Solitaire Cash is a game app that lets you play for real money. But how much can you win?

Solitaire Cash

Solitaire Cash is a fun game to play, and you can try to win real money (just don't quit your day job). This game app takes the classic card game solitaire and adds a competitive twist where you compete against other players and try to snag a piece of the prize pool. You can compete in real cash tournaments, or you can play for free using gems (the in-game currency).

When I played Solitaire Cash, I didn't win substantial amounts of money, but I had a good time trying to beat the clock, climb the leaderboard, and win cash and gems.

Pros

Cons

What I learned from playing

Solitaire Cash lets you compete against other players in cash tournaments or play for free with gems. It's only available for iOS devices through the Apple App Store and Samsung devices through the Galaxy Store. If you have another type of Android, check out Mistplay. It's a gaming rewards app you can get through Google Play that features solitaire games and a bunch of others.
I won small amounts of money, but I didn’t turn a profit while playing Solitaire Cash. Despite that, the game is fun enough that I think it’s worth a try.
True Solitaire masters could potentially win some impressive cash prizes, but any average player will be up against stiff competition.
If you do win money playing the game, you can withdraw it via PayPal for a $1 fee. There’s a $5 minimum to withdraw funds.

Is Solitaire Cash legit?

Yes, I've played it and Solitaire Cash is a legit gaming app that pays real money. It’s a top card game app in the Apple App Store, with an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars from over 339,000 iOS users. The app was created by Papaya Gaming, which has over 37 million downloads of its apps worldwide.

What is Solitaire Cash?

Game	4.6 FinanceBuzz writers and editors score products and companies on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence our ratings.
Developer	Papaya Gaming
Compatible systems	iOS, Samsung
Minimum entry fee (for cash tournaments)	$1 (can be lower with promotional deals)
Minimum cash deposit	$5
Minimum withdrawal amount	$5
Withdrawal processing fee	$1
Withdrawal methods	PayPal (or as a refund to your original payment method)
States that prohibit cash tournaments	Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, South Carolina, Indiana, Maine, Montana
Game options	Cash tournaments Gem tournaments Clubs
	Download Solitaire Cash

If you’ve ever played the card game solitaire, then you’re already familiar with the basics of Solitaire Cash. In this app version, you get to play the same solitaire game you know and love, but you also get to compete against other people to see who can finish the game the fastest and score the most points.

The game setup looks like any other digital solitaire game, with seven piles of cards sorted into an ascending line, with only the top card visible in each stack.

A screenshot from Solitaire Cash showing the basic setup of a digital Solitaire game, except that there's a timer in the corner counting down from 5 minutes. There's also a score box, currently at 0 points. — Solitaire Cash has the same basic setup as a classic Solitaire card game.

The ultimate goal is to uncover all of the cards and move them, in order, up to the four stacks at the top of the board (starting with Ace cards), sorted by color and suit.

All of that is true of any solitaire game, but there are a few things that make Solitaire Cash different:

The game is timed. You have five minutes to finish the game.
You’re competing against other people for the highest score. You accrue points for stacking cards on top of each other, and for moving cards up to the foundations piles at the top.
You win more points for finishing early. Solitaire Cash gives you a “time bonus” for finishing early. So the faster you finish the game, the more points you can score.

My gameplay experience with Solitaire Cash

I played Solitaire Cash for over two hours and tried both gems and cash tournaments. The game was easy to learn, thanks to a tutorial the app automatically takes you through when you first open it. And compared to other gaming apps, Solitaire Cash keeps it simple. You don’t have to remember a bunch of complicated boosters or extra rules — it’s pretty much just regular solitaire.

As with many gaming apps, the most annoying part of playing Solitaire Cash was all the promotional pop-ups that came up every time I opened the app. The app seemed to give more and more of these the longer I played, so I always had to be ready to exit out of five or more pop-up promotions before I could start the actual card game.

Other than that, Solitaire Cash was fun to play. It’s a nice way to relax, and the competitive element makes it even more engaging. Seeing my final results on the leaderboard definitely kept me coming back for more.

A screenshot of a leaderboard in the Solitaire Cash game. The first-place winner has 9,139 points. The author is in third place with 8,185 points. — I placed third in this Solitaire Cash tournament and won $0.70.

Tips for scoring points

You can win or lose points in a few different ways:

+20 points for stacking cards in a way that reveals a new card, either by moving them down from the draw pile or shifting them sideways on the board
+100-120 points for moving Aces or other cards up to the top stacks
+100 points for moving any other card up to the top stacks
-20 points for restarting the draw pile

Moving a card down from the top stacks or pressing the undo button will remove the amount of points you earned for the previous move on that card.

You also get a time bonus for finishing the game before the clock runs out, so it’s best to get through it fast to earn more points. Not all solitaire games are winnable, and I also found that ending the game quickly when I was out of moves was better than waiting around hoping a usable card would magically appear.

You lose 20 points every time you restart the draw pile. Preserving your points and getting the time bonus are the best options when you get an unwinnable deck.

How much money can you make?

At the end of my testing time, I had accrued $5.30, plus 630 gems. I ended at a level 5 XP.

That might sound pretty good for just a couple of hours, but I deposited $5 to play in cash tournaments (plus paid $0.50 in sales tax, which might be a state-specific requirement), so I essentially broke even.

Considering that I enjoyed playing the game, I think Solitaire Cash was worth the money I paid to enter cash tourneys. But Solitaire Cash also makes it easy to play for free, so I could’ve kept playing even if I’d lost my entire cash balance. Along with the small amounts of bonus cash available in mini games, you can use gems to play for free.

Tip

Gems are the main form of in-game currency in Solitaire Cash. You get 20 gems for every $1 you deposit, but you can also get gems for free by claiming daily rewards, or by watching ads.

