Rules for Pyramid

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Shuffle the deck and lay out 28 cards, face up, in a pyramid pattern: one card at the top, two in a row below it and overlapping it, three in the next row, and so on to the bottom row of seven cards. Each card except those in the bottom row should be overlapped by exactly two cards in the row below. The pyramid is the tableau. Place the remaining cards in the stock, face down. Two other piles, the wastepile and the discard pile, begin the game empty.

Cards may be turned up from the stock, one at a time, and placed face up on the wastepile. Both the top card of the stock and the top card of the wastepile are available for play, as are all cards in the pyramid which are not overlapped by other cards. Pairs of available cards whose ranks add to 13 (e.g. Ace + Queen, or 5 + 8) may be picked up and discarded. Kings may be discarded singly. When the stock has been emptied, you may redeal by picking up the wastepile and turning it over to refill the stock. You may redeal twice, for a total of three passes through the stock. The goal is to discard all cards.

Scoring: Because it is hard to win a game of Pyramid, there is a scoring system that allows you to play for "par." Play the game to the end; if you manage to discard all cards in the pyramid, note whether you did it during the first, second, or third pass through the stock. When the game is over (no more moves are possible, and you have used both your redeals), count the cards that were not discarded. Calculate your score by subtracting that number from:

50, if you cleared the pyramid on the first pass; or
35, if you cleared the pyramid on the second pass; or
20, if you cleared the pyramid on the third pass; or
0, if you did not clear the pyramid.

If you can play six games and finish with a total score of zero or more, you have made par and won the match.

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