PYRAMID SOLITAIRE SAGA GUIDE
Pyramid Solitaire is a fun solitaire game, with a very distinctive opening tableau in the shape of a pyramid. There is a lot of luck involved, but there are certain strategies that you can use to dramatically increase your chances of winning.
The aim of Pyramid Solitaire is to remove all the cards from the tableau (the region containing the cards in play) and the talon (the pile of face-down cards waiting to be dealt). Cards are removed in pairs, when their combined total is 13. Kings are worth 13 by themselves, and are simply removed on their own whenever you encounter them.
Cards can only be removed when they are completely exposed, with no other cards overlapping them.
The combinations of cards you can remove are:
King
6 and 7
5 and 8
4 and 9
3 and 10
2 and Jack
Ace and Queen
The rules for pyramid solitaire are quite easy to understand, but the game itself offers some interesting complexities. In particular, it really pays to analyze the initial tableau to see which cards may create an impasse later in the game…
When you start a new game of pyramid solitaire, look at the top 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.
For example, suppose part of the deal was like this (taken from Dogmelon Solitaire deal 20064)
In particular, look at the bottom left corner of the pyramid:
2
J 9
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 Dogmelon Solitaire deal 3841)
If you look carefully, you will notice that 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). Also check for times when three of the combination cards appear below… as these will need special attention, to make sure the fourth card isn’t waste.
Counting Paired Cards
There are three different ways to eliminate a pair of cards:
two cards from the tableau
one card from tableau, one from the talon
both cards from the talon
I want you to notice something. Refer again to the following layout:
Consider the 10-3 combination. If you survey the tableau, you will see that there is only a single “3”, and a single “10”. This must mean that there are three “3” and three “10” in the talon.
At best, you’ll have to find or create two adjacent “10”, “3” combinations within the talon, which is difficult. And if you eliminate the tableau’s “3” and “10” against each other, then you’ll have to find three pairs in the talon — even harder.
In contrast, there are four “8” and two “5” on the tableau, for a total of 6. That means there are only two in the talon. If this game were to be finished, then at minimum you would have to eliminate two “8”–“5” pairs on the tableau.
I’m not saying you have to count every pairing before play – that would be hard work, and possibly take the fun out of things. But I am saying it’s worth being conscious of whether you should be trying to find pairs in the talon, in the tableau, or one each from the talon and the tableau.
General Pyramid Solitaire Play…
You should 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 remember with Pyramid Solitaire is that 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 tableau. Ideally, you want to finish removing cards from the tableau at the same time as the talon is used up.
If you’d like to play some Pyramid and start trying out some of the things I’ve mentioned in this article, you can play for free on Android with our 5 Free Solitaire games app.
You can also play for free on Windows, iOS and Mac. Just go to our solitaire page for more information.
The aim of Pyramid Solitaire is to remove all the cards from the tableau (the region containing the cards in play) and the talon (the pile of face-down cards waiting to be dealt). Cards are removed in pairs, when their combined total is 13. Kings are worth 13 by themselves, and are simply removed on their own whenever you encounter them.
Cards can only be removed when they are completely exposed, with no other cards overlapping them.
The combinations of cards you can remove are:
King
6 and 7
5 and 8
4 and 9
3 and 10
2 and Jack
Ace and Queen
The rules for pyramid solitaire are quite easy to understand, but the game itself offers some interesting complexities. In particular, it really pays to analyze the initial tableau to see which cards may create an impasse later in the game…
When you start a new game of pyramid solitaire, look at the top 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.
For example, suppose part of the deal was like this (taken from Dogmelon Solitaire deal 20064)
In particular, look at the bottom left corner of the pyramid:
2
J 9
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 Dogmelon Solitaire deal 3841)
If you look carefully, you will notice that 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). Also check for times when three of the combination cards appear below… as these will need special attention, to make sure the fourth card isn’t waste.
Counting Paired Cards
There are three different ways to eliminate a pair of cards:
two cards from the tableau
one card from tableau, one from the talon
both cards from the talon
I want you to notice something. Refer again to the following layout:
Consider the 10-3 combination. If you survey the tableau, you will see that there is only a single “3”, and a single “10”. This must mean that there are three “3” and three “10” in the talon.
At best, you’ll have to find or create two adjacent “10”, “3” combinations within the talon, which is difficult. And if you eliminate the tableau’s “3” and “10” against each other, then you’ll have to find three pairs in the talon — even harder.
In contrast, there are four “8” and two “5” on the tableau, for a total of 6. That means there are only two in the talon. If this game were to be finished, then at minimum you would have to eliminate two “8”–“5” pairs on the tableau.
I’m not saying you have to count every pairing before play – that would be hard work, and possibly take the fun out of things. But I am saying it’s worth being conscious of whether you should be trying to find pairs in the talon, in the tableau, or one each from the talon and the tableau.
General Pyramid Solitaire Play…
You should 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 remember with Pyramid Solitaire is that 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 tableau. Ideally, you want to finish removing cards from the tableau at the same time as the talon is used up.
If you’d like to play some Pyramid and start trying out some of the things I’ve mentioned in this article, you can play for free on Android with our 5 Free Solitaire games app.
You can also play for free on Windows, iOS and Mac. Just go to our solitaire page for more information.
