TriPeaks Solitaire is a fast, forgiving card game in which you clear three triangular peaks of cards by chaining ranks up or down from a single waste pile. Designed by Robert Hogue in 1994 and later included in Microsoft Solitaire Collection, TriPeaks is one of the most beginner-friendly solitaire variants — the majority of deals are completable with careful play, and a satisfying chain combo can wipe out half the board in seconds.
What is TriPeaks Solitaire?
TriPeaks Solitaire is a single-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. The goal is to clear all 28 cards arranged in three overlapping triangular peaks by selecting cards whose rank is exactly one higher or one lower than the card on top of the waste pile. Aces and Kings are adjacent, so the rank sequence wraps around: you can play a King onto a Queen or onto an Ace, and an Ace onto a 2 or onto a King.
Robert Hogue created TriPeaks in 1994 and published the rules along with early analysis of the game's win rates. Microsoft later added it to the Microsoft Solitaire Collection, which ships with Windows 8 and later, introducing the game to tens of millions of casual players. Outside that collection it also goes by the names Three Peaks and Triple Peaks.
Compared to Klondike or Spider, TriPeaks is considered an easy solitaire variant. There are no suit restrictions, no color restrictions, and the single-step rank rule is simple to apply at a glance. Win rates in skilled play hover around 80 to 90 percent of randomly dealt games, which means losses are usually the result of running out of stock cards rather than an unwinnable layout.
How to play TriPeaks Solitaire
Step 1 — Deal the board
The 52-card deck is split into two groups before play starts. Twenty-eight cards are arranged into the three-peak layout (described below). The remaining 24 cards form the face-down stock pile at the bottom-left. One card from the stock is flipped face-up to start the waste pile at the bottom-right. The four empty foundation slots are not used in TriPeaks.
Step 2 — Understand the peak layout
The 28 peak cards are arranged in four rows. The bottom row (row 4) contains 10 cards and is shared across all three peaks — these cards are all face-up and available from the start. Row 3 has 9 cards (3 per peak), row 2 has 6 cards (2 per peak), and row 1 has 3 cards (1 per peak — the tips of each triangle). Cards in rows 3, 2, and 1 start face-down and are covered by the cards directly below them in the next row.
Step 3 — Learn when a card is available
A peak card becomes available — and flips face-up — once every card that overlaps it from the row below has been removed. The 10 base-row cards are available from the start because nothing covers them. As you clear base-row cards, the row-3 cards they were covering flip up and become playable, and so on up toward the peaks.
Step 4 — Play cards onto the waste
Click any available peak card whose rank is exactly 1 above or below the current waste top. Suit and color do not matter. The card moves to the waste, becoming the new top. You can then immediately play another available card onto that new top — this is how chains form. Aces and Kings are adjacent, so an Ace can be played on a 2 or a King, and a King can be played on a Queen or an Ace.
Step 5 — Draw from stock when needed
When no available peak card matches the waste top, click the stock pile to flip its top card onto the waste. That new card becomes the waste top and you can try again. The stock has no recycle — once the 24 stock cards are exhausted, the game ends if peak cards still remain.
Step 6 — Win by clearing all 28 peak cards
The game is won the moment the last peak card is removed. Stock and waste cards may still remain — they are irrelevant to the win condition. The game is lost if stock runs dry while any peak card is still covered or available but unplayable.
The TriPeaks play area
The TriPeaks play area is divided into two regions. The upper three-quarters of the screen holds the 28-card peak layout arranged in four rows. The lower portion contains the stock and waste at opposite ends. There are no foundation piles and no tableau columns — every card interaction runs through the single waste pile.
The three peaks are visually distinct triangles, but they share row 4 (the 10-card base row), which means removing a base-row card can unlock cards from two adjacent peaks simultaneously. This shared base is why long chains are possible: one good sequence of plays near the center of the base can cascade upward into multiple peaks at once.
Cards in rows 1 through 3 display face-down until uncovered. When the last card covering a peak card is removed, that card flips automatically. The peak tips — the single card at the top of each triangle — are the last to flip in normal play, but they flip as soon as their two row-2 cards are gone.
Available moves in TriPeaks Solitaire
At any point in a TriPeaks game you have at most two types of move: play an available peak card onto the waste, or draw from the stock. A peak card is available if no other cards overlap it from above. In the base row (row 4) all cards begin available. Every card in rows 3, 2, and 1 becomes available only after both cards below it in the next row are removed.
