For a while there, it seemed like every ad I saw while gaming on my phone was for this game called “Solitaire Cash”. Actually, to be fair, it could have been any one of a number of games, all with the same theme. “Solitaire Clash”, “Solitaire Cash”, “Solitaire Kingdom” — they all pitch the same thing — play Solitaire and win gobs and gobs of money.
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These ads ranged from everything from people leaving bags on money in the back of a taxi to people chastising each other for playing what they called “scam games”. A scam game, according to them, was any game where you didn’t actively win lots of money. That point stuck with me — the concept of the scam game. Every game where you don’t win money is a scam. All it does is entertain you, and keep you occupied, and pass the time waiting for your daughter to come out of Target for the fourth time that day.
I wanted to investigate this not-a-scam game. I downloaded two of them, actually. “Solitaire Clash” and “Solitaire Cash.” I played both for about a day each, for reasons that will become clear, very soon. Of the two, “Solitaire Cash” is the one I focused the most on because it was the one I saw the most ads for, but it’s important to understand that they all advertise the same way, and they all work the same way.
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Spoiler alert: I’m still writing for SlashGear, so I did not win heaps of money, but stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s how it works.