If you're tired of matching colored blocks, vegetables, candies, bubbles, and so on, King's Pyramid Solitaire Saga [Free] can make for a nice change of pace, while still offering you many of the things you would expect from a game developed by the Candy Crush Saga [Free] giant. The most familiar thing it offers up is an often maddening level of difficulty. As I noted in my review, sometimes you can make all the right moves and still come up short thanks to the heavy luck element inherent to most solitaire games, but that doesn't mean there isn't any merit to playing with strategy. While it's hard to make much of an absolutely terrible draw of cards, there are plenty of cases where the difference between winning and losing rests on making effective moves. Having poured a fair bit of time into this game, I've once again put together a bunch of tips to help you along the way.
Plan the order of each move carefully. There are a few different goals in Pyramid Solitaire Saga, but no matter what you're trying to do, using as few cards as possible will never work against you. Make sure you check all of the cards so that you can choose the biggest combo sequence possible. If you're holding a four and you see a three, a two, an ace, two fives, two sixes, and a seven, if all other things are equal, you should go for the five-six-five-six-seven combo. Removing more cards with fewer draws is a big key to winning.
Plan the order of each move carefully. There are a few different goals in Pyramid Solitaire Saga, but no matter what you're trying to do, using as few cards as possible will never work against you. Make sure you check all of the cards so that you can choose the biggest combo sequence possible. If you're holding a four and you see a three, a two, an ace, two fives, two sixes, and a seven, if all other things are equal, you should go for the five-six-five-six-seven combo. Removing more cards with fewer draws is a big key to winning.
Pay attention to the background cards. Okay, so some of these tips are going to be very familiar to seasoned solitaire players, and this might be the big one. If you're not used to video solitaire, it's easy to let your eyes be caught by the highlighted cards at the top. They are important, of course, since they're the cards you can pull, but equally important are the non-highlighted but still visible cards underneath. As you're planning your combo, it's valuable to think about what cards will be made accessible by the cards you pull. Doing so can help you clear out more cards and set up longer combos.
The key to a high score rests in combos. Of course, having cards left over, especially wild cards, will give a nice boost to your score, but if you really want to hit the three-star tier, you're going to have to set up some long combos. If you have a choice between leaving a wild card on the board to be tallied up after finishing or using it to keep a good combo going, you should always use it. Similarly, as long as it doesn't mess up your main goal, picking up non-essential cards to lengthen your combos is always a good idea.
Try to save a couple of wild cards until you're nearly finished. They're really your only defense against an unlucky draw. Most stages give you a couple of wild cards on the board, and you'll always have one in your hand. Don't be shy about using them if you need to, but that old idiom about keeping an ace in the hole hasn't stuck around for nothing. Although it doesn't really make a difference, it certainly feels better to fail earlier than to have one card left and not be able to remove it.
Make good use of your Blue Stash. The Blue Stash lets you keep a card to use later, but it's important to remember how it works. You can put a card in there simply by tapping on the Stash, and take out by tapping on it again. Putting it in will shuffle you to your next card. Taking it out will replace the current top card, causing it to be lost to the discard. If your Stash is occupied, you can't put another card in there without first removing the original card. If any cards are unknown, it's always better to have something in the Stash than nothing at all, but if you can see what's left on the board, don't keep a useless card in there. You might want to save something useful and not be able to because you've got something wasting space in there.
Save your gold and power-ups. The game will give you some gold to start with, along with a few of each power-up as they unlock. You should keep the gold to unlock the gates at the end of each world. If you have no gold, you'll have to wait or get a friend to help you out. As for the power-ups, use them at your discretion, but remember, you won't be getting any more. Save them for levels where you really get stuck, and only use them when they will assure the victory. Wasting a power-up on a losing attempt just feels lousy.
Keep your goal at the heart of your strategy. When you're matching cards and making combos, it's easy to get caught up in trying to clear every card off the board, something you almost never actually need to do. If the mission is to clear the gold cards, focus on the cards you need to get out of the way. Spending a bunch of cards just to open up one wild card is generally not a good idea, and spending a bunch of cards just to earn a few more points is a terrible plan. If you need to remove a key block to get at a gold card, make sure you get to it as soon as possible. Remove vine cards over regular cards. The path to the goal is a straight line if you think about it carefully.
Take note of any extra stipulations beyond the main goal. You always need to earn a score of at least the one-star level. Some levels ask you to pull a blue card, make a sequence of a certain number, or a combination of the two. One of the trickier conditions asks you keep five cards left in your deck. It's important to note that one, because you're essentially out of cards when you have five left, but the game won't remind you that you've lost until they're all spent or you think you've cleared the stage.
Get sequences out of the way as soon as possible. As mentioned, many levels require you to remove a certain number of cards in a row without discarding. If you wait too long to do this, you're not going to have enough cards left on the board to pull it off. The best thing to do is to unveil any wild cards on the board that you can, put a card in your Stash, and then go for it. Use up any wild cards to keep your combo going, and don't forget that you can use your stashed card without losing your combo.
Squash those gold scarabs. Whenever you pull certain cards in a stage, usually the gold ones, a scarab will move across the screen. Make sure you tap it to get the extra points it offers. Some of them move pretty quickly and if you're spacing out, you might miss out on some points that could make the difference between passing the stage and failing. Be ready whenever you pull a gold card.
Following this advice will help you out as you trek your way through Pyramid Solitaire Saga. The stage layouts may change, and the game might throw new obstacles or wrinkles at you, but the essential strategies are always the same. Find the straight line to success, and don't get too discouraged when the game deals you an unwinnable situation. Even if you can't win, you still get a chance to practice your strategies, which will help you win the next time. The key, as ever, is having patience and making careful moves.
