April 9, 2025
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Experts in this article:
Sophia is a software QA Tester and web developer with experience testing multiple survey and task apps. She has two years of...
Jessica is a writer for SideHustles.com. Her side hustles include freelance academic writing and editing, which she's done for...
Solitaire Cash promises that you can earn real money by playing card games. That sounds like a great deal, but not all sites that make promises like that are legitimate, and many gaming apps promising fast cash rewards have a hidden catch.
So can you really earn anything from Solitaire Cash, or are those claims unrealistic? We sent our tester to find out.
Solitaire Cash is a phone gaming app made by Papaya Gaming that’s based on the classic card game solitaire.
As of March 2024, the app has a 4.6 rating in the iOS store and hundreds of thousands of reviews. It also has a 4.5 rating in the Samsung Galaxy Store. It’s a legitimate app, and it definitely works—at least to some extent.
Yes, Solitaire Cash pays out real money. If you win tournaments in the app, you can earn actual cash, which you can withdraw via PayPal (and possibly other methods).
This might sound like a great way to earn if you dream of making a quick buck playing online games with PayPal rewards. However, Solitaire Cash will probably disappoint you.
Unfortunately, you can’t earn much money on Solitaire Cash. In fact, if you aren’t careful, you could easily end up losing more than you earn.
To enter tournaments, you have to spend credits, which are known as “Gems” and “Bonus Cash.” You can earn these in various ways, some of which are free, but doing so is slow and often tedious. It’s much faster to just buy them with real money.
We tested Solitaire Cash for about 2¼ hours, and we spent $4 buying credits to play games with. By the end of our testing session, our account balance had just $1.60 in withdrawable cash, meaning that we’d lost $2.40.
The payouts on Solitaire Cash seem to be quite small (the ones in our games ranged from around $0.50 to $1.50). That means that even if you’re disciplined enough not to buy credits, your profits will still probably be modest. If you do fork over your own money, you’ll probably operate at a loss, just like we did.
Because of this, we really can’t recommend Solitaire Cash as a money-making app.
Yes, there’s a catch with Solitaire Cash: it’s a platform that encourages gambling.
With most types of gambling, you’re likely to lose more money than you earn—after all, that’s how casinos stay in business. Solitaire Cash is no exception.
The way that Solitaire Cash is promoted is misleading. The marketing materials make big claims about how quickly you can earn cash, and they also say that Solitaire Cash isn’t gambling, as the game is based on skill rather than luck or chance. However, many gambling games involve an element of skill as well as luck; in our view, this isn’t enough for Solitaire Cash not to count as a gambling app.
No, you don’t absolutely have to pay to play Solitaire Cash. The app is free to download, and you can enter games for free by using “Gems” or “Bonus Cash” to pay the entry fees. As mentioned, Gems and Bonus Cash are credits you can earn through various activities (e.g., playing games, watching videos with ads, and referring friends).
However, many Solitaire Cash games with large prize pools have entry fees that are relatively high, sometimes equivalent to as much as $3–$5. It’s technically possible to earn enough Gems or Bonus Cash to enter these games without paying, but it’s very tempting to buy credits (which come in denominations of $5, $15, $25, $35, $50, and $75) to play these high-stakes games.
You’ll need a lot of self-restraint to resist spending money on this app, and it tries hard to entice you with special offers and other strategies.
Anyone who’s struggled with gambling problems should steer clear of Solitaire Cash. There are many better ways to earn, including more traditional gig apps, work-on-demand apps, and other more reliable side hustle apps.
Solitaire Cash features card games or “tournaments” that you can play for cash prizes. These are based on the traditional card game of solitaire.
Find the rules for Solitaire Cash under “How to Play” in the main menu of the app. You can also see the rules in the screenshots below.
Since there are several different versions of solitaire, it’s best to review them, even if you already know how to play.
You nominally play against other gamers in real time (often 2–6 of them). Again, there’s some speculation in app reviews and other online comments about whether these are real people or bots.
You’ll compete to finish each game faster than your opponents. The quicker you win, the more likely you are to get a prize.
There are two types of games—“3-Draw” or “1-Draw.” Normally, you draw three cards at a time during games. In a 1-Draw game, you draw only one card at a time.
There are several different types of tournaments, which have different entry fees. You can pay in:
There’s a 5-minute time limit on Solitaire Cash games. Your time will affect your score; you’ll get bonuses for finishing early.
How fast you finish is particularly important when the game is unsolvable, which is sometimes the case.
If a game is unsolvable, your best move is to hit the “End Game” button as soon as possible when you run out of moves. This will give you bonus points for the time left on the timer.
At the end of the game, you’ll find out which rank you’ve achieved based on your score, which will depend on how quickly you cleared the board (or how quickly you ended the game if it was unsolvable).
