Relaxed Pyramid: To be considered won, only the cards from the pyramid must be moved to the foundation, so the game can be won with cards still left in the stock or waste.
Given the popularity of Pyramid, many different variants exist which alter aspects of the game, including the following: To be considered won, all cards (cards from the pyramid and cards from the stock) must be moved to the foundation. A perfect score is therefore zero, where all cards have been matched into the Foundation. To score, count the number of remaining face up cards in the pyramid. (A variation, Par Pyramid, allows the waste to be turned over twice and dealt as a new stock.) Once the stock is exhausted and/or no more pairs can be made, the game ends. The top card of the waste pile can be matched at any time with the next card drawn from the stock, or any uncovered card in the pyramid. If no match is made, the drawn stock card is played into a waste pile. You may draw cards from the stock one at a time and match them with any exposed card. Discarded cards are removed from play and cannot be re-matched with other cards. In order to be removed, cards must not be covered, so when an Ace rests on a Queen, that Queen can not be removed. Thus, kings can be removed immediately to the foundation. To play, pairs of uncovered cards can be removed to the foundation if their values total 13. The remaining cards are placed to the side face down, and make up the Stock. To set up the pyramid, one card is dealt face up at the top of the playing area, then two cards beneath and partially covering it, then three beneath them, and so on completing with a row of seven cards for a total of 28 cards dealt (or six rows of 21 cards).