This review originally appeared within iLounge’s iOS Gems series within the compilation article, iPhone Gems: Every Solitaire Game, Reviewed. Additional details may be found in the original article.
It’s hard to feel enthusiastic about either Demon Solitaire ($1) or Las Vegas Solitaire ($3) from Cliff Maier.
These are both extremely plain, one rule set games that have fine card animations but little else going for them.
With a red background, Demon Solitaire is a relatively hard Solitaire variant that’s presented solely in vertical mode, with no real frills to speak of; it’s silent. Las Vegas Solitaire starts in vertical mode, but can also rotate onto its side, albeit with an awful-looking grainy background.
The latter title provides four so-so looking card backs to choose from, while Demon doesn’t offer any sort of visual customization; the only extra here is a second screen to show you the rules.
It would be easy to guess that the developer spent more time creating interesting iPhone menu icons for these titles than it did on actual game development. As a concept, the name “Las Vegas Solitaire” is almost funny in that there’s nothing Las Vegas about the experience except for a dollar tally on the screen; there isn’t a sophisticated gambling system, real background art, or anything else here to compare with the Vegas-style graphics and music in Platinum Solitaire.
