Play Small Triangle Solitaire Online — Hypotenuse With One Deck

Small Triangle is Hypotenuse cut down to one deck. Seven columns are dealt one to seven deep, every card but the top of each face down. Columns build down in alternating colours and a packed run moves as a unit; only a king, or a run headed by one, fills a space. The stock holds twenty-four cards and deals one to every column per click. Four foundations build up in suit from the ace. Bank all 52 to win.

Setup

Deal a staircase of seven columns, one card in the first and seven in the last, with only the top card of each face up. The remaining twenty-four cards form the stock: three full rows and a last row of three.

Rules

• Foundations build up in suit from the ace; a banked card never returns.
• Columns build down in alternating colours: the seven of hearts on the eight of clubs or spades.
• Runs travel packed. A group of cards moves as a unit only when every card in it sits one rank lower and the other colour from the card beneath; a loose tail cannot be lifted.
• Hidden cards turn face up the moment the card on them leaves.
• Only a king fills a space, alone or heading a packed run.
• The stock deals a row: one card face up to every column per click, an empty column included, as far as the cards go. There is no waste and no redeal.
• Win when all four foundations are complete.

Strategy

Twenty-one cards are hidden and only kings may take a space, so the opening is about turning cards and about not filling the short columns with anything that cannot leave. The stock is small; when it runs out the board is what you made of it.

• Deal only when stuck. A row covers every column at once, an empty one included, and cannot be taken back except by undo. Play everything that will go before you click the stock.
• Keep runs packed. Only a packed run travels, so a card dropped out of sequence freezes everything above it until the run is rebuilt.
• Bank as you go. Foundations are one-way; a card on a foundation never blocks a column again.
• Empty the first column for a king. It is a single card; once it is gone a king can live there for the rest of the game.
• Dig the seventh column. Six hidden cards sit under its top; a run that reaches them is the game.
• Three deals only. Twenty-four cards are three rows of seven and a last of three; plan the board you will have after them.

Every game in this line runs on one clock: the stock. It never reshuffles and never comes back, so the number of rows left is the number of times the board can change on its own. Deal a row to reach a card you need only when no move can reach it, and before each deal read the tops of the columns, because those are the cards the row will bury. The hint button names a legal move; when it names the stock, nothing else is left.

Where It Sits in the Gypsy Line

Small Triangle is the Gypsy line's one-deck kings-only member on the Yukon engine, Hypotenuse's rule and shape on a single pack. Eternal Triangle is the two-deck form dealt face up.

Other Games to Try

• Hypotenuse — the same shape with two decks
• Eternal Triangle — two decks, all face up
• Westhaven — one deck, any card into a space
• Easthaven — seven columns with a row-dealing stock

About This Online Version

Small Triangle runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install it as an app on your phone or computer and it works offline. You get unlimited undo, a hint button that names a legal move, statistics that track your wins and times, and seeded deals: every game has a seed you can replay, so a board you enjoyed (or lost) can be played again exactly.