Imagine walking inside a rundown mansion on a rainy night. You’ve got the real estate papers for this dilapidated place, and between getting soaked in the rain and having a slightly pockmarked roof over your head, you choose the latter. You tell yourself, hey, that’s not so bad, maybe I’ll sort things out in the morning with my property agent. You fall asleep on one of the creaky, dusty beds, hoping that the weather tomorrow will be much brighter.
But lo and behold, you wake up to a stranger sleeping on the same bed as you are. This stranger claims that she owns the house and you’re the intruder. You tell her you’ve already bought this house and even have the papers to prove it. She doesn’t budge and asserts that the house is an inheritance from an aunt. You both find yourselves in this inconvenient little predicament where neither of you wants to give way for the ownership of the house – a mansion that’s barely standing and is in dire need of a makeover.
This is the kind of dilemma between Eddie Turing and Lori Medici, the two primary characters whose story you’ll be following in Solitaire Home Design.
From Betta Games and Honey Badger Studios, Solitaire Home Design is largely story-based, though it follows the general objective of most home design games: to completely restore all the available areas in the interior and exterior of the enormous Medici mansion. In this iOS and Android title you’ll be playing as both Eddie and Lori, with the game occasionally switching perspectives depending on the task at hand and the progress of the storyline.
As a solitaire-style game, Solitaire Home Design is played by matching one card’s value with another card whose value is either higher or lower by one point. For instance, if the card is a King, you can match it with either a Queen (lower value) or an Ace (higher value). Unlike classic Solitaire, the suit of a card (Diamond, Heart, Spade, and Club) is not taken into account and no hierarchy is followed. Basically, you can match cards regardless of their suit. For instance, you may match a King of Hearts with a Queen of Spades or an Ace of Diamonds, and so on.
If you happen to be playing Solitaire Home Design, our beginner’s guide will take a deep dive into how you can win and progress through each level, earn rewards, make combos, and restore the Medici mansion to its former glory!
Hold It!
Just a quick disclaimer before we get into the game mechanics: you may find some explicit adult content and themes in the game. While there’s no swearing, there is explicit language for sexual content, as well as mentions of suicide, violence, and other content of similar nature. Adult themes and content are particularly found in the side quest involving an alternate storyline between Lori and various male characters you will eventually encounter.
We recommend keeping away from the “Favoriteness” tab of the game if you’re uncomfortable seeing adult themes and content. Additionally, if you’re not of the appropriate age, please keep away from the Favoriteness feature as well. Not playing the Favoriteness feature will not greatly affect the main storyline and the overall objective of the game.
Playing Your Cards Right
Solitaire Home Design is similar to other home design games, like Candy Manor. Tasks in this game require a certain number of items from them to be considered complete and usually involve getting furniture or clearing debris in the house. In Solitaire Home Design, you need to collect four-leaf clovers, which you will spend on completing tasks. You can collect four-leaf clovers by playing a level in the game. Each level is equivalent to one round. To enter a level, you have to spend coins to play.
The number of clovers you can acquire in each level is not fixed. This will depend on how many combo streaks you manage to accomplish. Combo streaks are reached by continuously matching a certain number of cards, indicated by tiny blank cards at the top of the screen. The least number of cards that will result in a combo is four. After matching four cards in succession, a second combo may require five cards to be matched, and so on. The more combos you accomplish, the more four-leaf clovers you can acquire by the end of each level.
The gameplay mechanics, as mentioned, follow a typical solitaire-style gameplay but it can actually be considered a mix between solitaire and mahjong. To explain this further, let’s classify the cards you will see into tabletop cards and deck cards:
- Tabletop cards: These are the cards that are laid out on the screen. Cards at the topmost layer are open for matching.
- Deck cards: You have a limited deck at the bottom of the screen, with the topmost deck card open. The rest of the deck is facing down. You’ll be matching the open deck card with the open tabletop cards.
Once you’ve matched a deck card with a tabletop card, the tabletop card goes on top of the open deck card. This is now the value that you have to match with the other open tabletop cards.
When there are no more matches you can make, you open a card from the facedown deck and repeat the process. Matches made may open up facedown tabletop cards depending on how they’re laid out. Opening up a facedown deck card will break the combo streak you’ve been building.
Aside from four-leaf clovers, you also acquire coins after winning a round. This number is also not fixed and will depend on how well you’ve performed in the round. You will get bonus coins if you manage to leave more facedown deck cards unused.
Other rewards include Dream vouchers, diamonds, and other items that may be connected to limited-time challenges. Some rewards may require you to accomplish a number of combo streaks to be obtained. For instance, acquiring diamonds for one limited-time challenge may ask you to perform at least one combo streak to get a certain amount of diamonds. The conditions for obtaining this reward will depend on the level you’re playing at.
