# Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! — user reviews > 123 indexed App Store user reviews of Pocket Card Jockey by GAME FREAK Inc., rated 4.27/5 from 241 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocket-card-jockey-ride-on/id1604577143/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocket-card-jockey-ride-on/id1604577143.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 171 · 4★ 22 · 3★ 9 · 2★ 21 · 1★ 18 ## What do users think of Pocket Card Jockey? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🚀 Addictive gameplay - 👍 Charming presentation - 🚀 Quick matches - 👍 Mechanical improvements over 3DS version - 👍 Cute horses - 🚀 Satisfying solitaire gameplay **Cons** - 🐛 Buggy and glitchy - 💬 Too much dialogue and unskippable animations - 🤔 Confusing mechanics and poor explanations - 🤔 Difficulty feels arbitrary and unfair - 🔋 Performance and battery drain issues - 🤔 Lack of skill or strategy impact on outcomes **Commonly reported bugs** - Saved game issues and data loss - Freezing and performance problems - Incompatibility with older devices **Most requested features** - Controller support - More horse color/pattern options - Ability to pause races - Progression-based difficulty - Horse sharing/trading system - Portrait mode support ## Newest reviews (15 of 123) ### 4/5 — Controller support *2025-11-19, version 1.7.1* I absolutely love this game but the only thing it’s missing is controller support it’d be so much more comfortable Thanks ### 3/5 — It could be the great game *2025-05-08, version 1.7.1* Omg, this talking horse is extremely annoying. Gameplay is great, but all those suggestions are really annoying. ### 3/5 — So buggy! *2025-05-07, version 1.7.1* Love this game. It was brilliant on the 3ds. Some very annoying bugs in this version. Worth downloading and keeping forever if the bugs get ironed out. ### 3/5 — 반쪽짜리 게임 *2024-06-19, version 1.7.1* 솔리테어 + 경마 로 보이지만 경마파트는 애매함 게임 자체가 우선 같은 방식의 플레이만을 요구하는데 투지 모아서 마지막 대쉬때 달리는 방식이 아니라면 승리하기 거의 불가능함. 그거 까진 솔리테어와의 연계를 위함이라 생각이 들지만 마지막 대쉬를 방해물 없이 달리기 위해 체력 손해를 감수해서라도 밖으로 충분히 빠져서 돌아도 마지막 대쉬 진형은 인위적으로 배치를 해버려서 마지막 대쉬 전 포지션 세팅하는게 아무런 의미가 없어짐 게다가 1위가 아니면 늘 패배를 조언하는 파트가 나오는데 아무리 원클릭에 스킵이 된다지만 특정 아이콘을 눌러야하며 경기 목표는 7~8위내 입성이 가장 많은데 정작 1위를 하지 않으면 다 패배로 판단되어 특정 시기를 넘기기 힘들게 만들어놨음 ### 4/5 — Very addicting, but needs more explanation *2023-12-27, version 1.7.1* Love this game, it’s been a blast to play. The point where it loses it’s fun for me is when there’s mechanics that aren’t explained. For example I still have yet to figure out what the skill “international star” does. Also, I have had horses that have raced all the way to 6 years of age, but one of my horses recently, who had been doing very well, lost its first race as an adult shortly into age 5, and I was told it was “at its physical limit” and I needed to retire it. This was extremely frustrating because it was a fantastic horse that could have won even more races and these retirement rules don’t line up with how retirement worked in other cases. ### 3/5 — Confused *2023-10-03, version 1.6.1* What is going on with this game!? It has such good potential to be addictive but the complexity is enormous - I just had a lecture telling me what I did wrong on the last race and near the end felt like I should have taken notes! ### 3/5 — Fun but frustratingly rigged *2023-08-24, version 1.5.0* The only way to enjoy this game is to give yourself over to the game as it will very obviously only allow you to win levels it decides it wants you to win. ### 4/5 — Oddly very addicting, but it has some issues *2023-08-17, version 1.5.0* I really do like this game and it’s very easy to binge play and lose track of time. My only 2 gripes which I knows other people mentioned is the learning curve and more importantly how the performance makes you heat up your phone. Now I’m not gonna complain that the game is hard games should be challenging here, but if someone is not used to playing solitaire, it’s gonna be frustrating fast. maybe adapt to the player or get more challenging as they have more success and the opposite vice versa. I understand that some games become impossible because you want the feeling of the horse aging and things becoming harder, but it’s not obvious and I think you should make that more clear. Plus, there’s also the more important flaw the performance. I know this was originally built for DS and you made updated graphics and and it’s not unusual for phones to get warm for certain games… but it’s gets SPICY! perhaps you can have a different graphics mode for the running that is 2-D much like before. That way players have the option to have something less