How to Play

TriPeaks (Tri Towers, Three Peaks) is a streak-scoring one-player patience invented by Robert Hogue in 1989. 28 cards form three overlapping peaks over a 10-card base row; clear the peaks by moving exposed cards to the waste in either-direction rank sequence, with Kings wrapping to Aces.

TriPeaks (also Tri Towers, Three Peaks) is a streak-scoring one-player patience invented by Robert Hogue in 1989. 28 cards are dealt as three overlapping four-row peaks over a bottom row of ten face-up cards, and the player clears them by taking any exposed card that is exactly one rank higher or lower than the current top of the waste, with Kings wrapping to Aces in both directions. Long uninterrupted chains earn scoring bonuses. Win rates are high (reportedly around 90% with optimal play), and a deal takes 2 to 4 minutes.

Players

1 player. TriPeaks is strictly solitary; no multiplayer or team variant exists in the classic rules.

Card Deck

One standard 52-card deck, no jokers. All four suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) and all thirteen ranks are used; suit is irrelevant for play and only rank sequencing matters. Ranks wrap in a circle: ..., 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, 2, 3, ..., so Ace is adjacent to both 2 and King.

Objective

Clear all 28 peak cards from the tableau by moving them onto the waste pile in any-direction rank-adjacent sequence. Any peak card still sitting on the table when the stock is exhausted and no play is possible counts as a loss.

Setup and Deal

1. Shuffle the 52-card deck thoroughly.
2. Deal the three peaks (the top three rows of the tableau) face-down: 3 cards in row 1 (one top card per peak), 6 cards in row 2, and 9 cards in row 3 (the peaks overlap and share border cards). 18 cards are face-down so far.
3. Deal the base row (row 4) of 10 cards face-up underneath the three peaks. Each base card supports two peak cards above it; peak cards are 'locked' as long as at least one card from the row below still overlaps them.
4. Stack the remaining 24 cards face-down beside the tableau as the stock (draw pile).
5. Flip the top card of the stock face-up to the right of the stock; this starts the waste pile and sets the first sequencing target.

Gameplay

1. Exposed cards: A peak card is exposed when no card from the row below overlaps it. At the start, only the 10 base-row cards are exposed; upper-row cards are face-down and locked.
2. Legal play: Take any exposed tableau card whose rank is exactly one higher or one lower than the current top of the waste pile, ignoring suit, and place it on top of the waste pile. It becomes the new waste top.
3. Rank wrapping: The rank sequence wraps in a circle: Ace is adjacent to both 2 and King. From a King you may play a Queen or an Ace; from an Ace you may play a 2 or a King. This standard rule is what distinguishes TriPeaks from strict Golf Solitaire.A♠K♠Q♠
4. Revealing face-down cards: When a face-down card is no longer overlapped by cards below it (because both supporting base-row cards have been played), turn it face-up. It is now exposed and available.
5. Chaining: You may play any number of rank-adjacent cards onto the waste in succession. A chain is any unbroken run of played cards without a stock draw between them; chains score bonus points (see Scoring).
6. Drawing from the stock: When no exposed card is rank-adjacent to the waste top, flip the top card of the stock face-up onto the waste. It resets the sequencing target and breaks your current chain.
7. Game end: The deal ends when the three peaks are completely cleared (a win), or when the stock is exhausted and no legal tableau play is available (a loss).
8. Illegal play: A card two or more ranks from the waste top, a non-exposed tableau card, and any interior waste-pile card are illegal targets.

Scoring

• Clearing peaks: Score 15 points for uncovering (emptying the peak top of) the first peak, 30 for the second, and 45 for the third, for a total of 90 if all three are cleared.
• Chain bonuses: Each card played in an unbroken chain scores points equal to its chain position: the first card of a chain scores 1, the second 2, the third 3, and so on. A chain broken by a stock draw resets the counter to 1 on the next play.
• Bonus for clearing everything: Clearing all 28 peak cards scores a large completion bonus (commonly 100 or 200 points, depending on implementation).
• Cards left: In some app versions, any peak card left on the table at game end deducts points; the classic paper version does not bother with negative scoring.
• Session scoring: Play a series of deals and sum the per-deal scores; best-of-N is a common casual format.

Winning

• Win condition: Every peak card (all 28) has been moved to the waste pile.
• Loss condition: The stock is exhausted, no legal tableau play is available, and at least one peak card is still on the table.
• Tie-breakers: Because the game is solitary and two distinct deals seldom produce identical scores, tie-breakers are not defined in the classic rules. In competitive play, the session-total score decides matches.

Common Variations

• No-wrap (strict) TriPeaks: Remove the Ace-King wrap; Kings and Aces then behave like dead ends in one direction. Drops the win rate sharply.A♠K♠
• All-face-up: Deal the entire tableau face-up so nothing is hidden; reduces luck and suits puzzle lovers.
• All-face-down: Deal every card of the upper three rows face-down and only flip them as they become exposed; standard in most digital versions.
• Wildcard draw: One or two jokers act as wild waste tops that match any rank as the next play.
• Timed TriPeaks: Adds a countdown for extra scoring pressure; common in mobile apps.
• Multi-hand TriPeaks: Sum scores across several deals for a cumulative match score; first to a target or highest after N deals wins.

Tips and Strategy

• Hunt for long chains before drawing from the stock. A chain broken to reach a more valuable peak card is often worth it because chain bonuses grow non-linearly.
• Plan around peak tops: clearing the top card of each peak early guarantees the peak-completion bonus, so prioritize sequences that expose peak tops over sequences that clear only base-row cards.
• Attack one peak at a time rather than grazing across all three; an uncovered peak top is irreversible progress, while a half-cleared peak may still be blocked by a single stubborn face-down card.
• When you have a choice of two exposed cards to play, pick the one whose removal unlocks more peak-interior cards, not the one with the higher face value.
• Wrap the Ace-King corner deliberately: if you have several Aces and several 2s still to play, draw toward a King or Queen target and then ride the wrap through Ace-2-3 to build a long chain.

Glossary

• Peak: One of the three four-row triangular formations at the top of the tableau. Each peak has a single top card that scores a clearance bonus when exposed and removed.
• Peak top: The single top card of a peak; clearing it counts toward the peak-clearance bonus.
• Base row: The 10-card row of initially face-up cards at the bottom of the tableau; each base card supports two peak cards above it.
• Exposed card: A tableau card with no cards overlapping it from below; the only cards available for play.
• Stock: The face-down reserve pile (24 cards at the start) used to turn new waste tops when no play is available.
• Waste pile: The face-up pile you build onto; its top card determines the next legal tableau plays.
• Chain: An unbroken sequence of plays without a stock draw in between; earns positional scoring bonuses.
• Rank wrap: The standard rule that treats Ace as adjacent to both King and 2, making the rank sequence a closed circle.A♠K♠