If you rank in the top three places, you’ll win Gems, cash, or Bonus Cash, depending on the tournament type. The prize pools are split between the players who rank in the top three, so you won’t get the whole prize pool even if you win first place.
In Solitaire Cash and similar gambling games that pay real money, the only way to win cash is by entering cash tournaments. There are many different types of tournaments, but, as a rule, the larger the prize pool is, the higher the entry fee will be.
Our main tip for winning money on Solitaire Cash is to avoid spending any real cash on the game. It’s best to only play in the tournaments that let you enter with Gems. Alternatively, you can enter with Bonus Cash that you earned (and didn’t purchase).
If you’re strict about this, you’re guaranteed to come out ahead, since you’re not risking any of your own cash. That said, while you can turn a profit, you won’t earn very much—it will take a long time to earn enough Gems or Bonus Cash to compete, and when you win, your payouts will be modest.
We tested Solitaire Cash for 2¼ hours.
During that time, we played in the following tournaments:
During testing, we spent $4 of our own cash to top up the credits we’d earned. By the end of our testing session, our account balance had just $1.60 in withdrawable cash (which, notably, we couldn’t actually reclaim, as you need at least $5 to withdraw funds—even money that you put in).
Using Solitaire Cash was a net loss for us. From the other reviews we’ve read suggest, this seems common.
Admittedly, our tester had never played solitaire before using the app and wasn’t expecting to win much, but we still think our experience suggests the app is likely to cost most users more than they earn. This is corroborated by the other user reviews we’ve read, some of which were from more skilled players who also claimed they lost money.
Because of this, we think you’ll be better off trying to make money with more conventional side hustles.
Of course, solitaire games are the most obvious way to earn on the Solitaire Cash app. The following tasks give you other ways to earn Gems and Bonus Cash, which you can use to enter tournaments and potentially win real cash prizes. Note that you can’t earn money directly from these tasks.
When you sign in to Solitaire Cash, you’ll automatically get Daily Rewards. These include free Gems, free Bonus Cash, and “Experience Points” (which you can collect to level up and get more rewards, as described below).
The more often you sign in, the more Daily Rewards you’ll get.
We collected several Daily Rewards on Solitaire Cash. The largest one gave us a 10% bonus on our Experience Points.
These are different from Daily Rewards. They require a few extra clicks to retrieve, but they’re still worth getting.
Get the Daily Gift by going to the main menu, then clicking on “Gifts.”
We claimed the Solitaire Cash Daily Gift on two occasions. We got 30 Gems each time.
As you play Solitaire Cash, you’ll gain “XP,” which is short for “Experience Points.” These are points you earn for playing in tournaments (regardless of whether you win). Your XP progress appears on a meter at the top left of the screen.
When you fill up the XP meter, you’ll level up. Each time you do, you get Gems.
Note that as your XP level increases, it will take progressively more tournaments for the meter to fill up, so your progress will be fast at first and then will slow down.
Each time we leveled up, we got more Gems. We got to level 5 over the course of the 2¼ hours we spent testing Solitaire Cash, which gave us 60 Gems.
You can watch ads to get Gems. You get 10 for each video you watch.
We watched videos a couple of times. Each was only a minute or two in length. As expected, we received 10 Gems each time.
Seasonal Cards are special cards you can collect to earn Bonus Cash and Gems on Solitaire Cash.
There are many ways to obtain these. You can win them in certain cash tournaments, purchase them, get them as a reward for challenges, or swap them with friends.
However, you have to reach level 15 to unlock the Seasonal Cards feature on the app.
As mentioned, we only reached level 5 during our testing, so we didn’t get any Seasonal Cards.
Solitaire Cash has a “Clubs” feature, which is where players can join forces to earn a “Club Chest” containing rewards. The app doesn’t specify which rewards are available in the Club Chest, but they presumably vary from week to week.
To join a Club, you have to go to the “Clubs” tab and then click “Join a Club.” You can then choose a Club, click on it, and press “Join.”
However, you have to reach level 8 to unlock the Clubs feature.
We didn’t reach level 8, so we didn’t unlock this feature.
Solitaire Cash sometimes posts limited-time offers featuring promo codes on their Facebook page and other social media accounts.
To claim a promo code prize, go to the “Gifts” tab and click on “Promo Code,” then enter the code and click “Submit.”
We checked Solitaire Cash’s social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) three times, but we never found any codes.
Solitaire Cash sometimes offers alternative games (in addition to solitaire) and other special tasks you can complete to earn bonuses. You can often unlock these by leveling up.
