Solitaire Deluxe: 16 Pack

You have to wonder what the value of replicating card games on mobile is. Considering you can pick up a pack of cards for about the same price as a pint of milk, it's a little bizarre that the mobile arena is so populated by titles that often cost twice as much.

Yet, as Solitaire Deluxe: 16 Pack proves, there is value in such packages when they go the extra mile.

While whole scores of titles are happy to serve up functional replicas of the assortment of card games out there without any added bells or whistles, Solitaire Deluxe comes with one crucial, unique selling point.

It actually teaches you how to play.

Splitting the pack

Coming with an impressive 16 variations of solitaire in all – the likes of spider, klondike, and free cell are all on board – there's value to be had simply because each and every shade is playable from the get-go.

If we're all entirely honest, though, there's very little to separate one solitaire package from another.

So close are they, in fact, that Solitaire Deluxe: 16 Pack's plain and simple grasp of the rulebook - though perhaps nothing more than a sidenote during development - has actually become fairly crucial.

Solitaire Deluxe: 16 Pack lets you determine just how many games you wish to take on in a row before entering into actual card combat. The controls naturally retain an entirely serviceable setup, with the lines of cards usually corresponding to the numbers on the keypad.

Picking up one card from the bottom of a line and dropping it onto another is therefore a case of hitting one number key followed by the other, while the '#' key often doles out new cards from the pack.

Not that any of this needs explaining, of course – the game's collection of tutorials takes cares of that in quick time.

Rather than getting bogged down in jargon, or taking an entirely condescending tone, each set of instructions – delivered in optional form the first time you start up each particular flavour of solitaire – simply and practically takes you through the respective rules of the game by having you perform a few concise moves before letting you loose on your own.

It may sound like an almost inconsequential facet of Solitaire Deluxe: 16 Pack, but really it's the game's strongest suit.

Though it makes no attempt to sprinkle any fairy dust on its considerable package, by simply serving up its games in such a playable form Solitaire Deluxe: 16 Pack outdoes most of its rivals.