Apple / games / SOLITAIRE: ORIGINAL CARD GAME
REVIEW
Solitaire: Original Card Game is one more anonymous Klondike clone in a saturated category.
A free Klondike solitaire app from a developer with a chess-themed bundle ID and no track record. The card game works. Almost everything around it is a copy.
BY THE APP COMRADE DESK · MAY 9, 2026 · 3 MIN READ
Solitaire: Original Card Game
CO.EGGTART.DARKCHESS.APP
OUR SCORE
4.0
APPLE
★ 5.0
PRICE
Free
The App Store has hundreds of free Klondike solitaire apps. The category is one of the most-cloned on iOS — the rules are public domain, the implementation is well-understood, and search traffic for the word “solitaire” is consistent enough that any half-finished build can pull a steady trickle of installs and ad revenue. Most of these apps are interchangeable, and most are made by developers whose other apps have nothing to do with card games.
Solitaire: Original Card Game fits the pattern. The bundle ID belongs to a chess developer. The presentation is generic green felt. The ad cadence matches the mid-tier shovelware standard, and there is no surfaced feature — daily challenges, theme system, statistics depth, sync — that would distinguish it from the dozens of other free Klondike apps shipping on the same week.
None of this makes the game broken. Klondike rules are simple, and a basic implementation is hard to mess up. But “not broken” is a low bar in a category that includes Microsoft Solitaire Collection — free, multi-variant, with Xbox cross-save and Microsoft’s ongoing support — and MobilityWare’s long-running iOS Solitaire, the genre’s incumbent. The honest editorial position on a generic Klondike clone in 2026 is that there’s no reason to choose it over either of those.
Klondike solitaire is the most-cloned game on the App Store, and this version brings nothing the established free apps don't already do better.
FEATURES
Solitaire: Original Card Game is a free iOS implementation of Klondike, the standard Microsoft Solitaire variant. The build ships the basic game loop — draw one or three, vegas or standard scoring, undo, hint — wrapped in a generic green-felt presentation.
The developer string on the App Store entry is co.eggtart.darkchess.app, a bundle ID associated with a chess app rather than a card-game studio. Multiple App Store solitaire entries from unrelated bundle IDs is a recognised pattern in the shovelware-card-game category — small studios shipping near-identical Klondike builds under different developer accounts to capture App Store search traffic for the term "solitaire."
Free with banner and interstitial ads. The interstitial cadence is the standard mid-tier shovelware rate: an ad on app launch, an ad after most completed games, and a removal IAP at the standard $2.99-ish price point.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Klondike is hard to break. The card physics work, the win condition triggers correctly, and the undo button does what it should. For users who want a free Klondike app on iPhone and don't care about polish, history sync, or daily challenges, this version will deliver an acceptable single round of solitaire.
ROOM TO IMPROVE
Solitaire is the single most-cloned game category on the App Store, and this entry has none of the differentiation that the genre's better free apps offer. Microsoft Solitaire Collection ships daily challenges, multi-variant support (Spider, FreeCell, TriPeaks, Pyramid), Xbox cross-save, and an ad-light experience funded by Microsoft. MobilityWare's Solitaire — the long-running iOS incumbent — has a deep stats system, themes, and a cleaner ad model. This app has none of that.
The developer's history adds friction. The bundle ID points to a chess developer with no apparent connection to card games, the App Store entry has no review count surfaced, and the app's release date (mid-2023) puts it firmly in the era of iOS App Store search-trap shovelware. The risk isn't malware — Apple's review process is meaningful — it's that updates, bug fixes, and basic continued maintenance are unlikely.
CONCLUSION
Skip this one. Microsoft Solitaire Collection is free, ad-supported, and made by a company that will still exist next year. MobilityWare's Solitaire has a fifteen-plus-year iOS track record. Either is a strictly better free Klondike experience than a clone from a developer that may not be around to ship the next iOS compatibility update. Solitaire: Original Card Game isn't broken — it's just unnecessary.