Solitaire Klondike Black

Genre: Card Game (Solitaire – Klondike)

Players: 1

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Review:

Solitaire Klondike Black, released on Nintendo Switch in 2019, is a version of the Card Game of the same name. As this game is a classic card game and likely older than anyone currently reading this review, I’ll be focusing mainly on the presentation, features, options, and performance of this game.

The presentation here is decent, but won’t appeal to everyone. The visuals in this game are stylized, with all of the game’s visuals represented with white, red, or violet line art on a black background, with the game’s music being a light and airy piano theme. I can certainly see this appealing to some people, but for me personally it got on my nerves after a while, and sadly there’s no way to change it.

For options here, you have a mix of good and bad. On the one hand, this game does have draw-one and draw-three variants, but there’s no option to play with different scoring rules. However, this game does give players the choice of playing either randomized games, or playing pre-crafted solitaire games, which should be nice for those looking to avoid the inevitable “unwinnable” games that can happen in random deals. Also, for those who have never played Klondike Solitaire before, there’s no tutorial, but there is a decent (but not great) “How to Play”.

The gamepad controls here are pretty good, although sometimes the game seems to want to move your cursor for you in ways you may not care for. On the other hand, the game provides good button shortcuts, including a single button to pick up an entire stack, which is a nice touch. However, the downside here is a complete lack of touchscreen controls.

The only other thing to address here is the price. At $5, this an okay price for a game containing only one kind of solitaire, but the lack of some of the options I mention above make that price seem a little less appealing. Thankfully, this game seems to go on sale for $2 fairly regularly, which is a bit easier to swallow.

Overall, if you’re looking for Klondike Solitaire and only Klondike Solitaire, Solitaire Klondike Black is decent, even if it’s missing some standard options. If you’re not put off by the game’s stylized presentation, you may find this version of the game to your liking.

tl;dr – Solitaire Klondike Black is a stylized version of the classic card game. The inclusion of both random and pre-arranged games here is nice, but the lack of display options and touchscreen isn’t. On balance, this is an okay version of the card game, but not a great one.

Grade: C

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