TriPeaks Strategy Guide

The rules page boils down to "make long runs and open the rows above". This page puts numbers on that. With every peak card face up, there is more to calculate than it seems, even when a move looks like pure luck.

September 23, 2026 · 8-minute read

Start with this site's rules

Most TriPeaks advice assumes 18 face-down peak cards and a points score. Five conditions shape strategy here.

• All 28 peak cards are face up. The only unknown is the stock's order. Its contents you know from the start: the 23 cards that are neither in the peaks nor the first waste card.
• Ace and King connect. The 13 ranks form a ring, so every card has two neighboring ranks and eight cards in the deck (two ranks × four suits) that can pick it up.
• There is no undo. Read before you tap.
• You may turn the stock even when a card can be taken. Taking is usually better.
• There is no score. Rankings use only time and moves, and a win always takes 28 + the number of draws moves. Every win has exactly 28 takes, so draws are the only moves that cost you on the rankings.

So filter advice written for points games. Where each card in a run is worth one more than the last, a 12-card run scores 78 and two 6-card runs only 42, which is why Dan Fletcher's guide on Solitaire Central says to hold cards back for one long run. Draw penalties are why points games tell you to quit hopeless hands early. Both serve the score and can lower your win rate. If you play to win, Solitaire Till Dawn's first tip applies: play as many cards from the peaks as you can before dealing.

The skeleton: how many cards each card blocks

The peaks have four rows: 3, 6, 9 and 10 cards from the top. Each upper card rests on two cards in the row below, and both must be gone before you can take it, so a peak's top card is always the last in its peak to open. Each peak top needs nine cards gone first: four in the bottom row, three in the third and two in the second. Turned around, every card blocks a fixed number of cards:

The fourth and seventh bottom cards are the heaviest: they straddle two peaks and block six cards, two peak tops among them. The end cards block only three. All else being equal, take the heavy card first. Peak tops block nothing, and Solitaire Till Dawn's tips also say not to rush a peak card while another move exists. Peak tops are the cards that can wait.

Three scattered bottom cards open nothing above; two neighbors open one. So a card whose neighbor is already gone is the one that opens something. In the upper rows only neighbors in the same peak count: the third and fourth cards of the third row touch, but they belong to different peaks and hold up nothing together.

Choosing between two cards

The 1991 help file said to take, of two cards, the one that turns over the most cards. Here you can go further: every rank is visible, so you can follow each run to its end before you tap.

Example 1: a run can turn at a repeated rank

The waste shows a 7, and the uncovered cards are 8♠, 7♥, 6♣ and 5♦. Assume that taking them uncovers nothing new.

• Start with 8♠: 7 → 8♠ → 7♥ → 6♣ → 5♦. All four go.
• Start with 6♣: you stop at 7 → 6♣ → 5♦, or at 7 → 6♣ → 7♥ → 8♠. Three at best, and one is left behind.

Two cards of the same rank let a run change direction. Tap only the obvious next card and you drop cards like that one, and picking it up later can cost extra draws.

Example 2: equal runs, so look at what is left

The waste shows a 10, and you can take a Jack or a 9 from the bottom row. The Jack uncovers the Queen above it (its other support is already gone); the 9 uncovers nothing. An 8 is also uncovered.

• Jack first: 10 → J → Q, two cards. The 9 and 8 remain.
• 9 first: 10 → 9 → 8, two cards. The Jack remains, with the Queen still covered behind it.

Same length, but the Jack is better. The leftover 9 and 8 are adjacent, so a 7, 8, 9 or 10 from the stock takes both. The other way, the leftover Jack needs a 10 or a Queen. Four ranks against two. Leaving adjacent ranks together usually pays.

Count the stock

The original help file says to keep mental notes: if all four 7s are gone, 6s and 8s get hard to place; if no Aces have appeared, they will probably come soon. With face-down cards that is guesswork. Here it is exact counting: from the start you see all 28 peak cards and the first waste card, so you know how many of each rank the stock holds.

Say three Jacks are in the peaks and the first waste card is the fourth. The stock has no Jacks, so once that first Jack is covered, a peak 10 needs a 9, a peak Queen needs a King, or you must take a peak Jack first. If those 10s and Queens sit in heavy slots, take them when you get the chance.

