Pyramids

So you've staggered through the Lost Desert in that sweltering heat and are in desperate need of a break? Why not pull up a chair and have a game of Pyramids? Each games costs only 50 NP!

The basic premise of Pyramids is simple: to clear all the cards in the pyramid. Unfortunately, achieving this is quite another matter; it is largely dependent on the luck of the draw. To begin, click the Play Pyramids button on the game page. The next page will look something like this:

You can play cards that are either one higher or one lower than the card in your game pile. Aces can be high or low! This means you can play either a King or a 2 on an Ace.

Gameplay

These are some questions to consider while playing:

How many cards will I be able to play consecutively?

Consider the following example:

Don't jump in and play the 6. Play the 8, 9 and 10 as you clear three cards and will uncover three more, thus making your job a lot easier and earning more points in the process.

In the image at the top of this guide, you could play: 9→10→J or J→10→9. I would recommend that you play 9→10→J because then you have the possibility of continuing the chain if you are fortunate enough to uncover a Queen beneath the cards on the left, a chain that you could continue still further with the King and then the Ace. Although the likelihood of revealing a Queen is rather low, playing this way will maximise your potential available moves. (Thanks to Lor for sending in this playing tip).

How many cards will be uncovered?

The more cards you have that are face up, the more likely it is that you will have a card that can be played.

Do you play the 2 or the 4? Playing the 4 will uncover a new card. Playing the 2 will give you nothing new. I would recommend the 4.

Does the card's face value matter?

It makes no difference to your score if you play a 2 or an 8. What matters is the row of the pyramid the card is in.

How many Neopoints will I earn?

It depends which row you clear a card from. From the bottom of the pyramid up:
7th (bottom) row = 3 NP
6th row = 4 NP
5th row = 7 NP
4th row = 12 NP
3rd row = 17 NP
2nd row = 27 NP
1st (top) row = 500 NP

You also get bonus Neopoints for consecutive plays:
1 play = 0 NP
2 plays = 2 NP
3 plays = 4 NP
4 plays = 6 NP
5 plays = 8 NP
6 plays = 10 NP
...and so on, increasing by 2 points with each play.

There is a 5000 NP limit to this game.

Trophies

There are multiple trophies to be won in this game!

The first is for being on the normal high score table. This trophy is a little trickier than many other game trophies because of two reasons. First, the trophy is for cumulative points won over any number of games, not a top score from a single game. Second, this high score table itself doesn't truly reset! Although the table is cleared at the start of every month like all others, each user's cumulative score is maintained. All a user has to do to reenter the high score table is play another game. A user's score only clears after three months of not playing a game of Pyramids.

So shiny!

The second is the Pyramids Bonus trophies, which are considerably easier to achieve. They're awarded when you successfully complete a certain number of Pyramids games.

You can win the bronze trophy by clearing the pyramid twice, the silver trophy by clearing the pyramid five times, and the spiffy gold trophy by clearing the pyramid twice in two consecutive games.

Once you get the hang of Pyramids, it's a quick and easy way to make some extra Neopoints!

This game guide was written by: Jen