The first seven levels are considered tutorials and the game will give you some helpful hints about the game mechanics and matching. However, when you reach Level 8, hints for matching will not be as instant as in the previous levels. The game will also provide you with one-time hints when it introduces new obstacles or items.
Restoring the Mysterious Medici Mansion
Also similar to other home design games like Candy Manor, Solitaire Home Design gives you three choices when picking decor. However, decor choices don’t necessarily follow a theme all the time. There will be some instances when certain decor or furniture sets follow a theme or style, but this occasionally changes.
One thing that’s important to remember about picking decor is to choose wisely. Unlike some other home design games, changing up decor after they’ve been set isn’t free of charge. You will be asked to spend four-leaf clovers or coins to replace decor and, on some occasions, you may even have to spend coins outright when choosing a certain type of decor.
Aside from aesthetics, though, decor may get you bonuses, particularly in your Prosperity points (which we will discuss later). In the early levels of the game, bonuses from decor can be relatively small and are of equal value between each decor choice. However, as the game progresses, some decor may give you higher Prosperity points. But as mentioned, they won’t always be free. Additionally, decor obtained outside of the main mansion, such as those set up in bonus areas like the Tree House (also to be discussed later), may give you higher Prosperity points.
All in all, be careful when choosing decor as replacing them can cost you either four-leaf clovers or coins, depending on how far you are into the game. Also, consider how many coins you have before picking decor that isn’t for free.
Decor may be obtained by completing tasks. Task completion also moves the storyline. In some cases, you don’t necessarily acquire decor but only move the storyline when completing a task. Some tasks may require more than one clover or more than one step to be considered complete.
Since the playable area is huge, you can easily find your next task by clicking on the four-leaf clover icon at the bottom of the screen. Occasionally, you may have more than one pending task to complete.
Now that you know the basic principles of the game, the steps you should take, and the rewards you can earn, let’s take a look at the strategies you can apply so you can win as many rounds as you can, make combos in succession, earn tons of rewards, and get the decor you want!
1. Slow and Steady Does the Trick
One thing you will notice even before playing the game is that it will give you speed-up rewards. Speed-up rewards basically allow you to earn more clovers, coins, Dream vouchers, and the like after completing a round. You can choose between three speed-up rewards before entering a round:
- Standard rewards: Unlocked at Level 2. As its name suggests, standard rewards will give you the most basic number of rewards after winning a round. Playing in this mode will also require you to spend the minimum cost for playing a round.
- 2x rewards: Unlocked at Level 9. This feature doubles your rewards after winning a round. Selecting this mode will also double the cost for playing a round.
- 3x rewards: Unlocked at Level 50. This feature triples your rewards after winning a round. The cost for playing a round will also require three times as much payment.
As you can see, speed-up rewards are a high-risk, high-reward feature. However, we recommend taking it much slower than the game might tempt you to move. Indeed, it can be enticing to continuously play at 2x or 3x rewards, especially since Solitaire Home Design can initially be generous with freebies that will lower or even eliminate the costs for playing a round.
Being showered with all these freebies might just make you forget that you’re playing on 2x or 3x rewards, keeping it activated for an indefinite period until you realize that you’ve run out of those free items and you actually need to spend coins to play each round. The caveat is that the higher your level, the more you have to spend to play.
Try not to fall into this sweet, sweet honey trap. This is because levels become progressively harder to play—and win!—as you go higher up the progress ladder. Our recommendation is to use the speed-up rewards in a slow but steady pace. Since playing at 2x rewards and 3x rewards also means double and triple the cost of actually entering a round, you might not be able to easily recoup your expenditure even after winning.
For instance, if the base cost of a round played at standard rewards mode is 3,000 coins, you may be able to get back roughly 1,000 coins if your performance in the level is deemed by the game as fairly average. You still lost 2,000 coins, which is two-thirds the amount of coins you spent and have gained back only one-third of your expenditure.
Of course, you stand to obtain much higher rewards if you manage to perform more combo streaks and save more facedown deck cards for bonuses. But, again, the game becomes progressively harder to win particularly because there’s a lot of guessing involved when dealing with both tabletop cards and deck cards, especially the facedown ones.
Other features such as Undos, special cards, and extra deck cards (which will be discussed later) also cost coins to be used during the game proper if you don’t have these items for free. Overall, you may end up spending more than you will win.
And this is when you actually win a round. When you lose a round, you don’t gain four-leaf clovers and only obtain a very small number of coins.
In terms of speed-up rewards, what you can do to mitigate such (unwittingly) high expenditures is to play at standard rewards mode for five to nine games and activate the 2x or 3x rewards mode during your 6th or 10th game.
This figure is just an example, but our suggestion is to play steadily on standard mode before activating the 2x or 3x rewards mode. Similarly, you may choose to play on 2x or 3x rewards mode when you have free tickets to spend and enter a round without having to pay coins.