For me, having real money at stake made the game more fun, which gives cash tournaments an edge over free-to-play games.

Cash withdrawal process

Solitaire Cash offers withdrawal through PayPal, or as a refund to your original payment method.

At the end of my game time, I couldn’t withdraw any of my cash winnings from Solitaire Cash. Even though my ending balance was $5.30, I had only $2.50 left in actual money, which wasn’t enough to meet the $5 withdrawal limit. The rest of my balance came from bonus cash.

Bonus cash is a form of in-game currency, and Solitaire Cash frequently offers it as a supplement to your “real” money. You can use bonus cash to enter cash tournaments and play games, but you can’t withdraw it.

A screenshot of the author's Account screen in the Solitaire Cash app. It shows a total balance of $5.30 and a withdrawable amount of $2.50. — Solitaire Cash has a $5 withdrawal minimum, and bonus cash can't be withdrawn.

In my case, Solitaire Cash had given me $3.80 in total bonus cash from mini game rewards and as part of a promo when I deposited my initial $5, meaning I had a total of $8.80 to play with. I entered six cash tournaments with an average entry fee of $0.85 (lower than the typical $1 minimum, also due to promos), and I won only $1.40 from all five games.

What are other users saying?

User reviews for Solitaire Cash are generally positive. The app gets 4.6 out of 5 stars on the App Store and 4.5 out of 5 on the Samsung Galaxy Store. It is not available on Google Play.

While I didn’t experience any hiccups while playing, such as the app freezing or slowing down mid-game, some other users have reported issues here and there.

For example, Reddit user Due-Seesaw9003 said, “I have played Solitaire Cash quite a bit. A problem I had, however, is the game froze where I couldn't move cards, yet the timer kept running. I had to abandon the game, and there is no way to report problems, other than going thru [sic] the app store … On the upside, in Solitaire Cash, there are no third-party ads.”

Payouts

Reddit user pacingpilot had this to say about payouts: “You … get small amounts of ‘bonus cash’ for free every few days if you log in daily. That cash cannot be withdrawn, only used in the game.

“If you've got the patience you can build up enough to play a small cash tournament every few weeks. I've done it and occasionally won a few bucks … Highest I got built up was like 20 bucks at one point.”

FAQ

Is Solitaire Cash free?

Solitaire Cash is free to download and use, and you won’t be inundated with advertisements or exposed to any scams. The app provides a way to try and earn cash from your solitaire skills, making it a relaxing potential side hustle if you’re already really good at solitaire.

Does Solitaire Cash really pay?

Yes. Unlike some other prize apps, you have the opportunity to earn actual cash with Solitaire Cash, which you can redeem via PayPal once you’ve reached the $5 minimum.

The easiest way to enter cash games is to deposit some money you can use to pay the entry fees. Solitaire Cash has a $5 minimum deposit, but entry fees are as low as $1 (or even lower if the game offers you a promotional price). You can also earn a $1 cash bonus each time a friend signs up using your referral link.

Another way to enter cash games is by using free gems, but you’d need to play quite a lot of gem-only games before you’d earn enough to play in a cash tournament. For instance, you need 1,200 gems to enter a cash tournament with a $7 prize pool.

Which is better, Solitaire Cash or Solitaire Cube?

Solitaire Cash and Solitaire Cube are similar apps that allow you to earn cash prizes for winning tournaments against other players. Reviews are similar on the App Store and Samsung Galaxy Store, but I prefer Solitaire Cash because U.S. players can withdraw winnings via PayPal. Solitaire Cube sends out mailed checks to cash out winnings for U.S. players.

Can you lose money with Solitaire Cash?

The only way to lose your own money with Solitaire Cash is by depositing money on one of the paid tournaments and then losing the tournament. In that case, you’ll be out the cash you spent on the entry fee. On the other hand, if you only play the free tournaments, you can’t lose money, and you could still have the potential to win real cash (if you have the patience and dedication to rack up enough gems or bonus cash).

Alternatives to Solitaire Cash

The Solitaire Cash app isn’t for every gamer. Luckily, there are several other game apps that offer potential ways to earn some money on the side.

Bingo Cash

Bingo Cash is available to Samsung Galaxy and iOS users. If you like fast-paced and familiar play, this could be a good fit. The interface is easy to use, and the game is highly rated. It has more of a learning curve than Solitaire Cash, though, so I recommend playing with free gems or bonus cash to get the hang of things before entering a cash tournament.

Freecash

A lot of skill-based game apps like Solitaire Cash are mainly tournament-style, meaning you'll need to pay an entry fee to compete with other players for bigger payouts. If you want something more casual that doesn't cost anything, Freecash is a good choice. The app will pay you to try games and even take surveys. Unlike Solitaire Cash, it's technically available on all devices, but you can only download the app on Google Play and will need to use your browser if you're on an iPhone.

Mistplay

For Android users, Mistplay is a good platform for finding games — including solitaire and other classics — in a range of categories. It offers more variety than other apps like it, and you can earn the most if you keep installing and trying out different ones. Like Solitaire Cash, Mistplay reviews are pretty positive on the whole.

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Bottom line

Solitaire Cash is easy to learn (especially if you’re already familiar with solitaire), and the competition with other players makes it even more fun to play. If you’re really good at solitaire, then you might be able to dominate cash tournaments and win real money from prize pools, but don’t count on this game to be a major source of income — it’s mostly just for entertainment.

While I didn’t make any real money from playing Solitaire Cash, I didn’t lose money either — I pretty much broke even. If you like card games and cash competitions, then I think Solitaire Cash is a great gaming option.

Check out our list of the best side hustles to find other ways to make extra money.

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