Tri Peaks Solitaire Rules: How to Play, Step by Step

Tri Peaks is one of the friendliest solitaire games there is. There are no columns to build and no suits to sort. You look at one card, find a card that is one higher or one lower, and tap it. A whole game takes about five minutes, which makes it a favorite for a coffee break.

The game is younger than most card games. It was invented in 1989 by Robert Hogue and spread quickly once it appeared on home computers in the 1990s. You may also see it written as "TriPeaks," "Three Peaks" or "Triple Peaks." Whatever the name, the rules below are the standard ones, and they are exactly the rules our free Tri Peaks Solitaire game uses.

The goal

Clear the table. Twenty-eight cards are laid out in the shape of three mountain peaks. You win when every one of those cards has been moved onto the pile. It doesn't matter how many cards are left in the stock when you finish. In fact, the more you have left, the better you played.

The layout

The game uses one ordinary deck of 52 cards with no jokers. After shuffling, the cards go to three places.

The three peaks (28 cards)

The peaks are dealt in four rows, starting from the top:

• Top row: 3 cards, spaced apart. Each one is the tip of a peak.
• Second row: 6 cards, two under each tip.
• Third row: 9 cards, three under each peak, touching side by side.
• Bottom row: 10 cards in one unbroken line that joins the three peaks together.

Each row overlaps the row above it, like shingles on a roof. Every card in the top three rows has two cards lying on its lower half. The cards in the bottom row have nothing on them.

The top three rows (18 cards) are dealt face down. The bottom row of 10 is dealt face up.

The stock (23 cards) and the pile (1 card)

The remaining 24 cards are set below the peaks. One of them is turned face up to start the pile. Card players often call this the waste pile or the discard pile. The other 23 stay face down as the stock.

How to play a card

There is really only one rule to learn:

The main rule. You may move an uncovered card from the peaks onto the pile if it is exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than the card on top of the pile.

The ranks run in the usual order: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King.

• Suits don't matter. A 6 of Clubs goes on a 7 of Hearts just as well as on a 7 of Clubs.
• Colors don't matter either. Red on red is fine.
• You can change direction any time. Going up, then down, then up again is allowed: 7, 8, 7, 6, 7 is a perfectly good run.
• The same rank doesn't fit. You can't put a 7 on a 7.

The card you just played becomes the new top of the pile, so it decides what fits next. That is where the fun is. One good card can set off a long chain.

A worked example

Say the pile shows a 7, and the uncovered cards on the peaks include a 6, an 8, a 9, a 10 and a King.

1. The 6 and the 8 both fit on the 7. You choose the 8. The pile now shows an 8.
2. On the 8, a 7 or a 9 fits. You play the 9.
3. On the 9, an 8 or a 10 fits. You play the 10.
4. On the 10, you would need a 9 or a Jack. Neither is uncovered, so the run ends after three cards.

Had you started with the 6 instead, you would have needed a 5 or a 7 next, and there wasn't one. Same starting position, one card instead of three. Looking a few cards ahead is the heart of Tri Peaks strategy.

Which cards can be played

A card can be played only when it is uncovered, meaning no other card is lying on it. At the start, only the ten cards of the bottom row are uncovered.

Each card higher up has two cards on it. When both of those are gone, the card is uncovered. If it was face down, it is turned face up at that moment, and from then on it can be played like any other.

Removing just one of the two isn't enough. A card with one neighbor still lying on it stays face down and stays out of play.

In our game: cards turn over by themselves as soon as they are uncovered. Cards that fit on the pile right now are marked with a thick outline and sit slightly higher than the rest. If you tap a card that can't be played, the message box tells you why.

Using the stock

When no uncovered card fits, turn the top card of the stock face up and put it on the pile. It becomes the new top card, whatever it is, and you carry on from there.

• You may turn a stock card whenever you like, even if a card on the peaks still fits. Usually you shouldn't, but it is allowed.
• Stock cards are turned one at a time.
• There is no second trip through the stock. When the 23 cards are gone, they are gone.
• A card that has gone onto the pile never comes back into play.

Kings and Aces

In the standard game the ranks go around in a circle. The Ace sits next to the 2 and also next to the King. So on an Ace you can play a 2 or a King, and on a King you can play a Queen or an Ace. A run such as Queen, King, Ace, 2 is allowed.

Some players prefer a stricter game in which the King and the Ace are dead ends: only a Queen goes on a King, and only a 2 goes on an Ace. Our game follows the standard rule, and you can switch to the strict one in Settings. The variations page explains the difference.

How the game ends

• You win the moment the last card leaves the peaks.
• You lose when the stock is empty and none of the uncovered cards fits on the pile.

Not every shuffle can be won. With the standard rules, roughly 97 deals in 100 have a winning path, though finding it isn't always easy. In our game, New Game only gives you deals that our solver has already won. And since Undo is unlimited, a lost game is never really lost: you can step back and try a different path.

Scoring

Many people play Tri Peaks simply to win or lose. Our game keeps it that simple. It shows your current run, which is the number of cards you have played in a row without turning a stock card, and your best run of the deal. Your wins and winning streaks are kept in the statistics.

If you play with real cards and want a score, here is a traditional way to keep it, close to the scoring the game was first published with. It rewards long runs:

With this scoring, a run of five cards is worth 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15 points, while five cards played one at a time between stock cards are worth only 5, less the cost of the stock cards. Long runs are everything.

Playing with real cards

Tri Peaks works nicely on a kitchen table. Deal the top row of three face down with gaps between them, then lay each new row so every card overlaps the bottom corners of the cards above. Deal the last row of ten face up. Keep the stock in your hand or beside the layout, and turn one card to start the pile. Remember to turn a hidden card over as soon as both cards on it are gone.

Rules at a glance

Once the rules feel natural, our Tri Peaks strategy guide shows how to win more often, and the variations page covers the house rules you'll meet. If you enjoy the one-up, one-down idea, Golf solitaire uses it too, with seven columns instead of peaks. For something slower and deeper, try FreeCell or classic Klondike solitaire.