How to play TriPeaks Solitaire

Three overlapping peaks, 28 cards, one waste pile — and a chain bonus that pays more for every card you take without touching the deck.

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TriPeaks is the fastest patience game there is. No foundations, no building, no dragging — one tap a card and the board comes apart.

The layout

Twenty-eight cards are dealt into three overlapping pyramids. One card sits face up beside a deck of twenty-three.

The move

Take any exposed peak card whose rank is exactly one higher or one lower than the face-up waste card. That card becomes the new waste card, and you carry on.

Suits never matter. A red six takes a black five as happily as a black six would.

Rank wraps in both directions. An Ace takes a King or a Two, and a King or a Two takes an Ace. That wrap is what turns a dead board live again more often than any other rule in patience, and forgetting it is the most common reason players tap the deck when they did not have to.

A peak card is exposed only once both cards covering it are gone.

The deck

Tap the deck when you are stuck. It always works while cards remain, and it always resets your chain.

That reset is the cost, and it is a real one — see below.

How chain scoring works

The first card played without turning the deck scores 10. The second scores 20, the third 30, and so on: the nth card in a chain scores ten times n.

Clearing the tip of a peak adds 150. Clearing all twenty-eight cards adds 500.

The arithmetic here is worth internalising, because it changes how the game should be played. A chain of eight cards scores 360; two chains of four score 100 and 100. The same eight cards are worth more than three times as much when taken in one run.

So the deck is not a free button. Every tap resets you to 10, and a player who taps whenever the obvious move dries up will finish a cleared board with a fraction of the score of a player who found one more card first.

Playing for the chain

Before tapping the deck, check both directions from the current card, including the wrap. Then check every exposed card, not only the ones near where you were looking.

When you have a choice of two cards of the same rank, take the one that exposes more. The card that uncovers two new peaks keeps the chain alive; the one that uncovers nothing usually ends it.

Look one step ahead. If taking a seven gives you a choice of two sixes next, and taking the other seven gives you none, they are not the same move even though they score the same right now.

Winning

Clear every peak card to win. The 500-point completion bonus is large enough that finishing matters more than any individual chain — but chains are how you get there, because a long chain clears the board faster than a series of short ones.

Controls

Tap or click an exposed card to play it onto the waste. Tap the deck to turn a new card.

Keyboard

Arrow keys move between exposed cards, Enter or Space plays the focused one.
D deal, U undo, N new game.

Strategy tips

Check the wrap every time. An Ace takes a King and a King takes an Ace, and forgetting it is the most common reason people tap the deck when they did not need to.
Guard the chain. The nth card of a run scores ten times n, so eight cards in one chain are worth over three times the same eight split in two.
Scan every exposed card before touching the deck. The move you want is often on the far peak rather than next to the card you just played.
When two cards of the same rank are available, take the one that uncovers more. Same score now, far better position next move.
Look one move ahead before committing. Two sevens can be very different cards if only one of them leads to a six.
Open the peaks early. Tip cards are worth 150 each and they unlock the widest part of the board underneath them.
Work all three peaks roughly evenly. Digging one peak out while the others stay covered leaves you with few exposed cards and short chains.
Treat the deck as a cost, not a button. It always works, and it always resets you to ten points a card.