intensive. I want to rate it higher because it does deserve more plays, but the performance issue needs to be regarded at the very least ### 5/5 — PVP Broken *2023-08-06, version 1.5.0* PVP Broken ### 5/5 — One of the best titles on the Arcade *2023-06-24, version 1.4.0* Love this game, love it. Plunged at least 130 hours into it so far. I can’t agree with some of the reviews in relation to luck on levelling up a horse, some horses are better than others no doubt but with smart breeding you can get some insane horses to hit the big G1s, the speed and stamina mechanic is genius and does take some experimentation to get to grips with it but once you understand it then you can tactically manoeuvre through races to be competitive in the final straight. If I had a downside it would be this, it’s all flat racing, I would give this game 6 stars if it had jumps/hurdles, you could simply implement this by adding say 3 hurdle cards to the solitaire games, failing to get all hurdle cards would effect the stamina or enthusiasm of the horse as it hasn’t jumped the fence well enough which in turn would effect the horses run in, maybe these hurdle races should only apply to PT4 horses but regardless of which horses this would apply to I think a chase season map is a must for the developers. The other snag I have is there is no card or ability to remove a loss after 4 years old. Adding this to the Happy Horses shop or even adding a card to a race that would remove a loss after 4 years old would be amazing, we all know how heartbreaking it is to see a top horse go down to retirement because of a poor solitaire game at the wrong moment, also in realistic terms horses keep running way past 4 - 5 years old, chase horses run up to 11 years old in a lot of instances so I don’t think the 3 race losses to retirement is ideal. Developers please, I urge you to consider the two points above and try your best to implement these. If this was done you would have the greatest game I’ve played, I love horse racing if you haven’t already realised, keep up the great work. ### 5/5 — Original *2023-06-09, version 1.4.0* Le mélange solitaire et course hippique fonctionne à merveille et même si vous n’êtes pas fan ni de l’un ni de l’autre je vous le conseille malgré tout… C’est prenant et très addictif ! ### 3/5 — Bonjour *2023-06-07, version 1.3.0* J’aimerais bien que vous ayez un jeu de rami ,et aussi que tout les jeux arcades soit en français et une solution en français,merci beaucoup, narusegawa Sylvie Kathryn Son-Cook.Dites le à tim . Ps.: Rajouter aussi des jeux éducatifs montessori , freinet et math de Singapour, et de la maternelle au collège svp merci beaucoup d’avance. ### 2/5 — Addictive but really difficult early game *2023-05-28, version 1.3.0* I don’t have a huge amount of time to play games. Perhaps this game becomes more satisfying once you sink a large amount of time in, breed horses, or whatever the game holds later on, but early on the game does nothing to keep me interested. The races are really hard and it doesn’t seem to matter much what I do; I win a race and lose a race and win a race and lose a race on a repeating cycle. The game gives advice each time you lose. The advice is often to conserve stamina, but that doesn’t seem to ultimately make a difference in the race outcomes. Sometimes the advice is to buy items from the store, although the store is not available every round and you get little to no money (the currency required for store purchases) for failing races. The solitaire mixed with racing is interesting and the game seems like it could maybe be addictive down the line. I just don’t feel incentivized to keep playing to find out. ### 5/5 — Needs fixing *2023-05-04, version 1.3.0* Great game but hard to level up especially when you collect cards and then DO NOT get the bonus associated with it. Please fix this and it will be better ### 5/5 — IT'S BACK *2023-05-02, version 1.2.0* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Annoying *2025-10-13, version 1.7.1* This has to be one of the most annoying solitaire games I have ever attempted to play. Way way, way too much verbiage… I must’ve spent the first five minutes, tapping my phone just to get to play a game. Then the obnoxious noises. OMG deleted. ### 1/5 — Can’t play the game *2025-10-06, version 1.7.1* I’ve opened and closed this game a zillion times and I can’t get past the screen that makes me enter a name for the main character. Can’t play the game at all! ### 1/5 — They/them nonsense *2025-02-11, version 1.7.1* You chose a boy or a girl but then the game refers to them as “they.” So sick of this garbage in games. ### 1/5 — Too much