Your wins on standard mode might not be as great, but your losses won’t be devastating either. However, by using this approach, you can keep playing and ensure that you have enough coins to continue enjoying the game.
2. Observe the Layout of the Cards
As we mentioned, Solitaire Home Design is like a mix between a solitaire-style game and a mahjong-style game. The topmost layer of tabletop cards are revealed but the cards underneath them are usually facedown. In some cases, eliminating one tabletop card by matching it with the open deck card might not reveal the facedown tabletop cards underneath as you need to make more matches to eliminate all cards blocking them from being revealed.
To have a higher chance of winning, carefully observe the layout of the cards at the beginning of the round and as you play. One good thing about the game is that it lays out the tabletop cards one by one, allowing you to see how they’re formed on the board. You will even get a chance to see if there are any bonus deck cards present. These bonus deck cards have a plus sign and a number on them.
Successfully revealing these bonus deck cards will add them to the tailend of your facedown deck cards. The number of cards that will be added to your facedown deck will depend on the number corresponding to the bonus card you’ve just revealed. Consider these cards as additional draws. However, you still won’t know specifically which cards these are, but they can be crucial when you’re out of matches. Similarly, they’ll add to your bonuses if you manage not to open them during a successful round.
By observing how the tabletop cards are laid out, you’ll have an initial idea of the best matches you can make.
3. Make Matches That Will Reveal More Facedown Cards
Further to observing the layout of the tabletop cards, try to make matches that will reveal more facedown cards. This eliminates much of the guesswork you need to do. As shown in the image above, you have a choice between matching your open deck card, an 8 of Hearts, with either a 7 of Diamonds or a 9 of Diamonds. Either choice may be correct, but one choice will reveal more facedown cards in the long run, which will give you a bigger chance of making more combo streaks.
Let’s analyze what can happen when you match your 8 of Hearts with either card:
- Match with the 9 of Diamonds first: The next card you can match the 9 of Diamonds with is the 10 of Spades, revealing three facedown cards.
- Match with the 7 of Diamonds first: Reveal three facedown cards. Then match the 7 of Diamonds with either the 8 of Clubs or Spades. Then match the 8 with the 9 of Diamonds, which can be matched with the 10 of Spades, revealing three more facedown cards. In total, you would have revealed six facedown cards.
As you can see, the second choice is more advantageous as you’ll be revealing double the number of facedown cards compared to the first option. You also eliminate more cards with this choice, thus having a higher chance of making more combo streaks.
4. Try to Eliminate Obstacle Cards First – Unless You Have a Plan
Aside from normal cards, you will also encounter obstacle cards that can be challenging to eliminate from the board. Since this is a beginner’s guide and the game has many features that can be unlocked, we will only discuss obstacle cards that you can encounter until Level 100. We’ll let you explore and discover other obstacle cards beyond that point. That said, here are some examples of obstacle cards you can encounter:
Reef Cards
Eliminating this type of card will take more than one match depending on the type of reef shown on the face of the card. A stone reef will take two matches to eliminate that specific card, while a reef with seaweeds will take three matches, and so on.
Basically, think of the reef as an additional layer keeping you from completely eliminating a card with this image. When matching an open deck card with a reef card, the open deck card that has been matched will disappear. It will be replaced by the previous open deck card. If there are no open deck cards before it, the game will automatically replace it with the next facedown deck card.
Reef cards are indeed an obstacle, but you may also use these to your advantage. Let’s take the image above for example and pretend that the open deck card before the 10 of Hearts was a 5. Upon matching the 10 of Hearts with the reefed Jack of Hearts, the 10 will disappear and be replaced by the 5 that came before it. You can now proceed to match it this way: 5-4-3-2-A. That said, try to take note of the previous open deck card when you see a reef card on the board.
As its name suggests, chain cards are connected to each other. To illustrate what happens when you eliminate this type of obstacle card, let’s take the example in the above image: Your open deck card is a 7 of Hearts, which can be matched with the 8 of Hearts. As illustrated, the 8 of Hearts is linked to the King of Spades. Once you match the 7 of Hearts with the 8 of Hearts, your open deck card will become the King of Spades.
In some cases, only half of the chain card is revealed until a match is made to reveal the other half. As seen in the image above, the 10 of Hearts is slightly transparent in color, indicating that the card it’s connected to has yet to be revealed since it’s found beneath the 9 of Hearts. Unless both chain cards are revealed, you cannot match your open deck card with this pair.
If you happen to have two cards of the same value (like two 8s), with one of them being connected to a chain card, make sure that when you eliminate the chain card, the second card that will replace the open deck card can be matched with another tabletop card. Otherwise, you may choose to hold off on matching the chain card if the second card doesn’t have an available match.
This type of card changes its value after each move you make until it’s eliminated. A number-change card with the symbol at the bottom (as shown in the image above) will increase in value as the arrow points up. In this case, the Queen of Spades will become a King of Spades and so on if it’s not matched with an open deck card.
