Games Like Solitaire Cash: 6 Alternatives, With and Without Real Money
Six games for players who like Solitaire Cash, split into real-money Klondike apps and free games with the same daily-challenge pull but nothing to deposit, with an honest note on the 2026 bot verdict.
If you want a game like Solitaire Cash, the first question is whether you want money on the line at all. If you do, Solitaire Clash, Solitaire Cube and Solitaire Smash run the same format: timed Klondike, everyone gets the same deck, entry fees fund the prize pool. If you are done depositing and just miss the daily pull of a scored, competitive deal, Microsoft Solitaire Collection and Solitaire by MobilityWare give you daily challenges and leaderboards for free, and Solitaire Castle Royal, which is ours, gives you 14,000-plus levels, timed events and a league with no deposit, no coins and no per-level cost. The rest of this guide explains what each one does differently, and why so many people started looking for alternatives in 2026.
Why people are looking for alternatives right now
Solitaire Cash is made by Papaya Gaming, and for years it was the most heavily advertised real-money solitaire app in the US. Its pitch is simple: you are matched with players of similar skill, everyone plays the same Klondike deal against a clock, and the top finishers split a cash prize funded by the entry fees. The app is free to download and free to play in practice mode; the money only comes in when you enter a cash tournament.
In 2024 Skillz, the platform behind rival apps such as Solitaire Cube, sued Papaya for false advertising. In April 2026 a federal jury in New York found that Papaya had populated its "skill-based" games, including Solitaire Cash, with undisclosed computer bots while advertising that players were competing against real people. On July 27, 2026 the judge entered a judgment of about $719 million against Papaya, and on August 3 the company filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the US while it appeals. Papaya has said its games continue to operate as usual, and that it no longer uses bots in real-money play. A separate consumer class action over the same allegations reached a $15 million settlement. Solitaire Cash was still live on the App Store, and still receiving updates, when we checked in September 2026.
So there are two honest reasons to want something else. Either you still enjoy competing for money and want an app whose fairness you can trust more, or the whole episode has put you off staking cash on solitaire and you want the competition without the deposit. The list below covers both.
How we chose these games
We publish one of the games on this list, so here is the bar every pick had to clear.
- Scored, competitive solitaire. Solitaire Cash players are used to playing a deal for a score against other people, so plain solitaire apps with no challenge or leaderboard layer were cut.
- Clear about what the money is. For the real-money picks we state who runs the platform, where cash play is blocked, and what is known about fairness. For the free picks we state what, if anything, they sell.
- Same card game, or an honest note where it differs. Solitaire Cash is Klondike. Five of our six picks are Klondike; our own game is TriPeaks, and we say so rather than blur it.
- Still maintained. Every pick had a store update within the last eighteen months when we checked.
- Verified from primary sources. App facts come from the developers' own store listings. Legal facts are dated in the text. Where we could not confirm something, we say so.
Quick comparison
| Game | Card game | How you compete | Money at stake | Platforms | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solitaire Cash (baseline) | Klondike, timed | Same deck for everyone; top three finishers win | Entry fees; the pool pays out less than the fees collected | iOS, Android | 2026 jury found undisclosed bots; company in Chapter 15 while appealing; still operating |
| Solitaire Clash | Klondike, timed | Multiplayer tournaments and head-to-head cash matches; free matches with gems | Entry fees for cash matches | iOS; Android availability varies by store | Bot class action pending since 2023; not proven |
| Solitaire Cube | Klondike, rounds of a minute or two | Head-to-head and large tournaments on the Skillz platform | Entry fees; play-for-fun currency where cash is blocked | iOS | Listing blocks prize play in AR, CT, DE, IN, LA, ME and SD; Skillz is the company that won the Papaya case |
| Solitaire Smash | Klondike, timed | Multi-player brackets where the top three finishers are paid, plus some one-on-one | Entry fees from gems up to cash tournaments | iOS | Younger studio (Play Perfect, founded 2021); reviewers list eight or more restricted states |
| Microsoft Solitaire Collection | Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, TriPeaks, Pyramid | Five daily challenges, weekly rewards, events with leaderboards | None; optional Premium subscription removes ads | iOS, Android, Windows | The biggest free option; no cash, ever |
| Solitaire by MobilityWare | Klondike, Draw 1 and Draw 3 | Daily challenge calendar with crowns and trophies, global leaderboards, multiplayer | None; free version with ads, paid ad-free version | iOS, Android | Closest to the classic desktop feel; no cash |
| Solitaire Castle Royal | TriPeaks | 14,000+ levels, timed events, Kings League for players who finish everything | None; no deposit, no coins to enter a level, one-time ad removal | iOS, Android, Chromebook, PC via Google Play Games | Ours; different card game from Solitaire Cash |
If you still want to play for money
Three things to check before you deposit anywhere, because they are the same three things that caught Solitaire Cash players out. First, every real-money solitaire app blocks cash play in some US states, the lists differ by app, and they change; the developer's own site is the only current source. Second, the prize pool is always smaller than the total entry fees, which is how the app makes money, so over many games the average player loses. Third, "skill-based" is a claim about matchmaking that you cannot verify from inside the app, which is exactly what the Papaya case was about.
Solitaire Clash, closest to the same experience
Solitaire Clash from AviaGames is the most direct substitute. It is timed Klondike, you race the clock for the highest score, and you can play cash matches or free matches paid for with in-game gems. Its store listing describes multiplayer tournaments with several match modes as well as head-to-head play, daily log-in rewards and events, and the app was updated in September 2026, so it is actively maintained.
