Coordinate-checked board
Pyramid at a glance
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Stack
- 4 layers
- Opening access
- 40 of 120 tiles free
Opening priority
Inspect the four cap tiles and the exposed left and right ends of every tier. When an upper-tier pair is available, it removes cover from below; keep both sides of the rows progressing rather than treating one exact move as mandatory.
The matching and free-tile rules are shared across layouts. See How to Play for the general rules.
Why the center stays closed
Pyramid places 64 tiles in an 8×8 base, then centers layers of 36, 16, and 4 tiles above it. Each smaller square overlaps the inner area of the tier below, so removing an upper tile can matter both for side access on its own row and for vertical access below.
At the initial position, 40 tiles are free: 16 row ends on the base, 12 on the second tier, 8 on the third, and all 4 cap tiles. The many exposed ends create options, while the aligned interior remains covered or side-blocked.
Mistakes that preserve too much cover
- Repeatedly shortening one side while the opposite upper-tier ends remain untouched.
- Using a base-edge pair that exposes nothing when an available upper pair would remove cover.
- Assuming a visible inner tile is selectable before checking both vertical overlap and side access.