Basics
Pyramids is a single-player card game. The object is
to clear the board of cards and collect the most points possible. You can
maximize your score by clearing long runs of cards. High scores are
tracked so you can see how you do against other Pyramids players. Also
included is a special tracking feature, so you can see how you compete
against the people on your Yahoo! Messenger "Friends" list. To start
playing Pyramids, choose a room and click the "Start" button. The object
is to clear all the cards. To clear cards, click on cards that are one
higher or lower in number than the up card. Color does not matter, only
the numbers. Aces are both high and low. So, if you have an Ace as the
current up card, you can play a King or a Two. If there are no cards that
are one higher or lower than your current up card, click on the next card
in the draw pile. This will give you a new up card. Try to maximize your
scoring by creating long runs of cards. The longer the run before drawing
a new card, the higher score you will receive. The game ends when you are
out of cards to play from the draw pile. If you clear the board of all
three card Pyramids, then you get to advance to the next round and
continue to accumulate your score. There are some options to be aware of,
as well. If Pyramids is playing slow on your computer, you can turn off
the animations by clicking the "Options" button located under the "Start"
button on the left side of the game. Unselect the box labeled "Show
Animations."
Scoring
Knowing how the scoring in Pyramids works will help
you to attain a higher score. Pyramids is all about putting together long
runs of cards. The more you put together in a run, the more points you
will accumulate. The first card you play in a run is worth 10 points. Each
time you add a card to a run it doubles the value until the run reaches
7th card. For the 8th and 9th cards in a run, the score increases at 1.5
times. After 9 cards, 100 points are added per card played in a run. You
will also get additional bonuses for clearing a Pyramid of cards. There
are three top cards in each round. In the first round, clearing a pyramid
will net you and additional 500 points. After a pyramid is cleared, the
next one will be worth an additional 250 points. In each successive round,
the first pyramid cleared will give you a bonus of 250 points less than
the last top card in the previous round. For example, the last card
cleared in round one would be a 1,000-point bonus. The first pyramid
cleared in the second round would be a 750-point bonus. The second pyramid
cleared in round two would be worth a 1,000-point bonus and the last card
cleared would be 1,250 points.