If the symbol is at the top, the value of the card will continuously decrease since the arrow is pointing downwards. It will continue to decrease in value until matched with the appropriate open deck card.
Depending on the level, you may encounter more than one number-change card on the board. The value in which it was matched will be the value it will stay on when it becomes the current open deck card. Try to eliminate this card first as you may be stuck with a value that cannot be matched with any open deck card.
On the other hand, if the board is in your favor, you may choose to make a few more moves if possible to deliberately reach your desired value for the number-change card. When it reaches that value, make sure it can be matched with your open deck card.
Time-bomb cards are a little bit similar to reef cards but with a twist: you can’t keep them on the board for too long, or else they’ll explode. The challenge in eliminating this card is that the timer continuously runs regardless of whether you make a move or not.
We mention time-bomb cards are similar to reef cards as it will take at least two matches to completely eliminate time-bomb cards from the board. The first successful match will only remove the timer but keep the card in place as a normal card. The second successful match is what will completely remove the card from the board.
Since it shares similarities with the reef card, the same strategic recommendation applies: match your open deck card with a time-bomb card so you can remove the timer, which will also replace your open deck card with the previous one.
Big cards aren’t so much of an obstacle as they are somewhat of a bonus. Big cards contain two values, either of which can be matched with the current open deck card. As seen in the image above, the open deck card is a 10 of Diamonds, which can be matched with the big card, which displays both a Jack of Clubs and 7 of Hearts. When matched, the big card becomes the current open deck card. You may choose to match either the Jack with the Queen, or the 7 with the 6, depending on which match will lead to more combo streaks.
You may decide to postpone matching this card for later if it will be a move that will lead to more combo streaks or will open up more facedown tabletop cards.
As suggested by their symbol, which is a question mark, these secret elemental cards may contain some sort of surprise. For instance, a secret elemental card may contain a Masked Joker card (more on this later).
Since this is something of a wild card, we suggest making moves to reveal this card as early as possible. Again, it’s the guesswork in this game that can throw your strategy off. If you reveal secret elemental cards early on, at the very least you might not have to use too many facedown deck cards, thus leading to more bonuses if you win the round.
5. Select Matches That Can Lead to More Combo Streaks
Speaking of combo streaks, this is basically the goal for each round. More successful combos performed mean more rewards such as clovers, coins, Dream vouchers, diamonds, etc. Combo streaks can be done by matching cards continuously. If you manage to make a combo of four or more cards, you stand to gain one four-leaf clover or more for each round.
Let’s examine the image above: You’ll see at the top that there are six blank card slots. This indicates the number of combo streaks you have to make to achieve one successful combo set, which will gain you a four-leaf clover. For instance, let’s change the open deck card to a 6 instead of a Queen. With a 6, you can do your match in this way: 7-8-7-8-9-10-9. This eliminates all the open tabletop cards, thus leading to a six combo streak.
That said, always observe the layout of the cards and the available open tabletop cards so you can make continuous combos. Unless there’s a time bomb card, you can do this without hurrying.
Obstacle cards may also help you achieve continuous combo streaks if you know how to use them to your advantage. Let’s take the image above for example: your open deck card is a 4 of Diamonds. You have a choice between matching it with a 3 of Spades or the three different 5s, one of which is attached to a 2 of Hearts.
If you match the 4 of Diamonds with the 5 of Spades, the 2 of Hearts will become the current open deck card. You can match the 2 of Hearts with the tabletop 3 of Spades, revealing the two cards behind it.
If the card on the right happens to be another 4, you can choose to match it with the 5 of Hearts to reveal two more cards, which may lead to more combo streaks. This will give you a bigger chance of actually completing a combo set and earning a four-leaf clover.
6. Leave Cards Whose Values Are Close to Each Other
Much of Solitaire Home Design’s gameplay is about making advantageous choices since you’ll be encountering cards that are often of similar value. Depending on how the level plays out, try to also keep open tabletop cards that are of close value to each other.
With this, you have a better chance of eliminating most of them when good fortune presents itself. Good fortune, in this case, means being able to open up that one deck card that will eliminate most, if not all the cards, that are of close value to each other.
Let’s take a look at the image above: You will see that most of the open tabletop cards are 4s and 5s, with one 3 and one 7, and an ace at the back. With a 4 of Hearts as the open deck card, you can match your cards in this order: 4-3-4-5-4-5. This leaves you with just the Ace of Spades and 7 of Diamonds to deal with. With 10 facedown deck cards still on hand, you may encounter either a King or 2, or a 6 or 8, thus clearing the board and winning the round.
You may not complete the combo set, but this kind of approach may gain you coin bonuses in the form of more facedown deck cards that remain unused.
