Pyramid: Official Rules

Make other players drink by claiming cards you may or may not have, and remember what you're holding.

Three to eight players. The dealer lays out twenty-one cards face down in a pyramid: six on the bottom row, then five, four, three, two and one at the top. Each player is dealt three cards face down, looks at them once, and lays them face down in front of them. They may not look again.

Rule 1. The flip

Rule 1.1. The dealer turns over the pyramid one card at a time, starting with the bottom row, left to right, then moving up.

Rule 1.2. Each card is worth drinks equal to its row: one for the bottom row, two for the next, up to six for the top card.

Rule 2. Giving drinks

Rule 2.1. When a card is turned, any player may claim to hold a card of the same rank and give that card's drinks to another player.

Rule 2.2. The claim may be true or a bluff. A player does not have to show their card when they claim.

Rule 2.3. More than one player may claim on the same card.

Rule 3. Calling a bluff

Rule 3.1. The player given drinks may drink them, or call the bluff.

Rule 3.2. If the bluff is called, the claiming player turns over the card they say matches. If it matches, the caller drinks double. If it doesn't, or they turn over the wrong card, the claimer drinks double.

Rule 3.3. A card that has been shown is discarded, and the player draws a new one from the deck, looks at it once, and lays it face down.

Rule 4. Ending

Rule 4.1. After the top card, the game ends with the recital. Each player in turn names all three of their cards, then turns them over. Every card named wrong is one drink.

• The top card is a shot. Approved.
• Cards stay face up in hand. No memory required. Commissioner's Discretion. Bluffing becomes the whole game.
• Four cards each. Approved, for six players or fewer.
• No recital. Approved. The Commission notes that the recital is where memory, and dignity, are tested.

May a player who has already shown a matching card claim the same card again? Only if they still hold another of that rank. The table has seen what they had.

Is this the same as the pyramid in Ride the Bus? No. Ride the Bus deals cards face up and has no bluffing. This Pyramid is a game of memory and nerve.

• Bluff called. Signal: the Official taps the side of their nose, then points at the claimer.
• Wrong card turned over. Penalty: double drinks. Signal: drink (Provision 7.1), twice.

Pyramid rewards three things: a good memory, a straight face, and friends who don't know you well. The Commission's archive notes that players with all three are rarely invited back.

Play with any non-alcoholic drink. Bluffing is unaffected.