The Game of Pyramid
You won't be traveling to Egypt to play this solitary card game. Pyramid is a game of addition, and it requires you to strategize the sequence in which you pick up your cards. The objective of Pyramid is to place all fifty-two cards in the discard pile by moving pairs of cards totaling thirteen, or a single king with a value of thirteen, to the pile. There are three areas of the playing field. The area in the middle of the playing field is where you'll place your pyramid. Deal the pyramid with twenty-eight cards arranged in seven rows face up. The top row has one card. The second row has two cards, placed partially over the first row. The third row has three cards, also placed partially over the second row, and so on until the seventh row has seven cards, placed partially over the sixth row. You'll place the remaining twenty-four cards face up in a stockpile located in the upper left corner of the playing field with the waste pile below it. The first card on top of the stockpile is turned face up and is available, and as soon as any cards are placed in the waste pile, the top card there is available for play as well. You'll want to leave an area for the discard pile on the right side of the field.
Study the pyramid to make sure the game can be won. Make sure that each card has enough matches to free it without the two matching cards blocking each other. If possible, use a match from the waste pile.
You cannot remove a card from the pyramid if it is covered by another card. Two cards must be removed to unlock a card in the upper rows in the middle of the pyramid, but the cards on the sides of the pyramid only need one removal to become available.
If there is a king available, you may move it to the discard pile. If there are two cards available within the pyramid, or one card that can be combined with the top card on the waste pile or stockpile to make thirteen, you may move both of those cards to the discard pile. The jack is worth eleven, and the queen is worth twelve for making pairs with ones and twos. If there are no more cards able to be moved, you may take the top card from the stockpile, place it on the waste pile, and attempt to use the next stockpile card to create a pair to be removed. One variation of Pyramid is to remove three cards from the stockpile and attempt to make pairs using any of the three cards in play with the pyramid. The game ends when all fifty-two cards are in the discard pile or when no further pairs can be created.
