The rules of TriPeaks
In brief
Three peaks containing 28 cards, with 10 face up at the bottom, a waste pile and 23 cards in the stock. A face-up card with no cards covering it can be removed if its rank is one step above or below the waste card's rank, regardless of suit. When no card is one rank above or below the waste card, draw from the stock. You win by removing all 28 cards from the peaks.
Setup
The game uses a deck of 52 cards, without jokers. The app lays out 28 cards in three peaks side by side across 4 rows: 3 cards at the peaks, then 6, 9 and 10 cards. Only the bottom row is face up; the other 18 cards are face down. Each card is partially covered by two cards in the next row. The app turns one card face up onto the waste pile and places the remaining 23 cards in the stock.
Stock: 23 cards; waste pile: ace of clubs. Peaks: face-down card, face-down card, face-down card; row 2: face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card; row 3: face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card; bottom row: 3 of spades, 5 of spades, king of clubs, 4 of spades, 2 of diamonds, ace of spades, king of diamonds, 8 of hearts, 7 of clubs, 9 of spades.
Allowed moves
A card is playable if it is face up and no cards cover it anymore. It can be removed if its rank is exactly one above or one below the waste card's rank: a 7 or a 9 can go on a 8. Suit does not matter. The removed card becomes the new waste card.
When both cards covering a face-down card have been removed, the app immediately turns it face up: it becomes playable. For example, at the start of deal TP1-E-AAAAAAB, the waste card is the A♣. Under Easy rules, three cards in the bottom row are one rank above or below it: R♣, 2♦, R♦. Remove the R♣, then the A♠ onto that R♣, then the 2♦ onto the A♠. Both cards covering a face-down card in the middle peak have now been removed: it turns face up, revealing the 7♠.
Stock: 23 cards; waste pile: 2 of diamonds. Peaks: face-down card, face-down card, face-down card; row 2: face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card; row 3: face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, 7 of spades, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card, face-down card; bottom row: 3 of spades, 5 of spades, 4 of spades, king of diamonds, 8 of hearts, 7 of clubs, 9 of spades.
Tapping an unsuitable card does nothing. With error help enabled (the default setting), the app explains why the move was rejected:
- a face-up card that is not one rank above or below the waste card, such as the 3♠ at the bottom on the A♣: “Must be one rank higher or lower”;
- a card that is still covered or face down: “This card is blocked.”
The stock
Tapping the stock turns its top card face up onto the waste pile, replacing the previous waste card. In the app, you can draw at any time, even if a move is still available. Each card can be used only once: the stock of 23 cards cannot be reset.
The King and Ace
The New Game window offers two sets of rules. On Easy (King and Ace connected), the default, the King and Ace are consecutive: an Ace can be removed onto a King, and a King onto an Ace, so a chain can run from Queen to King, then Ace and 2. On Classic (King and Ace separate), the sequence stops at both ends: only a Queen can be removed onto a King, and only a 2 onto an Ace.
In the same deal TP1-E-AAAAAAB, with the A♣ on the waste pile, Easy rules allow 3 moves (R♣, 2♦, R♦), while Classic rules allow only one: the 2♦. The rules matter as much as the cards: deal TP1-…AAAAAAD is winnable in Easy but not in Classic (see the examples).
The end of the game
The game is won as soon as all 28 cards have been removed from the peaks, even if cards remain in the stock. It is blocked when the stock is empty and no playable card is one rank above or below the waste card: the app displays “No more moves available.” You can then undo moves or start a new game.
Scoring
The score starts at 500 and never falls below zero:
| What happens | Points |
|---|---|
| A card is removed from the peaks | -1 |
| You draw | -1 |
| The removal clears an entire peak (in addition to the move itself) | +100 |
For the bonus, the left peak contains 9 cards, the middle one 9 and the right one 10: the bottom row is divided among the three in this way. A game won without undoing any moves is therefore worth 500 − number of moves + 3 × 100: at best 772 points (all 28 cards without ever drawing), or 749 if all 23 cards are drawn. In the winning game in the examples, the three peaks are cleared on moves 37, 42, 50, and the final score is 750. A blocked game receives neither a penalty nor a bonus.
Undo and game codes
The app keeps the last 100 actions, including removals and draws. Undo returns the card to its place, turns it over if needed and restores the points deducted for the move. The move counter does not go down.
Each deal has a game code, such as TP1-E-AAAAAAB. The middle letter indicates the rules: E for Easy, C for Classic; an older code with N is read as Easy. Pasting the code into the New Game window deals exactly the same cards.
The app's choices and the traditional rule
TriPeaks has no official rulebook. Compared with the rules described by the sources, the app makes some choices worth knowing:
- King and ace: the sources do not connect king and ace; this is the app's Classic rule. The default Easy rule connects them.
- Draw at any time: traditionally, you only draw when no card is one rank above or below the waste card; the app lets you draw whenever you like.
- Scoring: the original scoring system rewards sequences of removals, charges 5 points per draw and awards 15, 15, 30 points for cleared peaks; the app scores -1 per move and +100 per peak, with no sequence bonus.
The literature also mentions variants: a wild card (one card can stand for any rank, helping to clear the peaks); face-up peaks (all cards in the peaks are face up from the start); an empty waste pile (the waste pile starts empty, and you choose the first card from the bottom row). See the sources.