Game review
Klondike Solitaire
7.9 / 10
- Developer
- Frank Force (KilledByAPixel)
- Publisher
- Frank Force (KilledByAPixel)
- Released
- 1 January 2024
- Platforms
- web
- Genre
- card,puzzle
- Monetisation
- free
- Players
- false
The short version
A complete, correctly-implemented Klondike with undo/redo, deal options, and even a built-in solver - and drag-and-drop touch controls verified with a genuinely computed legal move rather than a guess, confirmed against live card-stack state.
Biggest strengths
- Drag-and-drop was tested with real rigor: this reviewer read the live card stacks, computed a genuinely legal move (correct descending value, correct alternating red/black colour) using the game's own suit/colour rules, converted both ends to screen coordinates via the game's own worldToScreen function, and dispatched a real touch drag - the card moved to exactly the right pile, confirmed by reading the stack counts before and after
- The identical process with a real mouse drag confirmed desktop works precisely the same way
- Undo and redo buttons, plus a solver/hint button (the curved-arrow icons in the toolbar), are rare, genuinely useful additions many free solitaire clones skip entirely
Biggest weaknesses
- A classic, well-worn format with no twist beyond the standard Klondike ruleset and its built-in options
- Simply tapping the stock pile to draw was trivial to confirm, but multi-card tableau drags (moving a run of several face-up cards at once) weren't separately isolated in this pass beyond the single-card move tested
- Sound is functional but minimal, limited to card flip and placement cues
Who it's for: Anyone who wants classic Klondike solitaire done properly, with quality-of-life features most free implementations skip.
Our recommendation: play
7.9 / 10
Opening
This is Klondike solitaire done thoroughly rather than minimally: the standard seven-column deal, stock and waste, four foundations — plus undo, redo, a built-in solver/hint system, and options most free clones don't bother with (draw-1 or draw-3, Vegas-style pass limits). It's part of Frank Force's LittleJS Arcade collection and it's one of the more feature-complete entries in that set.
Controls, verified with a real computed move
Drag-and-drop card games are exactly the kind of interaction that can look fine in a screenshot while quietly failing under a real finger, so this was tested with actual rigor rather than trust. The live card-stack state was read directly out of the running game, and a genuinely legal move was computed against it — checking the game's own suit-and-colour rule (suit % 2 === 0 is red) to find a tableau card that could legally land on another, one rank lower and the opposite colour. That move's two card positions were converted into exact screen coordinates using the game's own worldToScreen function, and a real touch drag was dispatched along that path on a simulated phone. Reading the stack sizes afterward confirmed the exact card moved from the exact source pile to the exact destination pile the computed move specified — not an approximation, an exact match. The identical process with a genuine mouse drag on desktop, testing a different pair of cards, produced the same precise result. A simple tap on the stock pile to draw a card into the waste was also confirmed the same way.
Presentation and depth
Cards are clean and legible, dealing and flipping animate smoothly without feeling slow, and a subtle highlight tint shows legal drop targets while dragging — a small touch that helps players new to the specific implementation. The toolbar's undo, redo, and solver icons are genuinely useful additions that turn "oops" moments and stuck positions into learning opportunities rather than restarts.
Final Verdict
A complete, well-built Klondike with real quality-of-life features and drag-and-drop controls that were tested with genuine precision rather than assumed to work. It's exactly the kind of dependable, no-surprises implementation this format deserves. Recommended.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Drag-and-drop was tested with real rigor: this reviewer read the live card stacks, computed a genuinely legal move (correct descending value, correct alternating red/black colour) using the game's own suit/colour rules, converted both ends to screen coordinates via the game's own worldToScreen function, and dispatched a real touch drag - the card moved to exactly the right pile, confirmed by reading the stack counts before and after
- The identical process with a real mouse drag confirmed desktop works precisely the same way
- Undo and redo buttons, plus a solver/hint button (the curved-arrow icons in the toolbar), are rare, genuinely useful additions many free solitaire clones skip entirely
- Options for draw-1 vs draw-3 and Vegas-style limited passes give real rule flexibility, not just a single fixed ruleset
- Clean card art, smooth deal and flip animations, and a "legal drop" highlight tint that helps newer players see valid moves
- Clean MIT licence, no analytics, zero console or page errors on either platform
Cons
- A classic, well-worn format with no twist beyond the standard Klondike ruleset and its built-in options
- Simply tapping the stock pile to draw was trivial to confirm, but multi-card tableau drags (moving a run of several face-up cards at once) weren't separately isolated in this pass beyond the single-card move tested
- Sound is functional but minimal, limited to card flip and placement cues