The limitation is the one in the note above. AviaGames has been defending a class action since November 2023 that alleges its games, Solitaire Clash among them, use bots against paying players. The court refused to send the case to arbitration and the Supreme Court declined to review that decision in May 2026, so the case continues. That is an allegation, not a finding, and AviaGames disputes it. But if bots are why you are leaving Solitaire Cash, moving to Solitaire Clash does not put the question behind you.
Solitaire Cube, the Skillz option
Solitaire Cube is made by Tether Studios and runs on Skillz, the competition platform whose lawsuit produced the verdict against Papaya. The format is familiar: Klondike rounds that take a minute or two, head-to-head matches where both players solve the same deck and the higher score wins, and larger tournaments. The listing says you can play free for as long as you like without ads, and that players in states where prize tournaments are not enabled can still play with virtual currency.
The limits are platform and geography. It is iOS only. Its own listing names Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine and South Dakota as states where prize tournaments are not enabled, and third-party reviews list more, so check Skillz's current list for your state. Being on the winning side of the Papaya case is not the same as a fairness guarantee; it just means Skillz has publicly staked its business on the no-bots claim, which is more than most platforms have done.
Solitaire Smash, the newer entrant
Solitaire Smash comes from Play Perfect, a Tel Aviv studio founded in 2021. The structure is the one Solitaire Cash players know: mostly multi-player brackets where the top three finishers are paid, some one-on-one matches, entry fees that start in free gems and go up to cash tournaments in the tens of dollars, and payouts through Apple Pay, PayPal or a bank account according to reviewers.
Two limitations. It is iOS only as far as we can confirm. And it is young enough that there is little independent track record either way: no lawsuit, but also no long history of payouts to point at. Reviewers list at least eight states where cash play is unavailable, with lists that do not fully agree with each other, which is another reason to rely on the developer's own page.
If you want the competition without the deposit
Most of what makes Solitaire Cash compelling is not the money. It is playing a fixed deal for a score, seeing how you rank, and coming back tomorrow for the next one. All three of these give you that loop with nothing to deposit and nothing to withdraw.
Microsoft Solitaire Collection, the biggest free option
Microsoft's app has been the default solitaire for a generation of Windows users, and the mobile version carries the competitive layer over: five new daily challenges every day, weekly rewards, and events where you climb a leaderboard. It also covers five card games, so you get Spider, FreeCell, TriPeaks and Pyramid alongside Klondike, and a Microsoft or Xbox account syncs your progress across phone, tablet and PC. The whole thing is free.
The limitation is that it is free in the ad-supported sense. Removing the ads, doubling daily challenge points and unlocking past challenges are sold as a Premium subscription, which is a recurring cost rather than a one-time buy, and the app also promotes Microsoft's other casual games inside it. If your objection to Solitaire Cash was noise as much as money, expect some noise here too.
Solitaire by MobilityWare, the classic feel
MobilityWare's Solitaire is one of the oldest Klondike apps on the store, and it plays closest to the desktop game most people learned on: Draw 1 or Draw 3, standard or Vegas scoring, unlimited undo, a "show me how to win" mode for stuck deals. The competitive layer is a daily challenge calendar where each solved day earns a crown and each month's crowns earn trophies, plus global leaderboards and a multiplayer mode where you play against other people on the same deal.
Two limitations. The free version carries ads, and the ad-free version is a separate paid app rather than an in-app switch, so check which one you are installing. And there are no cash prizes of any kind, which is the point, but worth stating for anyone who came here for the money.
Solitaire Castle Royal, ours, and a different card game
Say the difference first: Solitaire Castle Royal is TriPeaks, not Klondike. You clear a board of face-up cards by playing anything one rank above or below your current card, chaining runs for bonuses, which is faster and more streak-driven than a Klondike deal. If you want the exact game Solitaire Cash plays, this is not it, and the two Klondike picks above are the closer match. You can try TriPeaks free in your browser to see whether the feel suits you before installing anything.
What it shares with Solitaire Cash is the reason people keep opening that app: a steady supply of short, scored rounds and things to compete in. There are 14,000-plus levels with new ones every month, timed events such as Wild Rush, Grand Ball, Skydash and World Tour Puzzles, and a Kings League for players who have finished everything and want fresh levels to rank on. None of it costs anything to enter. There is no deposit, no cash prize, and no coin stake to start a level, so a losing streak never locks you out. Every level is winnable without power-ups, standard levels are untimed, and it plays offline with progress saved on the device. The free version shows ads; removing them is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. It is on the App Store and Google Play, and the mobile game page answers the usual questions about offline play, ads and levels.
Where it falls short for a Solitaire Cash player: there is no money to win, the card game is different, and the events run in limited windows that need a connection, so you cannot play them offline. If the thing you liked was beating other people at Klondike specifically, Microsoft or MobilityWare will scratch that itch better than we will.
Picking one
- Want the same game and still want cash prizes? Solitaire Clash, knowing the bot case is unresolved.
- Want cash prizes from the platform that took Papaya to court? Solitaire Cube, if you are on iPhone and your state is not on the blocked list.
- Want a newer real-money app with no lawsuit history? Solitaire Smash, with the caveat that it also has little history of any kind.
- Want daily challenges and leaderboards with nothing to deposit? Microsoft Solitaire Collection, or MobilityWare if you prefer the classic feel.
- Want short competitive rounds, events and a league with no money and no coin stakes? Solitaire Castle Royal, as long as you are happy to switch from Klondike to TriPeaks.