Comparison

Visual Pinball vs Retro Paper Solitaire

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

Head to head
About

Visual Pinball

Enjoy a realistic pinball simulation with hundreds of community-created tables. Experience immersive haptic feedback and customize your gameplay with intuitive settings and controller support. Advanced options are available for power users.

Highlights
  • Hundreds of community-developed tables
  • Haptic feedback for immersive gameplay
  • Customizable settings and POV adjustments
  • Game controller support
  • External DMD and AltColor/AltSound support
  • Touch overlay and instructions
Features
Read full description

The official Visual Pinball app. Built by volunteers since 2000 and open source since 2010, Visual Pinball is the simulator the virtual pinball community has been playing for over two decades. More than 70 people have contributed to it, and this app runs the same engine as the desktop version, so every table plays with the physics, lighting and sound its creator intended. No ads. No in-app purchases. No tracking. Made by volunteers. Two years of work from the Visual Pinball volunteers, in one update. Thank you for your patience, and for playing! A FRESH NEW LOOK • Redesigned for iOS 26 with Liquid Glass • Favorites and recently played tables at the top of your list • Search, sorting and three tile sizes • Light, Dark or System appearance • New loading screen that shows progress THE FULL DESKTOP EXPERIENCE • The complete Visual Pinball in-game menu for graphics, sound, controls and table options • Remap every button on keyboards and game controllers • Save settings for every table, or just the one you're playing MORE TABLES, LOOKING BETTER • Show the backglass and score display (DMD, alphanumeric or reels) on screen, right where you want them • Support for PUP packs, FlexDMD, B2S backglasses, video playback and VNI colorizations • All the latest physics and rendering improvements from the desktop version • Much lower memory use: textures are compressed on first load, then cached EASIER TABLE MANAGEMENT • Import .zip files, along with .vpx and .vpxz • Share any table as a single .vpxz file • The web file manager can now upload whole folders, extract archives, edit scripts and settings, and show the log live AND MORE • Many stability and memory fixes This version requires iOS 26.6 or later.

About

Retro Paper Solitaire

Experience classic card games with a unique hand-drawn aesthetic. Enjoy Klondike, Spider, and TriPeaks with smart gameplay, thousands of levels, and competitive multiplayer modes. Customize your game and earn rewards.

Highlights
  • Three classic card games: Klondike, Spider, TriPeaks
  • Thousands of curated, solvable levels
  • Daily challenges and weekly quests
  • Multiplayer duels and leagues
  • Customizable card backs and table surfaces
  • Smart tap-to-play and auto-filing features
Features
Read full description

Retro Paper Solitaire is a hand drawn card room in a notebook. Every card, table and button looks like it was sketched in pen and ink, and it plays like the best solitaire you remember. THREE CLASSIC GAMES Klondike with Draw 1 or Draw 3, unlimited redeals or a single honest pass, standard or Vegas scoring, and a left handed layout option. Spider with 1, 2 or 4 suits. TriPeaks with streaks and combo chains. Every deal marked Winnable is proven solvable before it reaches your table. SMART, FAST PLAY Tap a card and it flies to the best spot. Aces file themselves. Sure wins finish automatically with combo bonuses, and hands that cannot be won end honestly so you never grind a dead deal. Hints point at real progress, not busy work. A JOURNEY OF 4,000 LEVELS Work through 200 chapters of curated, solver proven deals. Earn stars, coins and stickers for your scrapbook. TriPeak and Klondike modes have their own journeys. DAILY RITUALS A Daily Deal shared by every player in the world, with streaks and streak repairs. The Golden Deal pays double coins and rotates through all three games. Weekly quests, a monthly season pass and login rewards keep the desk busy. DUELS AND LEAGUES Race a rival on the identical deal. Best score wins and every move is verified. Sit at The High Table, a turn based match on one shared board where your last flip sets up your rival's next move. Challenge friends with a private code. Climb ten weekly league tiers from Bronze to Ink Legend. MAKE IT YOURS Card backs, portrait frames for your level, and table surfaces from blue felt to kraft paper. Free players can win everything that matters. Purchases only save time or add flair. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Visual Pinball3 screens
Retro Paper Solitaire4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Retro Paper Solitaire at 5.0 against Visual Pinball's 4.3. Retro Paper Solitaire also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 12 months) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.6). Visual Pinball's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 9) and ads (none vs shown). On price 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. Retro Paper Solitaire sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Visual Pinball asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Retro Paper Solitaire holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Visual Pinball has 73 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Visual Pinball ships an update every 12 months, Retro Paper Solitaire daily. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Visual Pinball versus Retro Paper Solitaire: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisual PinballRetro Paper Solitaire
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (73 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings73 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 12 monthsDaily — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size120 MB54 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperJason MillardBrian Solomon

Customer experience

Visual Pinball

All ratings73 ratings
Positive80.8%
Neutral6.8%
Negative12.3%
Written reviews56 reviews
Positive78.6%
Neutral12.5%
Negative8.9%

Retro Paper Solitaire

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Visual Pinball

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Tables don't load for some users
  • Certain complex/intensive tables error out or run at low FPS

Requested features

6 requests
  • List of most played tables
  • Ability to reposition DMD
  • Option to skip startup checks for some tables
  • Ability to edit table scripts on the app
  • Direct link to table depository
Show 1 more
  • iPad version with more screen space

Retro Paper Solitaire

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Visual Pinball

No in-app purchases

9 purchases

Retro Paper Solitaire

Subscriptions2
  • Paper Club Monthly7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Paper Club Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time7
  • Coin Roll (2,500)$0.99
  • Pouch of Gems (200)$1.99
  • Coin Stack (9,000)$2.99
Show 4 more
  • Remove Ads$4.99
  • Jar of Gems (550)$4.99
  • Bucket of Gems (1300)$9.99
  • Crate of Gems (3000)$19.99

Questions

Is Visual Pinball free?
Visual Pinball is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Retro Paper Solitaire free?
Retro Paper Solitaire is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Visual Pinball or Retro Paper Solitaire?
Retro Paper Solitaire is rated higher. Visual Pinball averages 4.3 out of 5 from 73 ratings, while Retro Paper Solitaire averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Visual Pinball or Retro Paper Solitaire have ads?
Retro Paper Solitaire shows ads; Visual Pinball does not.
Which is updated more often, Visual Pinball or Retro Paper Solitaire?
Visual Pinball ships an update every 12 months, and Retro Paper Solitaire daily. Most recently, Visual Pinball was updated on October 18, 2026 and Retro Paper Solitaire on October 4, 2026.

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