Faerie Solitaire

Faerie Solitaire takes the standard solitaire card game and wraps it in a fantasy adventure framework that gives the otherwise solitary pastime a sense of purpose. You're working to repopulate the magical land of Avalon, with the resources collected from clearing each level going toward finding, hatching and raising a faerie pet of your own. The mechanical core is recognizably solitaire; the surrounding game is a small RPG.

Gold earned by chaining combos through each hand purchases unique power-ups and specialized upgrades that make subsequent stages easier. Chaining together combos fills an energy meter that lets you save additional faeries. Eight worlds spread across 40 levels carry the story, with over 400 individual hands to play through and loads of upgrades to invest in along the way. The combination of solitaire fundamentals and steady RPG-style progression gives the game its addictive quality.

The content stretches the value past most solitaire packages. Roughly 14 hours of adventure-mode gameplay covers 40 unique fantasy locations, 32 amazing pets to find and evolve, a fantasy story complete with eight hand-painted cutscenes, and 30 achievements to collect. A Challenge Mode adds five additional bonus locations beyond the main campaign, and any location can be replayed as many times as you wish to maximize score or simply enjoy a particular hand layout.