Microsoft Solitaire Collection

Microsoft Solitaire Review: Five Games, One 171 MB App

The Five Games, Unchanged

Klondike is the one everyone means by solitaire; Spider deals two or four suits into ten columns; FreeCell is the version where every deal is solvable and skill decides the outcome; Pyramid and TriPeaks clear cards by matching one above or below the current value. Each keeps a score and a timer on screen, and each has its own difficulty setting, so the same app serves a two-minute distraction and a genuinely hard FreeCell deal. The card art and animation are the ones people remember from a desktop computer, reproduced rather than reinvented.

Levels, Daily Challenges and Events

Every game has its own experience level, awarded for wins and challenges, with a title at each milestone — Klondike Grandmaster at level 100 in the store screens. Daily challenges set a specific deal for each game with a badge for finishing the month, and weekly rewards unlock a bonus game worth thousands of experience points. None of it changes the cards, but all of it gives a reason to open the app on a day when you were not planning to play. More casual games sit alongside the five, including mahjong and match-three titles.

Adverts, a Premium Edition and a Rating Gap

The free version shows video advertising between deals; the premium edition removes it, listed at $1.99 and $9.99 depending on term, with card back bundles at $0.99 to $2.99 as cosmetics. Google Play carries an advertising badge against 10 million installs and 3.9 stars from 284,000 reviews, while Apple shows 4.7 from 254,000 ratings — a difference of nearly a point on similar sample sizes, which usually points at how the adverts behave on each platform rather than at the cards. Ten million Android installs against a far older Windows heritage explains why the app feels like a port rather than a phone game.