dialogue *2023-12-31, version 1.7.1* I wanted to play a card game with my daughter. I didn’t want to read a novella before even being able to play solitaire. Then, you play a short game followed by a ton of dialogue. I deleted it after 10 minutes of gameplay. ### 1/5 — Pay to win but missing the pay on arcade *2023-06-20, version 1.4.0* The game is definitely built to be pay to win. The other races are infinitely more powerful than you even when you buy items, you never quite have enough coins to get the really good items either. And the constant forced “advice” upon losing a race is always “your horse ran out of energy” there is zero way to conserve energy making this a moot point. Apple…curate the content you allow in arcade…this is embarrassing ### 1/5 — Is this a game or what? *2023-04-21, version 1.2.0* Not sure what's going on. Thought it was solitaire but lots of waiting for cut scenes to play out with animated characters and speech bubbles. Got bored and deleted. ### 1/5 — No challenge *2023-04-11, version 1.2.0* Never gets exciting… same old thing,no real advantages… the payout is ridiculous on the races.. come on update some of the game challenges ### 1/5 — Steer Clear *2023-03-11, version 1.1.0* EDIT: I saw the app had been given some updates and like solitaire and honestly think this game could be good, so tried again. Look…the idea is there, but they broke the fun of it with their systems. Interesting fact, did you know you could run into the other racers from behind and it is almost impossible to get around them without the crop or boost because they sometimes move with you. However! It is impossible to get a rival horse stuck behind you in the same way. Game doesn’t allow it. One update was making a high rated horse easier to obtain, which was fun…for the life of the horse, then back to the same ol’ grind, and your horses hardly ever improve through the levels. “A” rank doesn’t mean as much as it does for your opponents. The “crazed” state is a broken mess that’s also only beneficial for rivals, because their horses aren’t drained in the final stretch for some reason. Guys…this game. I want to like it so badly, but it was clearly not designed to be rewarding, just a slog and a grind. Seriously, as I’ve said before: Steer clear Needlessly complex in many areas. The helpful hints for how you can do better don’t properly help you learn the balance between where to run on the track. Energy allocation makes little sense. And the pay to win tactics were taken out from what would be in the regular App Store, without hardly any adjustment which makes everything an incredible grind. A little bit of grind isn’t bad, but these phone games make the grind purposefully predatory. When these poorly optimized games are placed on Apple Arcade, it really shines a light on the needless elements devs put into these games to coerce their players to speed things up by paying money. Steer clear of this game, while also knowing it really could have been a good one with small tweaks. Such a shame. ### 1/5 — Truly a broken game *2023-02-17, version 1.0.4* I find this game very fun, honestly. I’ve played a sun total of around 25 hours, which is surprising. Sadly, after getting accustomed to Card Jockey’s mechanics, I can confidently say that the game has some gaping holes, to the point where it’s hardly playable. Outside of the obvious attempt to make an organic game, this game is a cash grab. If you are downloading this on Arcade, which are games not permitted to utilize microtransaction, this means there is a gaping hole where you are expected to dump money, but are unable. By this I mean the game is essentially unplayable as the feasibility of having any kind of winning streak is stunted. The game is deeply flawed at its core, with some matches proving quite literally impossible to win, independent of how well you do in solitaire and strategically (I got an astronomically high energy level on a fully leveled-up horse and was still somehow outgunned by almost every other horse on one match). ### 1/5 — This game is so much fun until… *2023-02-12, version 1.0.4* You race G1 races. Don’t worry about what the tutorial tells you. You will not win. I have tried every strategy out there. If you buy enough power ups it is possible, but skill alone won’t help you on G1 races. It’s almost like this was a PTW game at one time. Too bad ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Loved it on 3DS a decade ago - love it on iPad and Mac Now *2026-05-13, version 1.7.1* Solitaire is fine, horse racing I could care less about…. But mix the two with the genius of the Pokemon devs and you have me addicted… Love