One game of Pyramid followed from the deal to the finish, move by move, with the reason for each choice.
Twenty-eight cards are laid out in seven rows, and each card lies on the two below it. In this deal the bottom row reads 6♣ 7♦ K♥ 9♠ 3♥ 10♦ Q♣, and the row above it A♠ 4♣ 8♥ J♦ 2♠ 5♦. The other twenty-four cards are the stock, and this game allows three passes through it.
Only the bottom row is free at the start. The aim is to take cards away in pairs adding to thirteen, or kings on their own, until the pyramid is gone.
K♥ goes first, on its own. Then 6♣ with 7♦, and 3♥ with 10♦. That frees A♠, 4♣ and 2♠ in the row above. 4♣ pairs with 9♠, and A♠ with Q♣, which frees J♦, 8♥ and 5♦.
J♦ with 2♠ and 8♥ with 5♦ empty the row above as well. Thirteen cards are gone without turning a single card from the stock — a generous start that not every deal gives you.
The fifth row is now free: 3♣ 7♠ K♣ Q♥ 5♣. K♣ goes on its own, and nothing else pairs. The trouble is Q♥: it lies on A♦, and a card can never be paired with the card it is covering. Q♥ needs one of the other aces, and A♠ has already gone.
So it is time for the stock. The first card is 10♥, which takes 3♣. The next, 6♠, takes 7♠, and that frees 8♠, which pairs with 5♣.
The next card turned is A♣, the ace Q♥ needed. Taking the pair frees A♦ and 10♣. Then 9♣ comes up and pairs with 4♦, which frees 2♦. The card after that, 7♣, has no partner and stays on the waste, and Q♠ goes on top of it.
Q♠ takes A♦, and 7♣ is the top of the waste again. J♠ is now free and pairs with 2♦. The next card, 3♠, takes 10♣, which frees 6♥ — and 7♣, waiting on the waste all this time, pairs with it.
Only three cards are left: 9♥ and Q♦ in the second row from the top, and 5♠ above them. The stock gives 2♥, which has no partner, and then 4♠, which takes 9♥. A♥ takes Q♦, and 8♦ takes the last card, 5♠.
The pyramid is clear in 31 moves, with thirteen cards still in the stock. The deal is won the moment the last card goes, whatever is left.
Q♥ on top of A♦ was the only real danger in this deal. Had another ace been used up earlier, Q♥ would have had one partner left somewhere in the stock, and the whole top of the pyramid would have depended on finding it.
The habits that won it are the ones that win most deals: take pairs that free the cards above them, check what each card is lying on before you pair it, and remember that a card left on the waste comes back when the card above it goes.