Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3

What is Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3?

Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3 is a Pyramid variant played with one standard 52-card deck. The layout is the standard seven-row triangle: 28 cards with the apex at the top and a fully-exposed base of seven cards at the bottom. The remaining 24 cards form the stock. Instead of drawing one card at a time as in standard Pyramid, you draw three cards simultaneously and fan them face-up onto the waste pile. Only the top card of the three is available for pairing. The two cards beneath it remain buried until the top card is removed.

Two redeals are allowed. When the stock is exhausted, you can flip the waste back into a stock twice before the game ends. This combination of restricted access (only the waste top is playable) and two redemptions creates a game significantly harder than standard Pyramid Draw 1 when played without redeals, but the two redeals add just enough recovery potential to maintain a win rate comparable to other moderate-difficulty Pyramid variants.

Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3 history

The Turn 3 draw mechanic predates digital solitaire by centuries in the context of Klondike Patience, where drawing three cards instead of one is the traditional tabletop rule. Microsoft Windows popularized the digital single-draw format, making "Turn 1" feel like the standard version even though "Turn 3" is historically the older convention in physical card play. Applying the three-card draw to Pyramid was a natural extension once digital platforms had established both games separately. The Solitaire by Threes label reflects older patience literature terminology where dealing three cards at a time was a recognized rule variant across multiple patience families. In the digital era, Pyramid Turn 3 appears in various solitaire suites as a harder companion to standard Pyramid Draw 1, giving players who master the base game a meaningful upgrade in challenge.

How to Play Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3

The pyramid rules are identical to standard Pyramid. The difference is entirely in how stock cards are drawn and accessed. Here are the full steps:

1. Deal 28 cards into the seven-row pyramid. Row 1 (apex) holds one card; row 7 (base) holds seven fully-exposed cards. Each card in rows 1 through 6 overlaps two cards in the row below.
2. Place the remaining 24 cards face-down as the stock pile.
3. A pyramid card is exposed only when both cards directly overlapping it from the row below have been removed (strict standard exposure rule).
4. Tap the stock to draw three cards at once. They fan out face-up on the waste pile, with the third-drawn card on top. Only the top card of the waste is available for pairing.
5. Pair the waste top with any exposed pyramid card, or remove it as a lone King, to uncover the card beneath it in the waste. That newly-revealed waste card is now the top and becomes available.
6. Tap two exposed pyramid cards that sum to 13 to remove both without drawing. Valid pairs: A+Q, 2+J, 3+10, 4+9, 5+8, 6+7.
7. When the stock runs dry, flip the waste into a new stock (first redeal). When that stock runs dry, flip again (second redeal). After the second redeal's stock is exhausted, no further redeals are available.
8. Win by clearing all 28 pyramid cards at any point. Remaining stock and waste cards do not matter.

Strategies to win Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3

The buried-waste-card problem is the defining challenge of Turn 3. The following strategies address this specific constraint.

• Pair the waste top immediately when possible. Using the waste top as soon as it is available uncovers the card beneath it, giving you access to a second waste card from the same draw. Letting a useful waste top sit untouched while you draw new cards will bury it deeper.
• Think about the order cards will return in each redeal. When you flip the waste into a new stock, cards return in reverse discard order. If card A was drawn before card B in the original stock, card B will resurface before card A in the first redeal. This ordering is predictable once you know the rough sequence in which you drew cards.
• Draw from stock only when no pyramid pair exists. With only two redeals and three cards drawn per tap, you have at most eight draw events for 24 stock cards. Drawing unnecessarily wastes one of those events and buries the waste more deeply.
• Plan redeal triggers intentionally. Triggering the first redeal when the pyramid has been partially cleared means the second redeal will still face a difficult pyramid. If possible, clear as many pyramid rows as you can before the first redeal so that the recycled stock helps finish the upper rows rather than helping with the base.
• Monitor buried-waste depth. After each draw, the waste holds up to three cards that are not the top. If you need a buried waste card, you must first dispose of the cards above it. Know when to use pyramid pairs to clear pyramid rows versus when to pair a pyramid card with the waste top specifically to uncover a buried card you need.

Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3 rules and objective

The objective is to remove all 28 pyramid cards. Cards are removed as pairs summing to 13 or as solo Kings. A pyramid card is exposed only when both of its lower-row blockers have been removed. The stock is drawn three cards at a time; only the waste top is playable. Two redeals are permitted: each time the stock is exhausted, the waste flips back into a new stock. After the second redeal's stock runs dry, the game ends in a loss if the pyramid is not yet cleared.

Game setup

Shuffle a 52-card deck. Deal 28 cards into the seven-row pyramid in the standard configuration (one card at the apex, seven at the base). Place the remaining 24 cards face-down as the stock. The waste pile starts empty. No reserve or grid is used. The only structural difference from standard Pyramid setup is the draw rule: each tap of the stock deals three cards to the waste rather than one.

Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3 variants and similar games

Pyramid Turn 3 is the highest-difficulty draw-rule variant in the Pyramid family. Here is how it compares to the other main variants by draw rule and win rate:

How difficult is Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3?

Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3 sits at moderate-to-high difficulty within the Pyramid family. The three-card draw buries two out of every three stock cards immediately, creating situations where the card you need is in the waste but inaccessible until the two cards above it are disposed of. This buried-card problem requires planning multi-step sequences rather than reacting to individual pairs. Two redeals help, because the first redeal gives you another pass through the stock in a different order, and the second redeal is a final safety net. Players familiar with Klondike Turn 3 will recognise the buried-card tension instantly; in Pyramid Turn 3 it is compounded by the pyramid exposure constraint, making every decision more consequential.

What is Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3's win percentage?

Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3 has a win rate of approximately 20% under optimal play. This is notably higher than standard Pyramid Draw 1 (5 to 8%) because the two redeals allow players to cycle through the stock three times total before the game ends. However, the buried-card restriction means that access to waste cards is severely limited on each pass, reducing the practical benefit of those redeals compared to the unlimited cycling of Tut's Tomb. The 20% figure requires precise waste management across all three stock passes and careful pyramid sequencing.

What is the difference between Pyramid Turn 3 and Klondike Turn 3?

Klondike Turn 3 and Pyramid Turn 3 both draw three cards at a time and permit only the top of those three to be played, but they are otherwise completely different games. Klondike Turn 3 is a building game where you construct four suit-based foundation piles by moving cards through seven tableau columns, starting with Ace and ending with King. Pyramid Turn 3 is a pairing game where cards have no positional destination; they are simply removed when they form a valid pair summing to 13 with another exposed card.

The shared mechanic (draw 3, play from top) produces a similar buried-card tension in both games, but the strategic context is entirely different. In Klondike Turn 3 you are building ordered sequences and managing tableau columns as holding areas. In Pyramid Turn 3 you are managing pyramid exposure and deciding which pairs to make in which order to unlock higher rows. Klondike Turn 3 typically allows unlimited redeals; Pyramid Turn 3 permits exactly two. Both are harder than their respective Draw 1 counterparts for the same reason: fewer waste cards are accessible per pass through the stock.

Pyramid Solitaire Turn 3 FAQ

Other solitaire games I recommend

• Pyramid Solitaire
• Klondike Solitaire Turn 3
• Relaxed Pyramid Solitaire
• Tut's Tomb Solitaire
• Apophis Solitaire
• Pharaoh Solitaire
• Giza Solitaire
• Triangle Solitaire