7. Be Diligent in Getting Freebies
One thing about Solitaire Home Design is that it features lots of ways you can get freebies. Acquiring free items or bonuses may be obtained by simply winning a round when playing the main game, collecting furniture, moving the main storyline, completing time-limited challenges, or accessing other features of the game. Since Solitaire Home Design is also a free-to-play game, watching ads will also get you freebies. Let’s take a look at the various ways you can get free items such as tickets, bonuses, coins, and the like.
Obtaining “Piggy Rewards” is perhaps the easiest way to get instant freebies. This involves watching ads that are 30 seconds long or more. You can find the Piggy Rewards tab at the right-hand side of the screen.
Watching ads from the Piggy Rewards tab will have a short interval between ads. Basically, after watching one ad, you will need to wait about a minute or more to watch another ad and obtain a free item. Waiting times are quite short so you can continuously avail of freebies from the Piggy Rewards tab in between progressing through levels in the main game.
Typically, Piggy Rewards will yield free Jokers, Balckholes, Undos, or tickets (more on special items and bonuses later). You may watch ads from Piggy Rewards around 10 times before the game will allow you to access this feature again after waiting for a certain number of hours.
When playing a level, you might encounter a pig flying slowly across your screen. Click on this flying pig in the middle of your round so you can obtain a freebie. Upon clicking this flying pig, the game will ask you to watch an ad, usually of a 30-second duration. Rewards you can get from flying pigs are coins, Jokers, free tickets, Undos, etc.
Accumulating Prosperity points can also get you the free items that have been mentioned previously, including additional facedown deck cards, which are considered extra moves. To gain Prosperity points, you need to play the main game and win rounds. You may also acquire Prosperity points by collecting decor. In the early levels of the game, furniture choices have an equal number of Prosperity points that can be gained. However, as you go higher up the levels, some decor may yield more Prosperity points compared to others.
The only caveat is that decor with higher Prosperity points may require you to spend coins to be unlocked, as seen in the image above.
Unlocking other features of the game such as the Wardrobe feature, Favoriteness feature (love stories), and other areas in and out of the main house can help increase your Prosperity points as well. These aforementioned features have their own set of tasks or objectives to complete. Among these, unlocking the extra areas are the most feasible way to gain more Prosperity points as their tasks and objectives, such as collecting decor items, are tied to the main game.
When you’ve managed to acquire a certain number of Prosperity points, enough to fill up the bar at the top left-hand corner of the screen, you will be able to collect your free items. The total number of Prosperity points you need to reach will increase after you’ve collected your set of free items.
Continuously playing multiple rounds of Solitaire Home Design can also unlock rewards from achievements. These are a separate set of minor objectives that, when accomplished, can lead to more freebies. For instance, as seen on the image above, you can get one limited-time Joker card after winning five consecutive times.
Other achievements may require you to eliminate a certain suit of cards in order, spend a certain number of coins, use special items a certain number of times, etc. Check your Achievements tab to see which freebies you’ve gained and what achievements you can accomplish to acquire more free items. Usually, when a red exclamation point is seen on your Achievements tab, that means you have a freebie you can collect.
Rewards from Unlocked Memories
Progressing the main storyline will also allow you to unlock memories. When you reach certain parts of the main story, you unlock a particular memory from which you can acquire a small number of coins. The Memories tab is next to the Achievements tab. When it has a red exclamation point on it, that means you have unlocked a certain memory and can redeem coins.
Rewards from Limited-Time Challenges
Limited-time challenges are events that you can participate in while playing the main game. Limited-time challenges are named as such as they typically last for around 72 hours. These challenges may come in different forms, but completing them will simply require you to win more rounds and progress in the main game.
One recurring limited-time challenge is the Furniture Pre-Sale.
As you can see, progressing through this type of challenge will allow you to unlock four chests with freebies like Joker cards, Undos, tickets, etc. The fifth chest will unlock a set of furniture designs for a particular area of the house as pictured on the screen. For this Furniture Pre-Sale challenge, you will unlock a furniture set for the kitchen.
Upon obtaining this furniture set, you can view each decor item in your Design tab.
You may choose to automatically replace the entire furniture set of a particular room or do it manually by clicking “Later” when the game gives you a prompt. You can still customize certain decor items and return them to the piece you’ve previously used.
At the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, you will see an icon that looks like a roulette. You can access freebies by spinning this roulette as well. You’ll be able to acquire one free spin by winning a certain number of four-leaf clovers as indicated by the number beneath the roulette. Four-leaf clovers can be acquired when you make continuous combos.
Obtaining one free item from one free spin will reset the number of four-leaf clovers you need to collect to make another free spin.
Monthly check-in rewards may be a misnomer (but this is what it’s called in the game as seen in the image above) as you get rewards from this feature by logging in to the game daily. We surmise that it’s called like this as, unlike other games, you don’t necessarily have to login consecutively to claim rewards. Rewards on a certain day of the week will simply expire when they end up being unclaimed.
