Flipflop Solitaire review
:: FLIP AWAYPrice: Free
Version: 1.0.4
App Reviewed on: iPhone SE
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Flipflop Solitaire is developer Zach Gage’s second crack at redesigning Solitaire. Before Typeshift and Really Bad Chess (both excellent takes on classic games in their own right), Gage released Sage Solitaire, which took Poker mechanics and adapted them for solo play. With Flipflop Solitaire, players are given a more traditional take on the patience game that everyone knows and loves, but with some unique twists that Zach Gage is known for. I’m not sure it’s as appealing to me as Sage Solitaire, but Flipflop Solitaire is still such a well-designed Solitaire experience that it should be your first choice when looking to stack cards on your phone.
Suit up
On its face, Flipflop Solitaire very much looks like the same experience that you can get from your old desktop computer. That said, this game departs from the stock formula in a few key ways. The first is that cards don’t have to be stacked in descending order. Cards can count up or down when stacking, making it so you can stack a five on a four and then either move down to three or go back up to five again.
The second key difference is that you don’t have to alternate red and black suits when stacking. You can stack spades on spades, or hearts on diamonds, it doesn’t matter. In fact, not every mode of Flipflop Solitaire even has all four suits, and one even has five. The game itself is divided by how many suits you want to have in your deck (up to five), and a special EX version of the game’s Single Suit Mode, which adds in an extra Ace to contend with.
Outdoing and undoing yourself
There are some other slight differences between Flipflop Solitaire and the traditional game, but the goal here is still the same: Stack all of the cards at the slots above your play area in order of sequence per suit. This can be a struggle in regular old Solitaire, but in Flipflop 99% of all games are winnable.
A lot of this has to do with the gameplay tweaks mentioned earlier, but it’s also due in large part to the fact that Flipflop Solitaire gives you an undo button that you can press as many times as you like. This makes it so you can back out of almost any situation to right yourself and go ahead and finish your game in most cases. With this being the case, Flipflop Solitaire is much more about trying to win games in the fewest moves possible and using as few undos as possible rather than retrying to find a winning deck.
Solitaire-y Confinement
The refinements that Flipflop Solitaire brings to the classic card game are certainly welcome and make for a better experience, but the game still very much feels like you’re playing Solitaire. It’s very nice looking Solitaire, and there distinct gameplay changes, but Flipflop Solitaire’s tweaks don’t transform things to the degree that Typeshift or Sage Solitaire do, which is slightly disappointing.
The good news in all of this is that if you want a Solitaire game on your phone, this might just best one you can get. Between the different game modes and slick (and customizable) visuals, Flipflop Solitaire is one heck of a package. The only slight caveat here is that unlimited play for all modes and visual adjustments are only available for an in-app purchase of $2.99, but doing so also rids the game of ads, which is something you’ll most likely want to do.
The bottom line
Flipflop Solitaire is a fantastic version of Solitaire. It switches up the rules in subtle ways that force you to think differently about the classic game. That said, the game’s changes to the basic formula might be a little too nuanced. Flipflop Solitaire doesn’t feel quite as revolutionary as previous Zach Gage releases, but it's a great game if you're looking for a new Solitaire experience.