The rank rule for playing a card is strict: the card's rank must be exactly one higher or one lower than the waste top. Suit and color are completely irrelevant. Because Aces and Kings wrap, the full circle of ranks is: A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A. You can move along this circle in either direction with each play.
You cannot move a peak card to any location other than the waste top, and you cannot move waste cards back. Drawing from stock is always available as long as the stock is not empty, even if playable peak cards exist. However, drawing unnecessarily burns through your limited stock supply and breaks any chain you were building.
TriPeaks Solitaire strategy
Build long chains before drawing from stock
Every card you play without drawing from stock adds to your chain. Long chains are both satisfying and strategically sound — they clear more of the peak before your stock supply drops. Before drawing, scan all available peak cards and trace possible sequences from the current waste top. A chain of 8 or 10 cards can open multiple peak rows at once.
Plan at least two moves ahead
After each play, check what the new waste top will allow next. If playing a 7 onto an 8 leaves you with no available 6 or 8 to continue, consider whether a different available card would keep the chain alive longer. The few seconds spent scanning ahead will save you many unnecessary stock draws.
Prioritize cards that unblock higher rows
Removing a base-row card that is the last obstacle blocking two row-3 cards is more valuable than removing a base-row card that still has a partner covering the row-3 card above it. When two base-row plays are equally valid for the current chain, choose the one that uncovers the most peak cards.
Do not draw from stock when alternatives exist
The stock has exactly 24 cards and no recycle. Each draw is one fewer card available for breaking future stuck positions. If any available peak card can be played legally, play it. Only draw when you genuinely have no matching peak card.
Watch both sides of the rank ladder
The chain can go up or down, so always check both directions from the waste top. If the waste shows a 7, both 6s and 8s are valid plays. Players who only scan in one direction miss half their options and break chains unnecessarily.
Target isolated peak tips late
The three peak-tip cards (one per triangle) cannot be reached until both their row-2 cards are gone. If two peaks are nearly clear but the third still has a full row 2, shift attention to clearing that row so the peak tip becomes reachable before stock runs out.
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Chain combos: the heart of TriPeaks Solitaire
The chain combo mechanic is what makes TriPeaks Solitaire feel different from other solitaire games. A chain begins with the first peak card you play and grows by one with every consecutive peak card played without drawing from stock. Some scoring systems reward longer chains exponentially — the points for the fifth card in a chain may be double what they were for the first.
Chain combos are also the primary skill gap between casual and experienced players. A beginner who draws from stock the moment they can't see an obvious move will average chains of 2 or 3. A player who scans the full set of available cards and traces multi-step sequences can build chains of 10, 15, or even longer on a favorable deal.
When a chain breaks — because you draw from stock — the counter resets to zero. The new stock card starts a fresh chain. There is no penalty for breaking a chain beyond the lost scoring opportunity and the reduced stock supply. Knowing when a chain is truly stuck versus when you missed a play is the most important judgment call in the game.
TriPeaks Solitaire odds and win rate
TriPeaks Solitaire has one of the highest win rates of any solitaire variant. Robert Hogue's original analysis of the game estimated that roughly 80 to 90 percent of randomly dealt TriPeaks games are completable with optimal play. That is a dramatic contrast to Klondike (around 82% theoretically but far lower in practice) and Pyramid (well under 10%).
The high win rate comes from two structural features. First, the rank-wrapping rule (A and K adjacent) means every waste top can accept a wider range of cards than a strict rank sequence would allow. Second, the lack of suit or color restrictions means many more peak cards are valid plays at any given moment, so chains start and continue more easily.
In practice, most losses in TriPeaks come from exhausting the stock before clearing the peaks — typically because the player drew too freely early in the game. A deal that would be winnable with disciplined stock management can become unwinnable if 10 or more stock cards are spent on early stuck positions. The game is forgiving, but not unconditionally so.
Daily challenge modes and seeded deals sometimes use non-random layouts skewed toward harder or easier win rates. On our site, the standard game uses truly random deals, so your long-run win percentage will converge on the 80-to-90-percent range as your chain-building skill improves.
History of TriPeaks Solitaire
Robert Hogue designed TriPeaks Solitaire in 1994. Hogue published not just the rules but also a computational analysis of the game's properties, including win-rate estimates. That combination of game design and mathematical documentation made TriPeaks unusual among solitaire variants, most of which evolved anonymously over decades.