Not logging in for a certain number of days only means that you will simply claim the reward due on the day you’ve logged in. You can say that this is a more generous feature compared to other daily login rewards, wherein missing one login day will reset the amount of rewards you will get to the bare minimum.
Now that we’ve discussed how you can acquire free items, you may be wondering why they’re so important. Aside from the fact that everybody likes freebies (we can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t), these free items offered by the game through these various features can be quite helpful in winning rounds and getting other items like decor.
Getting as many freebies as you can will keep you from burning a hole through your pocket as these items cost a hefty amount of coins when you want to use them—and you will need to use them more than you might think. To understand what these items do, let’s move on to our next section.
8. Use Items Wisely
Aside from obstacle cards, you will also encounter special or bonus items that will help you win rounds and play more games without spending too much of your hard-earned clovers or coins. Again, Solitaire Home Design has tons of features that can be explored so we’ll be discussing what are generally the items that you typically need to progress regardless of your level.
Undos are just what they are—undos! They’ll basically let you go back one step if you’ve made a mistake while playing. Undos can also be used to gauge your approach when you have two of the same open tabletop cards on the board, with a facedown tabletop card underneath each open card.
The good news is that Undos are one of the most common freebies you can acquire. The bad news is that when you don’t have free Undos, you’ll be spending a minimum of 1,500 coins to use one Undo. How much you need to spend for Undos will depend on which level you’re at and whether you’re playing on standard mode, 2x rewards mode, or 3x rewards mode. As you can imagine, playing at 3x rewards mode will cost you at least 4,500 coins to use one Undo.
Undos acquired as freebies may sometimes be used only for a limited time. For instance, a free Undo may be used within 48 hours before it expires.
One important thing to remember about Undos is to be careful not to accidentally click it. This can happen particularly when you’ve been given a lot of free Undos, turning it into somewhat of a habit or knee-jerk reaction when faced with a disadvatageous set of tabletop cards. The game doesn’t provide a prompt about whether or not you’re sure about clicking the Undo button. Once you’ve clicked it, you can’t undo your Undo anymore.
Joker cards are one of the first special items you unlock when you reach Level 8. When using Joker cards, you will get one red Joker and one black Joker. Each Joker card will be randomly placed in between your facedown deck cards. When used, what each Joker card does is eliminate one black card and one red card from your open tabletop cards depending on which of these Jokers are your open deck card.
You may choose which tabletop card to eliminate, which will become the current open deck card. For this, we recommend picking a card that will either reveal the most number of facedown tabletop cards, a card that can lead to more combos, or an obstacle card that you’re having difficulty eliminating from the board.
You may also encounter Masked Joker cards, which will eliminate any open tabletop card of any color. When used, Masked Joker cards will replace the current open deck card. In some cases, the game might let you acquire a free Masked Joker card hidden beneath tabletop cards. Otherwise, the Masked Joker card can be purchased mid-round, but at a hefty price. The same recommendation applies for using the Masked Joker card.
Joker cards in general will also come in handy when you encounter them just at the perfect moment when there’s only one tabletop card left to eliminate.
Blackhole cards are unlocked when you reach Level 15. Aptly named such, Blackhole cards will eliminate three random open tabletop cards when used. The last card to be eliminated will replace the open deck card.
Blackhole cards will be placed at random in between the facedown deck cards. When acquired as a freebie, Blackhole cards may also carry a time limit. For example, you may get a Blackhole card that will expire if not used within 48 hours.
This type of card can be godsend when all you need to do is eliminate the last three tabletop cards on the board. This can also be useful mid-game, the only caveat being that you don’t know what card will replace the current open deck card since the Blackhole chooses cards at random. Hopefully, it will pick a card that you can match to your favor.
The Greedy Oscar item, named after Eddie’s tabby cat, can be unlocked when you reach Level 34 of the main game. This is perhaps one of the most useful special items though it requires a bit of strategy to fully maximize its winning potential.
Unlike the previous two items, Greedy Oscar isn’t a card. It’s an item that can hold open deck cards for later use. Think of it as having an extra hand in the game.
As seen in the image above, you can click on Greedy Oscar to hold the 2 of Diamonds for you. That’s one way to use this item: holding onto an open deck card that has no available matches. Later, when there’s a tabletop card that’s either a 3 or an Ace, you can let Greedy Oscar return the 2 of Diamonds as the current open deck card.
Another way you can use this item is when you have multiple tabletop cards with similar values or values close to each other. Let’s take this image below for example:
Your current open deck card is a 4 of Clubs while Greedy Oscar is holding onto a 3 of Hearts. You can do your matches like this: 4-5-6. Then let Greedy Oscar return the 3 of Hearts as the open deck card. Then you can match it this way: 3-2-A. Basically, your match when viewed completely is 4-5-6-Oscar-3-2-A.
