Three overlapping peaks. One rule: play a card that’s exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than whatever’s sitting on top of the waste pile. A 6 takes a 5 or a 7. A King takes a Queen — or, in most versions, an Ace, since the ranks wrap around. Suits don’t matter. Colors don’t matter. Just the number next to it.
String enough of those moves together without stopping to draw from the stock, and your score climbs fast — each card in a streak is worth more than the last. Break the chain, and it resets. That rhythm is the whole game, and it’s why rounds tend to fly by in a few minutes flat.
Play free, right in your browser — no download, no sign-up, just three peaks and a deck of cards.
A Short History of TriPeaks Solitaire
Unlike most Solitaire variants, TriPeaks has a known birthday and a known inventor. Robert Hogue designed it in 1989, and it first appeared as part of Solitaire Royale, a card-game collection from Quantum Quality Productions. It really took off a couple of years later when Microsoft bundled it into the Entertainment Pack series — for a lot of office workers in the early 1990s, TriPeaks was the first Solitaire variant they’d ever seen that wasn’t Klondike.
Hogue reportedly ran his own statistical analysis on the game during development and found that roughly 90% of deals are theoretically solvable — notably higher than Klondike’s estimated 79–82%. That combination — quick rounds, a high solvability rate, and the satisfying chain-reaction of cards flipping open as you clear the board — is most of why TriPeaks caught on as fast as it did, and the version on this page keeps that same three-peaks, one-rule structure intact.
How to Play TriPeaks Solitaire
Objective
Clear every card from the three peaks by playing them onto the waste pile — each card you play must be exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than the current top card of the waste pile. Clear all 28 cards from the playing field, and you win.
Game Setup
TriPeaks uses a single 52-card deck:
- The Three Peaks — 28 cards arranged into three overlapping pyramid shapes that connect along the bottom row. The cards higher up in each peak start face-down and flip face-up once the cards covering them have been cleared.
- The Stock — the remaining 24 cards, face-down, set aside for when you get stuck.
- The Waste Pile — one card is turned face-up here at the start of the game. This is the card every move is measured against.
Rules of Play
- Play one rank higher or lower than the waste pile’s top card. Suit and color are irrelevant — only the number matters. If the waste pile shows an 8, you can play any exposed 7 or 9.
- Only exposed cards can be played. A card in the peaks becomes playable once nothing is covering it. Clearing the cards above a hidden card flips it face-up, and if it matches the waste pile, you can often chain straight into your next move.
- Cards move one direction only — tableau to waste. Once a card is on the waste pile, it can’t go back onto the peaks.
- Draw from the stock when you’re stuck. Flipping a new stock card onto the waste pile gives you a fresh number to match against. In this version, you can cycle through the remaining 24 cards twice over the course of a game — so it’s a limited resource, but not as tight as the single-pass rule some other versions use.
- Clear the entire playing field to win. If you’ve gone through the stock twice and cards are still sitting on the peaks, the round ends as a loss.
- There’s no undo button in this version. Every move is final, which makes TriPeaks here a bit more deliberate than versions that let you take moves back — it’s worth a quick scan of the board before committing, especially when more than one card is playable.
How Scoring Works
In thisTriPeaks your score is based on how many cards you clear and how quickly you clear them. Completing the board fast, with as few stock draws as possible, is what pushes your score up — so the practical advice ends up the same either way: keep the board moving, and treat each stock draw as a small cost rather than a free reset button.
Strategies to Win TriPeaks Solitaire
TriPeaks rewards a slightly different mindset than the slower games on this site — you’re often choosing between several legal moves, and with no undo to fall back on, it pays to think before you click.
- Prioritize uncovering face-down cards. Every hidden card in the peaks is a card you can’t use yet. Clearing the cards covering them should usually take priority over moves that don’t reveal anything new.
- When you have a choice, pick the move that keeps options open. If both a 5 and a 7 can be played on a 6, think about what each move uncovers — and what you could play after that — rather than just taking whichever is more convenient.
- Treat your two stock passes as a limited resource. Double-check all three peaks for a playable card before reaching for the stock — once you’ve cycled through twice, that’s it.
- Spread your attention across all three peaks. Focusing entirely on one peak can leave the other two with small, awkward clusters of cards that are hard to connect to later. Try to make progress on all three at once.
- Take a beat before clicking when you have multiple options. Since there’s no undo here, a quick scan of all three peaks before committing to a move is worth the extra second — especially early in the round, when one choice can shape how the rest of the board opens up.
How Difficult Is TriPeaks Solitaire?
By the numbers, TriPeaks is one of the more solvable Solitaire variants. Robert Hogue’s own analysis during development found that roughly 90% of deals are theoretically winnable with perfect play — compared to an estimated 79–82% for Klondike. That’s a meaningful gap, and it’s part of why TriPeaks has a reputation as a “fairer” game than its slower cousins.
In practice, actual win rates depend heavily on skill, since spotting the best move among several legal options takes a bit of practice — and in this version, with no undo to fall back on, a single early misstep can be the difference between clearing the board and running out of stock passes with cards still left. Commonly reported real-world win rates for TriPeaks sit in the 20–30% range for typical players, with players who focus on clearing efficiently — rather than just taking the first legal move available — reporting noticeably higher results over time.
Is TriPeaks the Same as Pyramid or Golf Solitaire?
They’re related, but each one changes the core rule in a different direction.
Pyramid Solitaire shares the pyramid-shaped layout, but the matching rule is completely different — there, you’re pairing cards that add up to 13, not looking for adjacent ranks.
Golf Solitaire shares TriPeaks’ “one rank higher or lower” rule almost exactly — but without the pyramid layout, played instead across flat columns of cards.
TriPeaks essentially sits between the two: it borrows the peak silhouette from Pyramid and the ±1 matching rule from Golf, then adds the chain-reaction feel of cards flipping open as you clear the board. If you’ve played either of those, TriPeaks will feel immediately familiar — just faster, and with a bit more riding on each move.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do suits or colors matter when matching cards?
No. The only thing that matters is rank — the number on the card. A red 8 can be played on a black 9 or a black 7, or a red 7 or red 9. Color and suit don’t come into it at all.
How many times can I go through the stock pile?
Twice. You can cycle through the remaining 24 cards up to two times over the course of a game — once that’s used up, any cards still left on the peaks mean the round is over.
How does scoring work?
Your score is based on how many cards you clear and how quickly you clear them. There’s no separate streak counter to watch — just focus on clearing cards efficiently and avoiding unnecessary stock draws.
Do I need to download anything or sign up?
No. The game runs entirely in your browser — nothing to install, nothing to create an account for.
Can I play TriPeaks Solitaire on my phone?
Yes. The three-peak layout resizes for smaller screens. If you’re on a touchscreen device and notice the page shifting while you play, there’s also a standalone full-screen version built specifically for touch.
Is every game of TriPeaks Solitaire winnable?
Not every deal — TriPeaks has one of the higher solvability rates of any Solitaire variant, with around 90% of deals theoretically winnable under perfect play. In practice, real-world win rates are lower, and since our version has no undo, an early misstep can use up your two stock passes before the board is clear.
What happens if I make a mistake?
There’s no undo in this version, so a move is final once you make it. If a round doesn’t work out, the best move is usually to start a new game rather than try to recover — each new deal is its own fresh shot at clearing the board.
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