once the Stock is exhausted and/or no more pairs can be made, the game ends. To score, count the number of remaining face up cards in the pyramid. A perfect score is therefore zero, where all cards have been matched into the Foundation. When playing with a 48-card Spanish deck the highest valued cards are the Kings at 12, and thus pairs of exposed cards can be removed if their values total 12.
Conditions for winning
To be considered won, all cards must be moved to the foundation; the game cannot be won if at least two cards cannot be moved from the stock. The pyramid is demolished by the end, if it stands you lose.
Variations
Given the popularity of Pyramid, many different variants exist which alter aspects of the game, including the following:
Relaxed Pyramid: To be considered won, only the cards from the pyramid must be moved to the foundation, so the game can be won with cards still left in the stock.
Tut's Tomb : Dealing three cards at a time from the stock, repeating until no matches can be made; placing all cards totalling 13 in a stack.
Giza: In a version created by Michael Keller, after the pyramid is formed, the rest of the deck is dealt as three rows of eight cards with the exposed cards open to match the exposed cards from the pyramid or other exposed cards.
A reserve of seven cards is dealt below the pyramid. These cards can match each other exposed cards in the pyramid or from the stack.
Playing with a cell, filled either from the tableau or from the waste upcard.
Several variations allow a card on the pyramid to be removed in combination with a card covered by the first, so long as neither card is covered by a card not in the combo. For example, in the case of an exposed ace resting on a queen, the queen can be removed with the ace if no other cards are covering them, but if a jack is also on the queen, the queen cannot be removed. Other versions require that both cards be fully exposed to begin with.