The chance that the next card links

Counting also helps as a run ends. The waste shows a 6, you can take a 5 or a 7, and neither leads anywhere. If the stock holds no 4s but three 8s, take the 5 and leave the 7. A leftover 7 is picked up by a 6 or an 8 from the stock; a leftover 5 only by a 6. The 6s count the same either way, so the difference is those three 8s.

You needn't track all 23 stock cards. Remember the two or three ranks missing from the stock or down to one card, and subtract as they turn up.

Recognizing a lost deal

If a 9 is still in the peaks and no 8 or 10 remains in the stock, in the peaks or on top of the waste, that 9 can never be taken and the deal is over. Don't abandon it yet: losses aren't recorded, and turning the rest of the stock gives you its order for a replay.

Before you turn the stock

1. Look for cards with a blue outline. If there are any, you usually take one; takes are free on the rankings.
2. If there are several, follow each run to the end and compare (Example 1).
3. If they tie, prefer the run that leaves more new cards uncovered, then the card that blocks more. Leave peak tops for last.
4. Still tied? Leave behind the cards that more stock ranks can pick up (Example 2).
5. Turn the stock only when nothing is left to take, and look once more first: there is no undo.

Turning the stock while a card is takeable is legal, and this site's solver considers it, but taking is usually better: a take adds no draw, you can still draw right after it, and it may uncover a card. Leaving a card pays only when it will later bridge a stock card to other peak cards. You can't judge that without the stock order, so take the card in a first game and weigh bridges on a replay.

Common mistakes

• Tapping blue-outlined cards as they catch your eye. You drop a card, as in Example 1. Arkadium also warns against clicking too fast.
• Stopping at a King. Here a run continues Q-K-A-2. Golf on this site does not wrap, so keep the two habits apart.
• Looking in one direction only. Arkadium also says to think about going up or down, but direction isn't a one-time choice: wherever two cards share a rank, as in Example 1, you can turn.
• Borrowing tips from points games. Holding cards back belongs to games where longer runs score more. Here, if you can take a card, taking it is usually right.

Practicing with deal numbers

The same number gives the same peaks and the same stock order. The stock is unknown only the first time; after that, TriPeaks becomes a puzzle with no unknowns, the one the solver sees.

1. Pick a number. Use "# Deal" in the menu to choose any number that is already open; the current number is shown in the header above the board.
2. Play the first game to win. Win or lose, write down each rank as you turn the stock: 24 cards, counting the first waste card. If you win with stock left over, what you have seen is enough.
3. Plan on paper. From each stock card on your list, mark how far into the peaks you can run. The fewest draws you need, and which cards to leave as bridges, fall out of that.
4. Play the plan in the second game. Compare the Draws count on the result screen with your first game.
5. Play the same plan fast the third time. That is your run for the time ranking.

Setting the first game's slips against the plan shows you your habits.

Chasing the rankings

Fewest moves

A win takes 28 + draws moves: 28 at best, 51 if you use the whole stock. A 28-move win needs all 28 cards to chain from the first waste card. A second game planned with the stock order known is the straightforward way up this ranking. On equal moves the faster record ranks higher, so once draw counts tie, speed decides.

Fastest time

• The clock starts when the deal appears, so reading time counts. Knowing the number already saves it.
• Turn up the card speed. While a taken card flies to the waste pile, your next tap is ignored. At Normal each card takes 0.18 seconds, about 5 seconds over 28 cards; Fast is about 2.7 seconds and Instant zero. Change it under Card speed in the menu.
• Press space to turn the stock if you have a keyboard.
• The two records are separate. Your best time and fewest moves can come from different games, so chase them one at a time.

You need a name to keep records. The All deals view lists the best records across every number, and "Try it" beside an entry opens that deal, a handy way to pick one to practice.

Sources

1. TRIPEAKS.HLP (original 1991 help file, Strategy and Hints) — rhogue.com, archived 2009
2. Rules for TriPeaks — Semicolon Software (Solitaire Till Dawn)
3. Tripeaks Solitaire Tips — Arkadium, 2024
4. Tri Peaks Solitaire Strategy Guide — Dan Fletcher, Solitaire Central

Keep reading