On one occasion, we unlocked a game called “Piñata Craze.” When we played this game, we won $0.60, which we presume was Bonus Cash, meaning we could spend it to enter tournaments but not directly withdraw it. (We couldn’t confirm that, as Bonus Cash and actual cash aren’t differentiated in the app’s balance screen.)
On another occasion, we were invited to complete a “Find the Balloons” activity, which gave us 10 Gems for completing a very easy task.
We were also invited to participate in the “Level Up Blitz” activity shown in the screenshot below and a “Two-Tournament Challenge” (which simply involved playing in two different tournaments within the next 7 hours). These tasks offered Bonus Cash and Gems, but we elected not to try them.
You can connect your Solitaire Cash account to Facebook, which will allow you to receive free Gems (and Seasonal Cards) from your friends if they play the game. You can also send your friends Gems.
When you and your friends send each other Gems, they won’t get deducted from your balances, so this is a great way for everyone to enjoy freebies—if you have friends who are also into Solitaire Cash.
To link your Facebook with your Solitaire Cash account, tap “Gifts” at the bottom of the main screen or in the main menu, then tap the “Card Trade” button and start the connecting sequence. Alternatively, you can tap “Cards” at the bottom of the main screen, then tap the “Trade Center” tab.
We didn’t invite any of our Facebook friends to join Solitaire Cash.
You can refer people to Solitaire Cash via Facebook Messenger or through social apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, iMessage, and more.
However, referrals aren’t a very efficient way to earn. You’ll only get Bonus Cash for the first two people you invite, and you’ll only get $1 for each of them.
We didn’t invite any friends to join Solitaire Cash.
To start playing Solitaire Cash, scan the QR code on the Solitaire Cash homepage and install the app. Alternatively, you can download it from the App Store (for iOS devices) or the Galaxy Store (for Samsung Galaxy devices) using the buttons below.
Unfortunately, Solitaire Cash isn’t available for non-Samsung Android devices, so you can’t get it from the regular Google Play store.
You won’t need to go through a signup process once you open the app, and it won’t ask you to provide personal details. You can start playing right away.
We don’t recommend gambling any of your own money on Solitaire Cash. However, if you want to do this, there are several ways to buy credits for entering tournaments:
You’ll usually be able to make payments of $5, $15, $25, $35, $50, or $75. Solitaire Cash may sometimes give you discounts to tempt you into buying credits.
As soon as your payment is approved, the funds will appear on your Solitaire Cash account balance.
We couldn’t find any information on the Solitaire Cash website about which withdrawal methods they offer.
The screenshot below, which appears in the App Store, gives the impression that you can use several methods for cashing out—Apple Pay, PayPal, and credit and debit cards. Several other reviews we’ve read corroborate this, but as we lost money on the app and had nothing to cash out, we weren’t able to test it.
Solitaire Cash gives contradictory information about how long withdrawals take. One of their help pages says that they usually process withdrawal requests within two business days, but that the money may take up to five business days to reach your account (depending on your bank or payment processor). 1
Another help page says that withdrawal requests may take up to 14 days to reach your account. 2 We recommend being prepared to wait at least that long—don’t count on Solitaire Cash for money that you’ll need urgently.
You need at least $5 to withdraw money on Solitaire Cash. 2
This means that if you deposit money into the app and spend more than you earn so that your balance drops below $5, you won’t be able to access the money you put in without topping off your account first.
Yes, Solitaire Cash will take a $1 processing fee for withdrawals. This means it’s not worthwhile to withdraw small amounts, since you’ll lose a large proportion of what you cash out. 2
One (frustrating) quirk of withdrawing funds from Solitaire Cash is that you’ll lose any Bonus Cash remaining in your account when you do so. 2
If you try to use up your Bonus Cash by entering tournaments, Solitaire Cash won’t let you. Instead, it will withdraw most (80%) of the entry fee from your balance of actual cash and use Bonus Cash for the remaining 20%. There’s no way to disable this feature, and it makes it very hard to withdraw your earnings without losing money.
Because Solitaire Cash uses real money, you have to be an adult to play. Children under 18 aren’t allowed to install it, so it’s not a good side hustle for younger teens.
Due to state gambling laws, you also can’t play Solitaire Cash for money if you live in certain states:
The same applies to other countries, which have their own gambling laws. Papaya Games says that in addition to the US, Solitaire Cash is available in “the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Canada, and some parts of Australia.” 3
If you want to get paid to play games, there are many alternatives to Solitaire Cash:
We’ve tested the latter two platforms extensively. For more information on them, you can check out our in-depth reviews:
The payouts on both of those apps are fairly low, and there are better ways to make money from your phone or laptop. But in contrast to Solitaire Cash, Swagbucks and InboxDollars don’t encourage you to spend money to take advantage of most of their features, so they’re more realistic options if you want to earn small amounts of cash in your free time.
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