Using Greedy Oscar does not break a combo streak so you would have successfully accomplished the required combo set with this approach. You would have also revealed 3 facedown tabletop cards under the Ace, one facedown card under the 6 of Spades, one other facedown card under the 5 of Hearts, and extra deck cards under the 2 of Diamonds.
Greedy Oscar can be a very helpful item so use it, especially when the game gives it to you for free. You may combine the Greedy Oscar item with both the Joker cards and the Blackhole cards for maximum winning potential.
Free tickets are pretty self-explanatory: they’re what you use to enter a round without paying any cost. As we mentioned, playing a round will require you to spend coins depending on the rewards mode you’ve selected before playing. However, with free tickets on hand, you may be able to reduce or even completely forego these costs. This is how free tickets work:
- 1 free ticket: One free round on standard rewards mode. When playing on 2x rewards or 3x rewards mode, their cost will be reduced. For instance, standard rewards mode costs 3,000 coins. If playing at 2x rewards mode costs 6,000 coins, you can play this mode by spending only 3,000 coins when using one free ticket. If playing at 3x rewards costs 9,000 coins, you can play this mode by spending only 6,000 coins when using one free ticket.
- 2 free tickets: One free round in 2x rewards mode. Applying the same figures above, playing at 3x rewards mode will only cost 3,000 coins when using two free tickets.
- 3 free tickets: One free round in 3x rewards mode.
Free tickets are also a common item that can be acquired through the various ways previously mentioned in this guide. However, we do recommend being wise with free tickets. Going back to the very first tip, only play at 2x or 3x rewards mode when you have enough free tickets to spare. Otherwise, earn more free tickets by playing on standard mode, spinning the roulette, watching ads, etc., before playing in the high-risk, high-reward modes.
Dream vouchers are another type of reward item you can earn when playing the main game. These are used to acquire more decor on Dream Island (more on this later). Dream vouchers can be obtained mostly when you play at 3x rewards mode. Think of Dream vouchers as extra currency that can be spent. Using Dream vouchers to acquire Dream Island decor can increase your Prosperity points.
9. Save Your Coins!
With great rewards comes great responsibility. Though you may acquire tons of different rewards in the game, we highly recommend being wise and frugal in spending your coins in particular as this type of currency is often required to access many features and progress through levels.
As mentioned, entering a level will require you to spend coins depending on the rewards mode you’re playing on. Some decor choices will also require you to spend coins. Progressing through levels of the main game and collecting decor are your primary objectives – which is why it’s absolutely important to save your coins because it’ll feel like you never have enough.
We’ve discussed how getting freebies and being thoughtful with decor choices may mitigate coin spending. However, we’d like to give additional tips on how you can effectively save your coins by foregoing certain features of the game or playing them much, much later. Here are two features you might want to consider playing only when you have more than enough coins to spare:
Skip the Favoriteness Tab for Later
As we mentioned in the early part of this guide, the Favoriteness tab contains adult themes and content. If you’re not comfortable seeing this kind of content, consider this an early warning. If you’re not of the appropriate age to see this type of content as well, please skip this feature of the game altogether.
For those who want to explore this side of the game, Favoriteness is essentially an alternate storyline primarily involving Lori and various male characters you will encounter in the main story. Accessing chapters can be fairly cheap, requiring only at least two four-leaf clovers. The goal of this feature is to raise your compatibility levels with the male character whose alternate storyline you’ve decided to play.
You may play through multiple storylines simultaneously but the game resets you to the very beginning of one chapter if you decide to switch stories or characters. However, your progress is saved. Some chapters from certain characters can also be accessed only when you’ve reached a certain level in the main game.
It’s important to note that these alternate love-story chapters are fairly long and heavily story-based so if you don’t want to read a chapter from the very beginning, we recommend playing one chapter through and through before moving on to another chapter or another character.
Playing through chapters and characters can be rather interesting, enticing your curiosity. However, be warned that progress can be extremely slow as this requires a lot of coins. Basically, you will be presented with two response options as you progress through the chapter.
This prompt will be displayed depending on how the story is going. Since the goal is to increase compatibility levels between Lori and the male character, the unfavorable option will be free while the favorable option will require you to spend coins. For instance, in Leonardo’s story, you will be required to spend as much as 9,000 coins for the first favorable response. What’s the question? If you (as Lori) will want to dance with him.
You may be thinking, well, okay, I have coins to spare, so why not? The problem is that as you go deeper into the chapter, favorable responses will increase in coin cost. To be fair, the game does a good job of reeling you in with its stories. You may also be thinking, for something that costs so high, perhaps the rewards are great, right?
Indeed, there are rewards for increasing compatibility levels, but not as much as you would think—at least not in the early parts. For instance, after playing through Mr. Fox’s storyline and reaching a certain compatibility level, the reward we unlocked were only two clovers.
