Pyramid Seven

About Pyramid Seven Solitaire

by Thomas Warfield

Screen shot of the game Pyramid Seven from Pretty Good Solitaire.

Pyramid Seven is a variation of the addition type game Pyramid. Addition type solitaire games are games where cards are paired or grouped according to the ranks (numbers) of the cards.

How to Play

In Pyramid Seven, cards are paired that add to 13. Jacks count as 11, Queens as 12, Kings as 13. Since a King is 13 all by itself, rather than being paired each King is simply removed by itself. The possible pairs that add to 13 are Queen-Ace, Jack-2, 10-3, 9-4, 8-5, and 7-6.

At the start of Pyramid Seven, 28 cards are dealt out face up in the form of a triangular pyramid. One card is dealt to the first row, then 2 cards to the second row, 3 cards to the third, and so on down to 7 cards in the final seventh row, making a total of 28 cards. The cards are dealt in overlapping fashion so that each card is partially covered by 2 cards in the row below it. Only cards that are not covered by any other card are available for pairing.

Then below this pyramid of 28 cards, 7 more cards are dealt out singly face up with all of the cards available. These form a reserve where each card is available for pairing.

The remainder of the cards form a stock and are dealt one at a time to a waste pile. Both the top card of the stock and the waste are available, so it is possible to pair them. The top card of the stock and waste can be paired with any available card in the pyramid or any of the 7 reserve cards.

One card at a time is turned over from the stock to the waste by clicking. There are 2 redeals.

The difference between Pyramid Seven and regular Pyramid is the 7 cards in the reserve. These cards being always available rather than buried in the stock or waste make Pyramid Seven an easier game than regular Pyramid.

Variations of Pyramid Seven