Tri Peaks Solitaire

Tri Peaks Solitaire was invented by Robert Hogue from Florida in 1989. The game uses one deck of cards with the aim of clearing three peaks of cards regardless of the suits. It has an interesting scoring system which makes online casinos include it in their card games. The game has undergone different modifications over the years.

Game Rules

Tri Peaks Solitaire is played using a single deck of 52 cards. The cards are dealt to form a tableau which consists of three overlapping pyramids. Each peak has four cards with all peaks sharing the lowest level. The cards at the lowest level are accessible. The inaccessible cards on the tableau can be dealt face up or face down depending on the game rule variation. The other cards form the stock where cards can be dealt from. Next to the stock is the waste pile which is initially empty.

The aim of the game is to move all cards from the three peaks to the waste pile. The cards are dealt on the waste pile, and the player can only transfer open cards to the waste pile. Initially, only cards at the bottom row of the peaks are accessible. Once a card is moved, the other cards above it become open and can be moved to the waste pile.

Cards are moved onto the waste pile only if they are in an ascending or descending sequence with the topmost card on the waste pile. For example, a 5 may be dealt on a 4 or 6 of the card on the waste or if there is a Queen on the waste, the player can move a King or Jack there. The waste pile is initially empty, and any card from the pyramid can be moved there. The player can also turn the corner by dealing kings on aces and aces on kings. You can double-click a card to move it to the waste pile.

When no cards can be moved from the peaks, a card from the stock is dealt onto the waste to start a new sequence. This happens every time there is no match from the tableau. There are no resets once all the cards from the stock have been exhausted.

The player wins the game once all cards from the peaks have been moved to the waste pile even if some cards remain in the stock. The game is lost once the stock is exhausted and no more building can happen.

Tip & Tricks

According to Robert Hogue’s analysis, 90% of all games are completely solvable. Under the original scoring system, it’s theoretically possible to achieve the average of 60 points through the use of right streaks. This means that with the right strategies there is a high chance of winning the game.

Just like all solitaire games, planning is key.
Always plan your moves ahead and build long sequences rather than short ones.
You must study the cards on the bottom to establish the cards that are about the same rank.
Move the cards that exposes as many face-down or inaccessible cards as much as possible.
This increases a chance to uncover cards that can lead to more combinations.
It also enables you to have more cards for a sequence without having to draw from the stock.
Remove the bottom row of cards on all pyramids before getting too high on a particular one.
Clearing peaks and forming long sequences earns the player more points.