Getting better at Pyramid
Pyramid is quick to learn and much deeper than it first appears. Pairing cards to thirteen is easy; choosing which pair to take, when both are available, is the whole game. These are the habits that help most.
Ask what a removal opens
A pair is only worth taking if it does something for you. Two cards that between them uncover a new pyramid card are worth far more than two that leave the shape exactly as it was.
Before taking a pair, glance at what sits underneath. Removing the last card resting on a buried nine is worth doing even if a flashier pair is sitting there too — the board opens up, and the flashy pair will usually still be there next time round.
Keep track of which partners are left
There are four cards of every rank, so every card has four possible partners. As the deal goes on, that number shrinks, and it is the thing worth watching.
If both black sevens have gone and a six is buried three rows deep, that six now depends on one of the two remaining sevens still being available when you reach it. Noticing that early gives you the chance to save one; noticing it late is how a deal quietly becomes unfinishable while still looking fine.
Do not spend the waste too freely
Cards in the waste come round again — the stock can be cycled as many times as you like — so a card sitting there is a resource that keeps returning. Taking it early to make a pair you could have made another way can cost you the partner something else needed.
When two removals are equally useful, prefer the one that uses a pyramid card over the one that uses a waste card. The pyramid card is the one that has to go eventually.
Kings cost nothing
A king is thirteen on its own, so it never needs a partner and never uses one up. Take kings whenever they appear — there is no situation where holding one back helps.
Plan a chain before you start it
The satisfying part of Pyramid is the cascade: one removal exposes a card that pairs with something already available, which exposes another. These are worth spotting in advance rather than stumbling into, because the order often matters. Working out three moves and then playing them beats playing one and looking again.
Why the score is cards cleared, not win or lose
Pyramid deals are frequently unwinnable — that is simply the nature of the game, and no amount of good play changes it. Scoring a shared daily on whether you finished would therefore be scoring people on which day they turned up.
So the daily counts how many of the twenty-eight pyramid cards you cleared. Everyone gets the same deal, so the number compares directly, and on a deal nobody can finish it still shows who played it best. Clearing all twenty-eight is a genuine achievement rather than the expected outcome; a result in the low-to-mid twenties is a perfectly respectable day’s work.
Unlimited passes through the stock help considerably here — with a single pass a great many deals would be hopeless, and the game becomes planning rather than luck.
Common questions
Do suits matter? Not at all. Only the numbers count: ace is 1, jack 11, queen 12, king 13. Colour and suit are decoration.
Is every Pyramid deal winnable? No, and that is expected rather than a flaw. It is exactly why the score is based on how far you get, so a hard deal still produces a fair comparison instead of a row of zeroes.
Can I go through the stock more than once? Yes, as many times as you like. That is a deliberate choice — restricting passes makes most deals impossible and turns the game into a lottery.
Does everyone get the same deal? In the daily, yes. Free play gives you unlimited random deals.