Faerie Solitaire is an addictively simple card game with a whimsical fantasy twist and a dash of magical wonder, good for all ages.
The solitaire game aspects are easy to learn and well done, with objectives to meet, money to earn and upgrades to buy as you unlock the adventure story that discovers the hidden world of the Faerie. There’s a cute side objective of finding faerie eggs and raising your own faerie pets. They don’t change the game one bit but it’s interesting to collect them all.
It’s pretty simple to learn single player Faerie Solitaire, even if you’ve never played a solitaire game before. The base card is at the bottom (5 of Spades) and it allows you to click on any card one above or below the base card. In this case you could click on the 4 of Diamonds or the 6 of Diamonds to make it your next base card. You’d want to click the 4 of Diamonds, as that would allow you to click the 3 of Clubs after that. In this way you can rack up combos for extra cash and to meet possible objectives.
There are several variations on play. Sometimes your base card is a ‘free play’ card between 2 and 10, which you can see on the bottom right of the screen. You can play any of them at any time as a new base card to continue a combo or help clear certain cards. I suggest saving them up to use on the special challenges when you have them all, as the challenges are very difficult hands with difficult objectives.
Game developer Subsoap has created 40 levels with over 400 hands to play as you lead your character through the story. If you clear enough cards to power up the purple charge bar, you’ll get extra money. If you meet the level objective(s) you’ll be able to release the trapped faerie and continue on to the next level. Once you get used to it, each hand will only take a minute or two.
To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to the back story, but I imagine a younger crowd would be interested in learning about the Faeries and their queen. Although the ending definitely hints at a game sequel.
As you build up money you’ll be able to spend it on 9 different upgrades to help you play the game. You should be able to unlock all of them before the final level, so the balance was well done. No grinding as far as money is concerned.
Also, when you clear a row of cards, there may be something hidden behind it. Either a faerie egg or resources like wood, stone or magic that are used to evolve your faerie pets.
There are 32 different faerie eggs you can find. you can hatch them and make one active at a time, during which it gains experience as you play the game. When it’s ready to evolve you spend resources to grow your magical creature into its adult version, complete with a little back story. If there’s a next game it will be great if they had minor powers you could call on during play.
Faerie Solitaire was voted MOST ADDICTIVE GAME at the 2010 Great Games Awards.