TriPeaks Solitaire

Overview

TriPeaks is a game of sequences and momentum. Twenty-eight cards form three overlapping peaks, and you clear them by playing any exposed card one rank above or below the waste card. Suits do not matter, colours do not matter, and there are no foundations.

Play a 9 onto an 8 and the 9 becomes the new target, which may take a 10, then a Jack. When a chain reaches a card that was covering part of a peak, the tableau can open up and a whole section collapses in seconds.

The decision is never just "can I play this?" but "which playable card keeps the next move alive?"

The three peaks

The 28 cards are dealt in four rows of 3, 6, 9 and 10 — three small pyramids whose bases run together into one continuous bottom row.

Crucially, only that base row of ten starts face up. The other 18 cards are face down and turn over only as the cards covering them are cleared. So you are not solving a visible puzzle: you are working with ten known cards and eighteen unknowns.

A card is playable only when nothing overlaps it. Because the peaks interlock, one card can cover parts of two different pyramids — those shared blockers are the ones worth hunting.

Goal

Remove all 28 peak cards before the stock runs out. There is nothing to build; every card leaves by being played onto the waste. Clear the last one and you win.

How to play

One card is turned up to start the waste. You may then play any exposed peak card exactly one rank above or below it — waste shows an 8, play a 7 or a 9; waste shows a Queen, play a Jack or a King.

The card you play becomes the new waste card, so check the board again straight away.

Aces connect both ways

The sequence wraps at the ends. An Ace plays on a 2 or a King, and a King plays on an Ace. So a single chain can run:

10 → J → Q → K → A → 2 → 3

That makes Aces the most valuable cards on the board. Every other rank has two neighbours; an Ace bridges the two ends of the deck, and an exposed Ace at the right moment can rescue a chain that had nowhere left to go.

The arithmetic

The deal leaves 24 cards outside the peaks; one seeds the waste, so you have 23 draws to clear 28 cards.

That is far more generous than Golf, which gives you 16 draws for 35 cards. TriPeaks trades that slack for hidden information — you get more chances, but you cannot see most of what you are working toward.

Building long chains

Suppose a 6 and an 8 are both playable on a 7. The 6 might uncover a 5; the 8 might uncover a 9. Both continue, so take the one that runs further before it stalls.

Every card played without drawing keeps a stock card in reserve. A cascade where each move creates the next is the whole game — and with 18 cards face down, a long chain is also how you turn unknowns into knowns.

Which peak to attack

Do not simply take whatever is legal. Before playing, ask what the move uncovers, whether that card is likely to be playable, and whether it opens one of the peaks or just removes an isolated card.

Cards sitting where two pyramids meet are worth the most, because clearing one can expose cards on both sides at once.

Strategy and tips

• Follow the chain, not the first legal move. The best card is the one that creates the next one.
• Break blockers first. A move exposing two cards beats a move exposing none.
• Hold your Aces for the gap. They are the only cards that bridge King and 2 — spend one when a chain would otherwise stop.
• Draw only when genuinely stuck. 23 draws sounds like plenty until a peak refuses to open.
• Play toward the unknown. With 18 face-down cards, uncovering is progress even when it clears nothing.

Controls and features

• Tap an exposed peak card one rank above or below the waste.
• Tap the stock when nothing is playable.
• Use Undo to try another line, or New Game for a fresh deal.

If you liked TriPeaks

Golf is the same one-rank-either-way rule in a different shape, and the two differ in exactly two ways worth knowing. Golf deals seven independent columns with every card face up and gives you only 16 draws. And Golf does not wrap — there, an Ace connects only to a 2 and a King only to a Queen, which makes chains far harder to keep alive.

So TriPeaks is the more forgiving sequence game with more hidden information; Golf is the tighter one where you can see everything. Pyramid is the third layout game here, cleared by pairing cards that add to 13 rather than by sequence at all.