Fancy Solitaire

Genre: Card Game (Solitaire – Klondike)

Players: 1, Online Leaderboards

.

Review:

Fancy Solitaire, released on Nintendo Switch in 2021, is a version of the Card Game Klondike Solitaire. 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.

I don’t know that I would call this game “fancy”, but the presentation here is very good. This is thanks in part due to a wealth of display and music options. Players have their choice of 38 high-quality deck backs, 7 deck face styles, and 29 table styles, and almost all of these are quite excellent, with high-resolution textures. The cards have some degree of realism due to good lighting, and while I will complain that the lighting does wash out the cards on the left side of the table a little, mostly they remain fairly easy to see.

In addition to the wide variety of visuals players can choose from, there are also 22 different music tracks to choose from. I recognized some of this music as public domain stuff I’ve heard elsewhere, but there is nevertheless a wide variety of music in different styles, and at least some of it is quite good, so I feel pretty confident in saying that players looking for a visual and sound aesthetic that appeals to them are likely to find something they like here.

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. On the other hand, there’s no options for scoring rules, although this may be to accommodate the game’s inclusion of an online leaderboard. Still, those hoping to play the game using Vegas rules will not find that option here. Also, for those who have never played Klondike Solitaire before, there’s no tutorial, and not even a “How to Play” guide or a “hint” button – only an “undo” button to use if you make a mistake. In short, if you don’t know how to play Klondike Solitaire, this game is not interested in helping you to learn how to play.

The gamepad controls here are pretty good, although it can be a little tedious moving your cursor all the way to the top or bottom of a card stack. The game also includes some pretty decent touchscreen controls as well for those playing in handheld mode, though it can be a little difficult picking up a specific card in a stack if you’re not going for the card on top..

The only other thing to address here is the price, which is a bit on the high side – $9 just for a game of Klondike solitaire is a bit steep. However, the game has already repeatedly gone on sale for $2, and that’s a pretty good deal for what’s on offer here.

Overall, if you’re looking for Klondike Solitaire and only Klondike Solitaire, Fancy Solitaire is a solid version of the card game that sets itself apart from most other similar games on Nintendo Switch by offering a huge selection of mostly excellent display and music options. It may be a bit pricey for what’s on offer, but if you catch it on sale, you should be pleased with this game.

tl;dr – Fancy Solitaire may not be quite as fancy as the name implies, but it is nevertheless a very good version of Klondike Solitaire. The price tag is a bit on the high end, and the game lacks a tutorial and alternate scoring options, but the number of deck, background, and music options more than makes up for these omissions. If you’re just looking for a top-notch game of Klondike Solitaire on Nintendo Switch, this is about as good as it gets.

Grade: B-

.

This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Card Game

.

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are MB, Andy Miller, u/wonderponder, Johannes, Stov, Ilya Zverev, and Eli Goodman. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}