Tri Peaks, also known as Triple Peaks, Three Peaks, Tri-Towers, etc. is a popular version of Solitaire game which is somewhat similar to Pyramid. So, if you are interested to know more about Tri Peaks solitaire game, then keep reading further.
· Tri-peaks solitaire Game goal – The aim is to Remove all cards from play by uncovering the cards of each of the three peaks that are part of the table layout.
· Number of Players – 1
· Number of Cards – Standard deck of 52 playing cards
· Order of Cards – Ace, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King. However, players can “turn the corner” while playing, and play either a King on an Ace, or an Ace on a King. The sequence goes any one of both the ways.
· Game Type – Puzzle card game
· Game Audience- Solo, teens and above.
How to Deal
Tri Peaks table is set up using 3 different sections. The 3 peaks are the pyramids of cards. All of them are 4 cards high. However, the peaks share the lowest card level in a row made from 10 cards. The pyramid’s bottom row consists of faced up cards. However, the other rows are kept faced down.
In the left bottom side of the peaks, the players need to keep their stock pile which is the deck of cards from which players draw the cards and then discard to the waste pile. This waste pile or discard pile is a faced-up pile sitting right next to the deck.
How to Play
Tri Peak is a card game similar to Solitaire versions like Pyramid. The game has to be played quickly but is quite easy and yet requires faster thought process. The game requires players to move all of their cards from the peak to the waste pile.
The players can move open cards to the waste pile. Open cards are the cards that have no other cards covering them at the top. In the start of the game, the whole bottom row is open. Players cannot remove cards from the game in the first row and in the same way, they are not allowed to move cards from the second row till they are covered completely.
The overlapping of cards occurs as the game is played in the pyramid style. And hence it becomes a little more challenging for the players to reach their goal.
Players can move a card to the Waste pile provided that it is a rank lower or a rank higher than the card they previously placed there. In the beginning of the game, players have to think about how they want to start the round i.e., which card will go first on the Waste pile. In case there are cards that are available which are one rank lower or higher than the card the player wants to give away.
When a player discards an ace card to the waste pile, their next card could be a 2 or a king. The player is allowed to ‘turn the corner’ in the game. This implies that a player has to first move a king, then an ace and then a 2 card. Then again go back to an ace and then the King.
The game has no restrictions in this regard provided that the card is one rank lower or higher having an ace that is both the ranks – 1 and 11.
The players are required to keep the cards moving from the peaks to the waste pile till they are unable to do so. As mentioned above, the goal of the game is to remove the peaks from all of their cards.
In case there are no movable cards in the peak then the player can draw a card from the stock pile and then move it to the waste pile. However, it is recommended that you use the stock pile cards only when you are not able to move cards from the 3 peaks.
How to Win Tri Peaks Solitaire Card game
In order to win Tri Peaks solitaire, players have to clear all the 3 peaks by moving all the cards to the waste pile. The cards left in the stock pile do not matter if a player clears all the 3 peaks of the game.
Scoring
If players do not want to keep a track of their score while the game is going on, then take a look at the Tri peaks scoring system – The score of a player depends on the number of cards they have left in the end of the game. If players want a simple score, then they keep one point for every card.
In order to win, the players have to score zero as they should not have any cards left where the peaks were.
Losing
When a player is playing tri peak solitaire solo, it becomes quite difficult to know when they have lost the game. But if the player is not able to move any cards from any one of their 3 peaks or if they have no cards left in the stock pile, then they lose the game. In this case, the solo player can shuffle the cards and begin again.
