There's a slew of crypto-infused games out there that let you earn Bitcoin while you play—and you don’t have to buy any NFTs to get started, or spend any money at all.
Solitaire is one of the most popular games to be injected full of Bitcoin rewards on iOS and Android, with two main games that let you stack sats (or satoshis, a.k.a. 1/100,000,000 BTC) while stacking digital playing cards: THNDR Games’ Club Bitcoin: Solitaire and Bling Financial’s Bitcoin Solitaire.
Both games are broadly similar, serving up a simple game of digital solitaire that’s chock-full of obnoxious video ads. But both also truly do let you earn Bitcoin along the way and then withdraw it to a wallet. Keep your expectations in check, however: we’re talking pennies’ worth of BTC across hours of gameplay.
And I’d know, because I played hours of each game to see how much Bitcoin I could earn from each. Here’s a brief review of each game (played on iPhone), along with a verdict on which Bitcoin solitaire app is most worth your time and attention.
Club Bitcoin: Solitaire
THNDR Games makes an array of Bitcoin-awarding mobile games, including Tetro Tiles, and its Club Bitcoin: Solitaire (iPhone, Android) is by far the most visually appealing of the bunch. It spruces up this very traditional card game with a little bit of visual panache, and the streamlined interface with one tap to send any card to its rightful pile feels intuitive and responsive.
But it’s stingy with the sats. You earn tickets while playing, and those are put into prize draws that could earn you large-to-small bundles of satoshis. But after two hours of total gameplay when I first played in 2023, I’d only earned 59 sats… that’s about $0.06 worth as of this writing.
When I came back to the game and put in another hour's worth of play in November 2024, I racked up just 11 sats as a reward. In other words, I'm averaging just over $0.02 per hour in Bitcoin rewards overall, based on the current BTC price of about $98,000.
Plus, you have to redeem the sats and withdraw them to a wallet within a few days, otherwise they disappear.
Club Bitcoin is the most enjoyable of the trio in terms of look and feel, but also provided the least amount of rewards. Your mileage may vary, however. No matter how it shakes out, you’ll still have to sit through some truly laborious video ads for scammy-looking mobile games and apps.
Bitcoin Solitaire
Bling Financial is another publisher with a heap of crypto-tinged mobile games, and Bitcoin Solitaire (iPhone, Android)—created with PlayDay Studios—was by far the more generous game when it came to earning satoshis.
Granted, it’s all relative: After two hours of play in 2023, I had earned enough “Bling Points” to withdraw 339 satoshis, or about $0.33 worth of Bitcoin as of this writing. That's about $0.16 per hour. When I played again in November 2024, however, my reward rate was about $0.09 per hour, though, at the current BTC price of $98,000.
That’s still very little overall, but it’s multiple times the amount of Bitcoin that I earned while playing Club Bitcoin, with a similar amount of obnoxious ads permeating the experience. Also, the game now has additional rewards that benefit consistent play, so you could earn more BTC by coming back daily.
Bling’s Bitcoin Solitaire has a more spartan design than Club Bitcoin, but the interface is just as responsive and it serves up an enjoyable game of mobile solitaire. I noticed that I won a lot more games in Bitcoin Solitaire, too. It feels tuned to go easy on you, but when you’re coasting to victory and racking up sats, it’s tough to complain.
Which should you play?
Based on the paltry earnings shared above, it's fair to say that neither of these games is likely to grant you any meaningful amount of cryptocurrency. If you care about solitaire gameplay most of all, then you can probably find a mobile rendition with more polish and less-intrusive ads.
But among games with crypto rewards, Bling’s Bitcoin Solitaire hits the sweet spot. It’s not the most stylish-looking option, but the gameplay is smooth and enjoyable, and you'll earn a small bounty of sats that you can stack for the long haul.
Editor's note: This story was originally published on May 27, 2023 and last updated with new details on November 29, 2024. This story originally covered a third game, then called Viker’s Solitaire - Card Game 2023. It has since been rebranded to Grapes Solitaire and no longer pays out Bitcoin, though it does offer other cryptocurrency rewards.