Giza is my favorite variation of Pyramid. It was invented by Michael Keller. The rules can be found here.
My solver ran tests both with and without allowing overlap discards. An "overlap discard" means that one card in the pair is overlapped by the other card being discarded (and no others). For example, in the screenshot above, the Jack of Spades can be discarded along with the Two of Diamonds if overlap discards are allowed (another example would include the Three and Ten of Diamonds, and the Four of Diamonds and Nine of Hearts would become available after first discarding the King of Clubs).
In addition, the solver determined win rates for using six columns of four cards each.
| Number of Columns | Overlap Discards Allowed? | Games Won | Win Rate % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Yes | 5,928,825 | 59.3 |
| 8 | No | 3,653,287 | 36.5 |
| 6 | Yes | 3,848,668 | 38.5 |
| 6 | No | 1,804,696 | 18.0 |
See Solitaire Laboratory for more about Pyramid and Giza.
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Last modified November 16, 2021
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