Comparison

Counting Spaces vs Solitaire Retro Deck‌

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

Head to head
About

Counting Spaces

A word and number puzzle game that rewards patience and thinking. It features a minimalist design, a large dictionary, and six difficulty levels. Learn new words and definitions with every solved puzzle.

Highlights
  • Word and number guessing mechanic
  • Minimalist and quiet design
  • Six difficulty levels
  • Large dictionary with definitions
  • Option to include names and places
  • Character locking and ruling out
Features
Read full description

Counting Spaces is a word and number puzzle game that rewards patience and thinking. The rules take seconds to learn. The depth comes from how you use them. Every round begins with a hidden word or number. You enter a guess, and two numbers come back. The first is how many unique characters you share with the answer. The second is how many are in the correct position. That is everything the game tells you. No colored tiles. No hints about individual letters. You reason from the counts. Say the answer is four letters and you guess DIAL. Back comes a 3 and a 2. Three of your letters are in the answer somewhere. Two of them are already sitting in the right spot. Which three, and which two, is yours to work out. Most puzzle apps throw visual noise at you. Tiles flashing colors, fireworks on every answer, dancing emoji. Counting Spaces goes the other direction. The board is quiet. The rows line up. Your eye finds what it needs without hunting. When the round ends, the answer appears with its definition, so you walk away knowing something new. There is a new daily challenge every day. One word puzzle and one number puzzle at every difficulty, and everyone playing gets the same ones. They roll over at midnight UTC. You get one attempt at each. Miss a day and it is gone. Finish a daily and you can see where you landed against everyone else who played it. Accounts are anonymous. No email, no password, no contact information. You get a recovery code, and that code is the account. Keep your stats backed up and move them to a new phone whenever you want, or skip the account entirely and keep everything on your device. Daily challenges work either way, and every other game works with no connection at all. The board gives you room to think in your own way. Enable and disable characters, select them, and lock down the ones you are sure about. Six difficulties cover every mood. Casual - is for a coffee break. Unlimited turns, no clock, genuinely relaxing. Easy - sticks to short and familiar words with a cap of 20 turns. Medium - moves up to words of middle length at the same turn limit. Hard - brings in longer, less common words, still inside 20 turns. Insane - gives you very long, rare words and only 15 turns to land them. Obscura - is the weird tail of the dictionary. Unlimited turns. Built for curiosity more than challenge. Counting Spaces has a very large dictionary, with a definition waiting for nearly every word. You can enable names and places if you want cities, countries, and names in the mix. Turn them off to keep it to standard dictionary words. Number games use the same core mechanic with digit sequences. No dictionary to reason about. Only patterns and logic. The design is minimal because a puzzle deserves room to breathe. One font. One accent color. Hold a letter to lock it when you are sure. Hold it again to release. Hold a committed letter on the board to rule it out across every row at once. Track everything you have played. Your totals, your best solves, every word and number you have finished, and your full daily challenge history, all in one place. The idea behind this game is to give you something that is yours. Pay once. There are no ads. No subscriptions. No modes hidden behind extra purchases. Every feature is available. If you enjoy puzzles that reward patience and reasoning, Counting Spaces is for you.

About

Solitaire Retro Deck‌

Experience classic FreeCell solitaire with a strategic draw-3 challenge. Enjoy unlimited moves and a charming retro cartoon style. Special levels offer a unique target card hunt for added excitement.

Highlights
  • Classic FreeCell gameplay
  • Fixed draw-3 challenge
  • Unlimited moves
  • Special target card levels
  • Retro cartoon art style
  • Relaxing atmosphere
Read full description

Classic FreeCell solitaire with a fixed draw-3 challenge. Pure strategy, no distractions. No move limits, no time pressure – just you and the cards. Solitaire Retro Deck brings back the beloved FreeCell gameplay with a charming cartoon retro style. The draw-3 mode is fixed, offering a consistent and engaging challenge for every hand. Authentic FreeCell Rules Follow standard FreeCell mechanics: move all cards to the foundation piles in ascending order by suit. Plan your moves carefully and test your logical thinking. Unlimited Moves, Complete Freedom No move limit means you can think through every possibility. Experiment, backtrack, and find the perfect sequence. Great for casual relaxation or serious puzzle solving. Special Levels: Find the Target Card to Win After a set number of regular levels, a special mode appears. Search through the tableau to locate a specific target card. Once found, you instantly clear the level – a refreshing twist that adds excitement.Fixed Draw-3 Mode, More Options Per Turn The game uses a draw-3 system by default, revealing three cards at a time for greater strategic flexibility. No switching needed – just focus on the game. Cartoon Retro Style, Easy on the Eyes Cute cartoon-style card designs with vintage color palettes. Clean interface, smooth animations, and relaxing background music create a timeless gaming atmosphere. Solitaire Retro Deck – classic never gets old. Sharpen your mind and unwind with every deal. Start playing today!

Screenshots

Counting Spaces4 screens
Solitaire Retro Deck‌4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Solitaire Retro Deck‌ at Free against Counting Spaces's $0.99. Solitaire Retro Deck‌ also leads on ratings volume (5.6K vs 5) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). Counting Spaces's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (daily vs every 4 days). On rating, in-app purchases 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

Solitaire Retro Deck‌ is free to download; Counting Spaces costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Counting Spaces holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Solitaire Retro Deck‌ has 5.6K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Counting Spaces ships an update daily, Solitaire Retro Deck‌ every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Counting Spaces versus Solitaire Retro Deck‌: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCounting SpacesSolitaire Retro Deck‌
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better4.8 (5.6K ratings)
Positive reviews—57.1% of reviews
Number of ratings55.6K — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 4 days
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size341 MB124 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperByte Studio LLC权辉 戴

Customer experience

Counting Spaces

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Solitaire Retro Deck‌

All ratings2,704 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral2.0%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews126 reviews
Positive57.1%
Neutral3.2%
Negative39.7%

In-app purchases

None

Counting Spaces

No in-app purchases

None

Solitaire Retro Deck‌

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Counting Spaces free?
Counting Spaces costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Solitaire Retro Deck‌ free?
Solitaire Retro Deck‌ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Counting Spaces or Solitaire Retro Deck‌?
Counting Spaces is rated higher. Counting Spaces averages 5.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Solitaire Retro Deck‌ averages 4.8 from 5.6K ratings.
Do Counting Spaces or Solitaire Retro Deck‌ have ads?
Solitaire Retro Deck‌ shows ads; Counting Spaces does not.
Which is updated more often, Counting Spaces or Solitaire Retro Deck‌?
Counting Spaces ships an update daily, and Solitaire Retro Deck‌ every 4 days. Most recently, Counting Spaces was updated on October 25, 2026 and Solitaire Retro Deck‌ on November 3, 2026.

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