Tri Peaks Solitaire is a popular solitaire game that combines many elements of Pyramid Solitaire and Golf Solitaire.
Unlike many other solitaire games, Tri Peaks Solitaire makes it fun to do the same deal many times, because you can keep playing trying to maximize your score.
*****Target of Tri Peaks Solitaire*****
The objective is to move all the cards to the trash and maximize your score.
***** Tri Peaks Solitaire Layout *****
The initial layout of Tri Peaks Solitaire is 3 pyramids. These pyramids overlap and are 4 rows high, with a total of 28 cards, all face up.
The starting frame looks like this, with the asterisks representing where the cards go.
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There is 1 card in the discard pile.
There are 23 cards in the claw, which can be dealt at any time.
Cards can be moved to the discard pile, if they are 1 less or 1 more than the rank of the current card in the discard pile.
For example, if there is an 8 on top of the scrap pile, then a 7 or 9 can be moved.
Unlike Golf Solitaire, when playing Tri Peak Solitaire, the cards go from King to Ace. This means that an ace can be moved to a king and a king can be moved to an ace.
***** Tri Peaks Solitaire Score *****
Scoring in Tri Peaks Solitaire is a bit confusing at first, but it makes the game very fun and challenging.
You score points based on the duration of an uninterrupted sequence of moves you can make from the pyramids.
– The first card you move from a Pyramid gives you 1 point.
– The second card you move from a Pyramid gives you another 2 points.
– The third card you move from a Pyramid gives you another 3 points.
– The fourth card you move from a Pyramid gives you another 4 points.
– etc.
As soon as you deal a Talon card, you lose 5 points and the sequence goes back to 1 point.
These first two pyramids that you remove will give you 15 points each, and when you remove the final pyramid, you will get an additional 30 points.
***** Tri Peaks Solitaire Scoring Example *****
The scoring system may sound confusing, but it’s pretty easy to understand when you see an example…
– Move a card from the Pyramid. +1 point
– Move another card from the Pyramid. +2 points
– Move another card from the Pyramid. +3 points
– Cast from the heel. -5 points
– Move a card from the Pyramid. +1 point
– Move another card from the Pyramid. +2 points
– Move another card from the Pyramid, delete the first pyramid +3 points, +15 points
***** Tri Peaks solitaire strategy *****
The highest scores in Tri Peaks come from doing long sequences. So sometimes it makes sense NOT to play all the cards you can play, because they can be useful for making an even longer sequence later on.
To find these long sequences, it’s often worth looking carefully at the starting tableau and looking for long sequences and what cards are in the way. Then play to remove the cards in the first way.
Tri Peaks Solitaire is a lot of fun, and I highly recommend you give it a try!