PYRE — Burn the pyramid pair by pair

What is PYRE — Burn the pyramid pair by pair

PYRE is a pyramid patience built around a single number. Each level prints its target sum at the top of the screen — 13 at the start, later 12, 11 and 10 — and you clear the board by burning two exposed cards whose values add up to it. A card is exposed only when nothing rests on its two lower corners: the bottom row always plays, every row above it must be opened.

The pyramids grow from five cards in three columns to forty-four in nine, over a hundred levels split into ten chapters. Two complications arrive early: star wilds, which pair with anything exposed, and frozen cards, which need one tap to crack the ice. Both are paid in embers — not lives, but a move budget of par plus one to three spare moves. Finish at or under par for three stars, and every unspent ember is worth thirty points.

How to play

1. Tap one exposed card, then a second whose value completes the target sum. Covered cards only shake, and a pair that does not add up is refused without costing anything.
2. The card equal to the sum wears a sun and burns alone in one tap — K at Σ13, Q at Σ12, J at Σ11. It can never be paired with anything.
3. A star wild pairs with any exposed card, even another wild, but never burns by itself. Frozen cards need one tap to crack the ice first, which costs an ember and pays a flat five points.
4. Embers are your move budget: every burn and every crack spends one, and running out ends the level. Three hints and three undos come with each level, and undo rewinds embers, score and combo.

Strategies that work

• A card opens only when both of its lower corners are clear, so burn neighbours rather than strangers. Two adjacent cards in the same row uncover exactly one card above them; two cards at opposite ends of that row uncover nothing at all.
• Cracking ice pays a flat five points, ignores the combo and does not raise it — while the 5.5-second combo clock keeps ticking. Break every exposed ice card before you start a chain, or wait until the multiplier has fallen back to ×1.
• The combo multiplies each burn, so play the cheap moves while it is low. A lone sun card scores 12 × combo, an ordinary pair 15, a pair using a wild 20. Sun card at ×1 then wild pair at ×2 pays 12 + 40; reverse the order and the same two moves pay 20 + 24.
• Treat wilds as rescue gear, not bonus points: the extra five per combo step is nothing next to a jammed board. Hold one back for the last few cards, where a stranded sun card and one odd value tend to trap each other. Two wilds also pair with one another.
• From level 25 the budget is par plus a single spare move, and from level 91 it is never more. Look before you burn: a legal move that opens nothing is an ember gone. When the no-moves panel appears, undo instead of restarting.

A little history

Pyramid patience is old and unowned: twenty-eight cards stacked in a pyramid, pairs that add to thirteen, the king lifted alone. Its known flaw is the deal: a classic pyramid can be dead before the first move. PYRE, written for puzzle-me.com, drops the stock altogether, so nothing may be left to chance. Every level is generated backwards: a sequence of legal moves is written first, and only then are values, suits, ice and wilds poured into it. The target sum moves too, from thirteen down to ten.

Frequently asked questions