The game gained its largest audience when Microsoft included it in the Microsoft Solitaire Collection, which shipped with Windows 8 in 2012 and has been preinstalled on every version of Windows since. The collection also includes Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, and Pyramid, and Microsoft later released it on iOS and Android. TriPeaks is consistently among the most-played games in the collection.
Before its inclusion in Microsoft Solitaire Collection, TriPeaks appeared in various shareware packages and browser-based card game suites through the late 1990s and 2000s. The game's simple rank rule made it easy to implement, and its faster pace relative to Klondike made it popular as a quick-play option.
The name TriPeaks refers directly to the three triangular peaks in the layout. Regional variants sometimes call it Three Peaks, Triple Peaks, or (less commonly) Tri-Towers. The rules are consistent across all names — only the visual arrangement of the peak triangles varies slightly between implementations.
Frequently asked questions
What is the goal of TriPeaks Solitaire?
- The goal is to remove all 28 cards from the three-peak layout by playing them onto the waste pile. A peak card can be played when its rank is exactly one higher or one lower than the current waste top. Aces and Kings are adjacent, so the rank sequence wraps. Stock and waste cards do not need to be cleared — only the 28 peak cards count toward the win.
Do suits matter in TriPeaks Solitaire?
- No. Suits and colors are completely irrelevant in TriPeaks Solitaire. Only the rank of the card matters: it must be one rank above or one rank below the current waste top. This is one of the main reasons TriPeaks is easier than Klondike or Spider, where suit and color restrictions significantly limit available moves.
Can you recycle the stock in TriPeaks?
- In the standard rules, the stock cannot be recycled. Once the 24 stock cards have been drawn to the waste, no more cards are available. If peak cards still remain uncleaned, the game is lost. This makes every stock draw a resource cost, which is why experienced players try to build long chains before drawing.
Can an Ace be played on a King?
- Yes. In TriPeaks Solitaire, Aces and Kings are adjacent — the rank sequence wraps around. An Ace can be played onto a 2 or onto a King, and a King can be played onto a Queen or onto an Ace. This wrapping rule gives you more options at the extremes of the rank ladder and helps chains continue past what would otherwise be dead ends.
How many cards are in the peak layout versus the stock?
- Exactly 28 of the 52 cards are dealt into the three-peak layout across four rows (10 + 9 + 6 + 3). The remaining 24 cards form the stock. One card from the stock is flipped to start the waste pile when the game begins, so at the start of play there are 23 cards remaining in the stock and one card on the waste.
What percentage of TriPeaks Solitaire games are winnable?
- Robert Hogue's original analysis estimated that roughly 80 to 90 percent of randomly dealt TriPeaks games are winnable with optimal play. This makes TriPeaks one of the highest win-rate solitaire variants. In practice, the main cause of losses is running out of stock cards due to drawing too freely rather than the deal being structurally unwinnable.
What is a chain combo in TriPeaks?
- A chain combo is a sequence of peak cards played consecutively onto the waste without drawing from stock. Every card you add to the chain without drawing extends the combo. Long chains clear more of the peak layout quickly, preserve your stock supply, and in scoring modes earn bonus points. The chain resets to zero each time you draw from stock.
Who invented TriPeaks Solitaire?
- Robert Hogue invented TriPeaks Solitaire in 1994. He also published an analysis of the game's win rates and structure at the time of its release. Microsoft later included TriPeaks in the Microsoft Solitaire Collection, which shipped with Windows 8 in 2012 and is the version most players encounter today.
Is TriPeaks easier than Klondike Solitaire?
- Yes, TriPeaks is generally considered easier than Klondike Solitaire. TriPeaks has no suit or color restrictions, ranks wrap around at Ace and King, and roughly 80 to 90 percent of deals are winnable with good play. Klondike is theoretically winnable in around 82 percent of deals but requires card-by-card planning and the practical win rate for typical players is much lower.
What happens when the stock runs out in TriPeaks?
- Once the stock is empty, no new cards can be added to the waste. If any peak cards remain on the board, the game ends as a loss. Unlike some other solitaire variants, TriPeaks does not allow you to recycle the waste back into the stock. This is why preserving stock cards is one of the most important strategic considerations in the game.
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