Comparison

Card Thief vs StrayDex

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Card Thief

A solitaire-style stealth game where you play as a master thief. Sneak through darkness, steal treasure, and escape without getting caught. It offers deep strategy and roguelike replayability in short, engaging sessions.

Highlights
  • Solitaire-style stealth gameplay
  • 4 unique heists
  • Unlockable equipment cards
  • Hireable thieves with special rules
  • Mini deck-building mechanics
  • Daily Heist mode with leaderboards
  • Roguelike replayability
  • Offline play
Features
Read full description

Card Thief is a solitaire-style stealth card game that transforms your deck into a shadowy world of cunning heists and daring escapes. Sneak through the darkness as a master thief. Extinguish torches, pickpocket guards, and steal precious treasure without getting caught. Every card you flip is a calculated risk. Every move could be your last. From the makers of Card Crawl, the hit indie card dungeon crawler, Card Thief distills the tension of classic stealth games into a sleek, strategic card game you can play in minutes. Easy to learn, endlessly deep. Plan. Steal. Escape. Repeat. With a rich layer of tactical decision-making, risk/reward choices, and roguelike replayability, Card Thief is the perfect pick-up-and-play strategy card game for fans of stealth, puzzle games, and solo card games alike. Features - Solitaire-style stealth gameplay with no internet required - 4 unique heists with distinct enemies, traps, and obstacles - 12 unlockable and upgradable equipment cards with unique abilities - Hire 10 thieves, each with special gameplay rules - Mini deck-building mechanics for deep strategic customization - Daily Heist mode with global leaderboards - Roguelike replayability so every run plays differently - Perfect session length of 2 to 3 minutes per game - Offline play, great for travel

About

StrayDex

Read full description

StrayDex turns real cats into a collectible card game. Spot a cat, wherever you find one, your own cat at home, a friend's cat, one at a cat café, or one you meet outside, and take a photo. The app checks that it's really a cat, cuts it out of the picture, and reads its fur color and pattern. Then you catch it in a short physics based mini-game: flick a linen ball at a shrinking ring on the cat's chest. Land a good throw and the cat is yours. Every catch becomes a unique trading card. Cats get a random name, a bit of flavor text, a background scene, and a rarity from Common to Legendary. Cards react to tilt and touch with a holographic shine, stronger on rarer cats. (Don't worry a lot is adjustable) Key features: Real cats, real photos. Every card starts from an actual cat you photographed, at home, at a café, or out and about. On device cat detection and photo processing. A drag and flick throwing mechanic with a shrinking, color changing ring for real timing pressure. Four rarity tiers that each change how hard the catch is, not just how the card looks. A growing collection tab, the Dex, with card style options and a rarity filter. Earn accessories like hats, glasses and neckwear by playing, then equip them per card to make each cat your own. Level up by catching cats to earn Linen Balls, the currency used to throw. Optional rewarded video ads for extra throws. Never required, never rewarded unless you actually watch one. Optional account. Sign in with Apple or Google to back up your collection to the cloud and carry it to a new phone. Playing anonymously works exactly the same way, and signing in is never required. Your original photos never leave your device. Only the cut out cat image is synced, it is never shared, and it is never used to train AI or image models. Find a cat, any cat, and start your collection.

Screenshots

Card Thief4 screens
StrayDex4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: StrayDex at none against Card Thief's 1. StrayDex also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 4 months). Card Thief's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.5). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Card Thief sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. StrayDex asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Card Thief ships an update every 4 months, StrayDex daily. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Card Thief versus StrayDex: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCard ThiefStrayDex
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (999 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews69.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings999 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsDaily — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.5
Further details — not scored
Size161 MB94 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperArnold RauersRobert Gorak

Bugs and requests

Card Thief

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Crystals which you can get when playing are useless
  • Notch covers game information on iPhone X+
  • Ads error prevents chest opening
  • Hideout heists have unrealistically high scores
  • Can't open hideout, game crashes
Show 4 more
  • Crashes right after starting on M1 iPad Pro with iPadOS 14.7.1
  • Crashes all the time
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices

Requested features

9 requests
  • More enemies or traps to deal with
  • More equipment to try out
  • 4x4 layout rather than 3x3
  • Endless mode
  • Multiplayer compatibility
Show 4 more
  • Sync game data between Android and iOS
  • Shop to use crystals
  • More levels, incentives, and variations in the Hideout games
  • Ability to cash in stolen goods for new tool cards or special cards

StrayDex

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Card Thief

One-time1
  • Unlock Card Thief$4.99
None

StrayDex

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Card Thief free?
Card Thief is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is StrayDex free?
StrayDex is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Card Thief or StrayDex have ads?
Both Card Thief and StrayDex show ads.
Which is updated more often, Card Thief or StrayDex?
Card Thief ships an update every 4 months, and StrayDex daily. Most recently, Card Thief was updated on November 1, 2026 and StrayDex on October 23, 2026.

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