🏔Play Pyramid Solitaire

Pyramid is a matching solitaire rather than a building one, and that changes the entire feel of it. There are no foundations to construct and no runs to maintain — just a shrinking wall of cards and the arithmetic of thirteen.

It is a much harder game than Klondike and considerably more dependent on the deal. Only a modest fraction of pyramid layouts are winnable at all, because a single card buried in the wrong place under the apex can lock the whole structure. Recognising a dead board early and dealing a new one is a legitimate skill.

The strategy that actually matters is lookahead on unlocking. Every pyramid card covers two below it, so removing a pair near the base opens far more than removing one near the tip. Strong players work out which specific card is blocking their remaining pairs and aim the whole game at exposing it.

Two extra passes through the deck give you a little slack, but not much. Use the pyramid first and the deck second.