Do suits or colours matter in TriPeaks Solitaire?

No. Suits and colours are ignored completely. The only thing that matters is a card's rank. You play a peak card whenever it is one rank higher or one rank lower than the card on top of the waste pile, regardless of suit or colour.

How many cards are in the three peaks?

There are 28 cards in the peaks, dealt in four rows: 3 cards on top, then 6, then 9, then a bottom row of 10 face-up cards. The remaining cards form the stock, with one turned face-up to start the waste pile.

Do I have to use all the stock cards to win?

No. You win the moment you clear all 28 peak cards, even if cards are still left in the stock. The stock is only there to give you new cards to build from when you cannot play a peak card.

TriPeaks Solitaire rules and how to play

TriPeaks is one of the friendliest solitaire games to learn, and one of the most relaxing to play. You clear three little “peaks” of cards by picking off cards that sit just one rank above or below the card in front of you. There is no long planning and no complicated setup — just a gentle, steady rhythm. You can play TriPeaks here whenever you like, and this guide will walk you through everything at an unhurried pace.

If you have ever played a game where you match a card that is “one higher or one lower,” you already know most of what you need. Let’s go through it slowly.

What you need

TriPeaks uses one standard 52-card deck. Suits and colours do not matter at all in this game — you never have to worry about hearts, spades, red or black. The only thing that matters is the rank of a card: Ace, 2, 3, and so on up to King. That single idea is what makes TriPeaks so easy on the mind.

Because suit and colour are irrelevant, TriPeaks is a comfortable choice if telling red from black is ever tiring. You simply look at the number or letter on each card.

The layout

At the start, 28 cards are dealt into a shape made of three peaks side by side — that is where the game gets its name. The shape has four rows:

The top row has 3 cards — the tips of the three peaks.
The second row has 6 cards.
The third row has 9 cards.
The bottom row has 10 cards, laid out in a long line across the bottom.

The cards overlap like roof tiles, so higher cards partly cover the ones below them. Only the bottom row of 10 cards is face-up at the start; the cards above are face-down until they are uncovered.

The remaining cards form the stock (also called the deck), kept in a pile off to the side. One card from the stock is turned face-up to begin the waste pile — sometimes called the discard pile. That face-up card is your starting point.

How to play

The card on top of the waste pile is the card you build from. To play a card off the peaks, it must be one rank higher or one rank lower than that waste card. Suit does not matter.

For example, if a 7 is showing on the waste pile, you may play any available 6 or any available 8. As soon as you do, the card you played becomes the new top of the waste pile, and now you build from that one. So a 7 might lead to an 8, then a 9, then a 10, then back down to a 9 — as long as each card is one step away from the last.

The count “wraps around” at the ends, so it never dead-ends on Ace or King. An Ace can follow a King or a 2, and a King can follow a Queen or an Ace. In other words the ranks form a loop: Queen–King–Ace–2–3, and around again.

When you cannot play — or simply choose not to — you turn over one fresh card from the stock onto the waste pile. That gives you a new card to build from and often opens up moves that were not there before.

Moving cards

A card in the peaks can only be played when it is fully uncovered — that is, when no other card is lying on top of it. As you remove cards from the bottom, the cards above them become exposed and flip face-up, ready to be played in turn. This is the heart of the game: each card you take frees the ones behind it.

There is no undoing this on paper, but in our online version you can undo a move, ask for a hint, or restart the hand whenever you wish. Nothing is ever lost by trying a move and changing your mind.

Winning and losing

You win by clearing all 28 cards from the three peaks. You do not have to use every card in the stock — the moment the last peak card is gone, you have won, even if cards remain in the stock.

The game ends when there are no cards left in the stock to turn over and no available peak card matches the waste pile. If some peak cards are still stranded, that hand is lost. This is quite normal — not every deal can be solved, and even strong players do not win every game. A fresh deal is always a click away.

A worked example

Suppose the waste pile shows a 9. Among the uncovered bottom-row cards you see a 10 and an 8.

Play the 10 onto the 9. The waste now shows 10.
You spot a Jack now uncovered — play it. The waste shows Jack.
Nothing matches the Jack, so you turn a card from the stock. It is a 7.
An 8 is available — play it (7 up to 8). Then a 9, then back down to an 8.

Each of those moves also uncovered a face-down card higher in the peaks, giving you more to work with. That chaining feeling — one card leading naturally to the next — is what makes TriPeaks so satisfying.

Getting started

Do not worry about strategy on your first few hands. Just look at the waste card, glance along the available peak cards, and play anything that is one higher or one lower. When you run dry, draw from the stock. That is genuinely all there is to it. The finer points — like saving stock cards and building long chains — will come naturally, and you can read about them in the TriPeaks strategy guide when you feel ready.

If you enjoy TriPeaks, you may also like these gentle, similar games:

Golf Solitaire — another “one up or one down” game with a simple, flowing rhythm.
Pyramid Solitaire — clear a pyramid of cards by pairing them, a calm cousin of TriPeaks.

Play TriPeaks →