TriPeaks Game
Three peaks. Twenty-eight cards staring you down. A foundation that wants the next rank up or down. TriPeaks is the kind of card game you sit with for five minutes and then look up forty-five minutes later wondering where the afternoon went. Play below — free, no signup, mobile-friendly. Combos are tracked, your stats save automatically.
What Makes TriPeaks Different
Most solitaire games ask you to build sequences. TriPeaks asks you to demolish them. There's no tableau column you slowly add to, no Ace-to-King foundation you sweat over. There's a single growing foundation pile in the corner, and every time you play a card it becomes the new target. Find a card on the peaks one rank above or below it — done. Find another. Done. The rush of stringing five, ten, fifteen cards together without touching the stock pile is what hooks people.
TriPeaks was popularized in the mid-1990s by Microsoft Entertainment Pack and has been a fixture of casual solitaire collections ever since. The mathematical structure — a binary tree of peaks where each card unlocks the two below it — also makes it a favorite for teaching dynamic programming in computer science classes.
How to Play TriPeaks Solitaire
At the start, eighteen face-down cards are arranged in three triangular peaks, with ten more cards face-up at the base. The remaining twenty-four cards form the stock, with one card flipped onto the foundation to start.
- Goal: Remove all 28 peak cards before the stock runs out.
- Legal play: Any face-up peak card that is one rank above or below the foundation card.
- Rank wraps: An Ace plays on a 2 or a King; a King plays on a Queen or an Ace.
- Stock: When you can't (or won't) play a peak card, click the stock to flip a new foundation card. There's no recycle — once stock is empty, the game ends.
- Suits don't matter. Forget colors and suits. Only rank counts.
Quick Strategy: Three Tips That Double Your Win Rate
Chase the longest combo.
Each card removed from a combo is worth a small fortune. Before you flip the stock, scan the peaks for the longest chain you can string together.
Don't unlock peaks symmetrically.
If you open both children of a peak card too quickly, you might trap yourself. Stagger your unlocks — open one side, work it down, then attack the other.
Stock is precious; spend it last.
Flipping a new foundation card is the only move you can't undo strategically. Use a stock flip only when you've truly run out of peak plays.
For the full strategy guide including the card-counting method professional players use, read TriPeaks Strategy: Card Counting Method.
TriPeaks vs Pyramid Solitaire
Players often confuse the two — both have triangular layouts. Here's how they differ:
| TriPeaks | Pyramid | |
|---|---|---|
| Layout | Three small peaks (28 cards) | One large pyramid (28 cards) |
| Matching rule | One rank above or below foundation | Pairs that sum to 13 |
| Stock | Flips to foundation, no recycle | Waste pile, sometimes recycles |
| Win rate (skilled) | ~50% | ~14% |
| Average game length | 3 minutes | 4 minutes |
| Skill factor | Medium | Lower (more random) |
Read the full breakdown in TriPeaks vs Pyramid: Which Triangle Is For You.
Scoring and Combos
Scoring varies by implementation, but the standard rules go like this. The first peak card removed in a combo is worth 1 point. The second, 2. The third, 3. The chain doesn't reset until you flip the stock. A 10-card combo is therefore worth 1+2+3+…+10 = 55 points — over five times what ten isolated removals would score. Clearing all three peaks ends with a bonus equal to the number of cards left in stock, rewarding fast, efficient play.
A Short History of TriPeaks
TriPeaks was designed in 1989 by Robert Hogue, a programmer at the games company that would become Microsoft Entertainment Pack. It was originally called "Three Peaks" and was first distributed in Microsoft Entertainment Pack 3 in 1991, alongside other classics like SkiFree and Tetris. The name was tightened to TriPeaks in subsequent releases. Today, mobile TriPeaks apps regularly chart in the top free card games on the App Store, and the game is one of the most-played solo card games in the world after Klondike and FreeCell.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is TriPeaks the same as Pyramid Solitaire?
No. Pyramid is one triangle of 28 cards where you pair to a sum of 13. TriPeaks has three smaller peaks of 10 cards each (30 total face-down + face-up cards), and you clear by matching one rank above or below the foundation card, regardless of suit.
How do you win TriPeaks?
Remove every card from the three peaks before the stock pile runs out. Each peak card you remove is added to a single foundation pile, and your next play must be one rank above or below whatever is currently on the foundation.
Does suit matter in TriPeaks?
No. TriPeaks ignores suit entirely. Only rank matters — and rank wraps around, so an Ace plays on a 2 or a King and vice versa.
What is a TriPeaks combo?
A combo is an uninterrupted sequence of peak cards you remove without drawing from the stock. Many TriPeaks variants reward longer combos with multiplied points — a 5-card combo is worth far more than five single removals.
Is TriPeaks easier than Klondike?
On win rate, yes. Strong TriPeaks players win around 50% of hands compared to about 33% in Klondike Turn 1. The skill ceiling is also lower — most TriPeaks decisions are obvious; the hard ones are about which path opens the most peaks.
Can I play TriPeaks on my phone?
Yes. The game on this site uses HTML5 and touch input, so it works identically on phones, tablets, and desktops without any download.