Solitaire Deluxe® 2: Card Game

Review by eFreeware

Solitaire is the rare game almost everyone already knows how to play, which is exactly why picking an app for it can be harder than it sounds. Klondike alone comes in different flavors, and once you start counting Spider, FreeCell and the rest, a single deck of cards stops feeling like enough. Solitaire Deluxe 2 from Murka Games is built around that gap: one free app that gathers more than 20 solitaire variations together instead of asking you to keep several installed.

The numbers suggest plenty of people have made that trade. The game has passed 5 million installs and holds a 4.3 average across 45,233 ratings, which is a healthy sign for a title that first appeared in March 2015 and is still receiving updates. It is free to download, carries ads and offers in-app purchases, so the cost of entry is your attention rather than your wallet.

What I find most interesting here is the range on offer. The developer lists Draw 1 and Draw 3 Klondike alongside Spider, FreeCell and Tri-Peaks, and describes tutorials for every one of the variations included. That combination of breadth and hand-holding is what makes an app like this approachable for someone who has only ever played the standard version.

One deck, many rulebooks

The core appeal is variety within a familiar frame. Klondike in its draw-one and draw-three forms is the anchor, and the catalog widens from there into Spider, FreeCell and Tri-Peaks. Each variation changes the pace and the kind of thinking required, so the same app can serve a five-minute break and a longer, more deliberate session without you switching titles.

Two of the variations show how different those demands can be. Spiderette is described as a quicker take on Spider using a single 52-card deck, where the goal is to clear the tableau by building runs from King down to Ace in the same suit; a completed run of thirteen cards leaves the table. Pyramid leans on simple arithmetic instead: you clear a triangular layout of 28 cards by pairing cards that total 13, with aces counting as one, jacks as eleven and queens as twelve, while kings are worth thirteen and can be removed on their own.

That spread matters more than it might seem. A player who enjoys the arithmetic of Pyramid may not care for the slow build of a Spiderette run, and the reverse is just as true. Having both under one roof, with tutorials attached to each, means you can sample a rule set without committing to it. The developer describes the tutorials as best-in-class, a claim I would treat as marketing rather than fact, but the presence of teaching material for every variation is the practical point.

Tapping, dragging and getting unstuck

How a game actually plays out comes down to two things in this app: how cards move and whether a deal can be finished. On the first, the developer offers two paths. Intelli-Tap, which the app presents as exclusive, places a card in what it judges to be the best available space with a single tap. If that feels like too much assistance or simply the wrong habit, you can move cards the traditional way by dragging them to their destination.

The second is the Winnable Deals feature. The developer says there are thousands of deals that are guaranteed to be solvable across every game included. For anyone who has ever ground through a Klondike layout that turned out to be impossible from the start, that promise is the more meaningful of the two features, and it is the sort of thing that changes how willing you are to start a fresh hand.

Presentation gets attention as well. The app advertises HD graphics, Easy Read cards and an in-game shop stocked with additional card designs and backgrounds. How heavily ads intrude is something you can only judge by playing.

The control choice is a small thing that says something about the audience. Intelli-Tap suits someone playing one-handed or in short bursts, while dragging preserves the feel of moving physical cards. Neither is presented as the correct way, and the app leaves the decision with you.

Teams, rivals and a reason to replay

Solitaire is usually a solitary pursuit, and this app tries to change that with its leaderboards. The setup lets you join a team with friends and neighbors, or measure your scores against players elsewhere in the world. Either way, the effect is to give a finished hand some weight beyond the win itself.

If you want company, you can sign in with Facebook to play alongside friends; if you would rather not, the app supports playing solo. That flexibility is sensible, because the social layer is prominent in the pitch. A leaderboard only adds pressure if you opt into one.

The competitive angle gives the app a second life after the initial novelty of the variations wears off. Once you know the rules of Spider and Pyramid, the score becomes the next thing to chase, and a team score gives a reason to return on days when a solo hand would not have been enough. It is a light layer, but for a card game it is the difference between a puzzle you finish and a habit you keep.

What it costs and what comes with it

The app is free to download, and that is the honest starting point. It carries advertising and it offers in-app purchases, so you should expect both a commercial presence and an in-game shop where extra card designs and backgrounds are sold.

Beyond that, the practical costs are the ones that come with any long-running mobile title. The app was released in March 2015 and last updated in September 2026, with the most recent changes described only as technical improvements and bug fixes. That tells you the app is still being tended to, though not what direction it is heading in.

There is also a Facebook sign-in if you want the social features, which is a choice rather than a toll. The trade you are making is straightforward: a free, ad-supported catalog in exchange for some commercial noise around the edges.

A well-stocked drawer for card players

Solitaire Deluxe 2 makes most sense for someone who wants one place to play solitaire in several forms, with teaching material for the variations they do not already know and a guarantee that the deals they start can actually be finished. The Intelli-Tap option and the drag-to-move alternative mean the app can be handled either casually or in the traditional manner, which widens who it can serve.

The team and global leaderboards add a competitive thread that a plain solitaire app would not have, and the Facebook sign-in makes that thread social if you want it to be. The trade-offs are plain: this is a free app with ads and in-app purchases.

If you want a single, stripped-down version of Klondike and nothing else, the breadth here is more than you asked for. For everyone else, it is a generous, still-updated collection that treats the game as a hobby rather than a time-filler.

What's new in version 4.88.0

Hello Folks, this update includes: - Technical improvements - Bug fixes Have fun with the Solitaire Deluxe® 2. The Murka Team.