the original game on 3DS and this remake is just as great. I slightly prefer the old 3DS graphics and wish there was an option to toggle to them – but the new graphics are excellent in their own way! ### 5/5 — I’m a Freak for this Game *2025-12-24, version 1.7.1* Thank you dev team for making this game. 0:) It brings me joy daily. So glad to have these horsies riding around in my pocket again like the 3DS days. The game is right at home on phones with its quick matches and the addition of daily prizes and other mobile gimmicks for this version. The jockey theme enlivens otherwise traditional spider solitaire, and veterans to Pocket Card Jockey will enjoy mechanical and QoL improvements made to this edition. And then there’s all the cute ponies, Off Course. I just gotta catch ‘em all. Would love to see Chirp’s puzzles again should new features be added in the future <3 Love you! ### 5/5 — Absolutely fabulous *2024-04-24, version 1.7.1* Played this on 3DS to death and love it even more on my phone. Nothing gets me more pumped! ### 5/5 — One of the best gems from the 3DS now here *2024-01-20, version 1.7.1* And better than ever! Can’t get enough ### 5/5 — Excellent game *2024-01-05, version 1.7.1* This is a really great update to a classic 3DS title. Even if you don’t care for horse racing, but would enjoy a slightly more complex spin on Solitaire, you’ll get plenty out of it. I’d love for this to come to Switch. ### 5/5 — Great job needs more thing then races *2023-12-12* And I think that this game needs weekly horses that you can earn by completing challenges and new more ideas into the fact that you want portion of her even though the game is addicting, we’ll just race breed horses and look at items I think maybe mini games are because it’s to know by game freak this is more Robert asking So I think this game should be so much ### 5/5 — The Solitaire Horse Racing Game you didn’t know you needed *2023-11-29, version 1.7.1* This game has an addictive game loop that is satisfying, addictive, and will kick your butt. It was one of the hidden gems on the Nintendo 3DS, that few people knew about. You get to raise horses and try to win as many races with them as you can. Horses can also be bred in order to produce stronger horses with favorable traits. The game is surprisingly deep, and challenging. My only gripe with this version of the game is that you don’t have the option to draw the path of your horse on the path in between solitaire rounds, and that you can only direct them in a straight line. I truly hope this game gets a sequel someday. Everyone should give it a try! ### 5/5 — Really fun racing and breeding *2023-11-03, version 1.7.0* This game was initially very hard, but the developers listen and have made good changes to make it easier for average players like me. They now have an easier “normal” level, and the new challenges section is a series of tutorials that are actually helpful, as well as a daily extra bonus system. I love how breeding involves the genealogy and temperament of the horses, and also the mystery of not knowing how each horse will do. This game takes time to master but it’s well worth it if you have patience. My two gripes with the game are the annoying pop-up characters. It would be better if there wasn’t so much back and forth talk between them. Just get to the point! Also, I often run out of boosts which are frankly necessary to move forward, so much so that I usually only race once a day so I can get a new bonus to use, otherwise I would ruin my horse. If we won more money and got more boosts, I would play a lot more throughput the day. This is a great game and I highly recommend it! ### 5/5 — So much nuance in such a simple concept *2023-10-03* I love how much variability there is to this game. It’s a basic solitaire game with a countdown clock but you have to balance your energy and stamina with your placement on the track and risks of collecting extra cards or taking harder deals. Add that with the many unique abilities each horse can have and their own preferences in terms of race length and position in the pack. It all makes for a very fun game that doesn’t feel repetitive. And finally, the breeding aspect is a great way to stay invested longer term and strive for better and better horses. Just an all around great combination of a game you can pick up and play for 5 minutes but also has fun long term playability. My favorite game in Apple Arcade hands down. ### 5/5 — Pocket Card Jockey, my beloved *2023-08-11, version 1.5.0* So glad this is on iOS/macOS now!! Too bad I can't buy it permanently... --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-23.*