With that said, we highly recommend skipping the love stories until much, much later. It’s a huge coin-guzzler and it will take a bit of grinding to recoup the coins you’ve spent. In terms of story, it may also be better to play through the main storyline first to fully appreciate the context of the side stories. Use this love-story feature instead as an incentive or a personal reward that you can come back to later.
After reaching a certain level in the main game, you’ll also unlock the Wardrobe feature. As you may have guessed, this is where you can customize characters, with Lori and Eddie as the base characters.
As you can see from the image above, Wardrobe items don’t necessarily cost coins, so why is it in this section? You see, to earn 12 clovers as seen in the image above (14 if you want to change Lori’s hair too), you need to play the main game. Depending on how good your games go, acquiring clovers can cost more in coins than you will gain in Prosperity points, which is only 76 in this case.
Additionally, unlocking extra Wardrobe items doesn’t mean the other items will be available for purchase. After unlocking all the currently available Wardrobe items for Lori, the rest of the items still remain locked.
For the most part, the Wardrobe function may be considered purely for aesthetics. Once you’ve changed Lori’s appearance, her customized look is how she will show up in the game.
That said, save your coins and hold off on this feature for later, or progress through it slowly.
10. Unlock Bonus Areas
Aside from the main Medici mansion, you will eventually unlock bonus areas not just in the mansion itself but also in the vicinity of Dream Island. These are additional ways to earn more rewards. You will unlock these bonus areas after reaching a certain level in the game. Here’s an overview of what you can expect:
The first bonus area you’ll unlock within the Medici mansion is the Tree House area. You’ll have to spend 10 clovers to gain access. It plays just like the main game, where you collect furniture and upgrade this specific location.
Decor in this area yields more Prosperity points compared to decor acquired in the main mansion. You’ll also be following a story while collecting decor items in the Tree House. This story is tied to the main story, though there seems to be a more mysterious element here that may shed light on the childhood of Lori’s aunt Cassandra, who bequeathed the mansion to her.
Of course, there are other areas to be unlocked around the main mansion, but we’ll let you explore those on your own.
Areas within the town of Dream Island are where you can primarily use your accumulated Dream vouchers. By slowly building the town, you stand to gain rewards if you manage to acquire furniture to complete buildings like a donut shop, spa, music shop, etc. Each building will require a certain number of decor to be completed. Decor can be obtained by spending Dream vouchers.
Dream Island town is also where you will find the Bank. This is your passive way of earning coins. However, you will have to wait at least an hour before you can successfully collect your “inheritance fund.” After collecting your inheritance fund, you will have to wait another hour to get the next batch of coins.
The Bank is extremely useful for when you’ve run out of coins that you can’t even enter the standard rewards mode of a level. Keep checking this area to passively and continuously collect coins.
11. Cross Your Fingers for Luck
While there are different strategies you can apply to earn more rewards and win more rounds, the fact remains that Solitaire Home Design is a game where the RNG (random number generator) can sometimes reign supreme. As seen in the image above, you may encounter levels that have no matches right at the beginning of the round. In some cases, you might find yourself drawing six 8s or five Aces from your facedown deck. Having a card appear on the tabletop or your deck doesn’t mean it’s not going to show up again later.
The only tip we can really give here is to cross your fingers for good luck and apply as many of the recommendations here without having to spend too much. When you’ve run out of matches, the game will sometimes give you extra hands to draw from, though it may require watching an ad or purchasing these extra draws—for a large cost, of course.
However, purchasing these extra hands doesn’t guarantee a win either as you can draw cards that don’t contain the value to make a successful match.
In this case, compare what you’ll win and how much you’ll lose, or can afford to lose in terms of coins. You might win the round by spending more coins, but in the end, it might be better to start the level over as the round might play more in your favor.
With this, we come to the end of our in-depth beginner’s guide for Solitaire Home Design. What comes next in Lori and Eddie’s story is for you to find out! We hope that with our tips, you can discover the mystery of the Medici mansion, save on coins, earn a boatload of rewards, and win as many rounds as you can! If you’ve got tips and tricks up your sleeve that we’ve missed mentioning in this guide, feel free to share them in the comment section below!
Kendra
Thursday 1st of June 2023
What is up with the area that has all the stored random stuff?? What can we do with it besides just storing more stuff?
LaDonna
Monday 3rd of April 2023
how in the world do we get past the story lines with lori and the 5 guys, i went in and tried to complete it now it wont let me play any of the other parts of the game to move the story forward with just Eddie. is it once you go in are you stuck until you actually complete it? so disappointing in all the changes the game is making that if u don't spend money ur just out of luck. every time there is an update more things are taken away and replaced with things you have to pay for to complete. Guess this is good bye on this game. its to bad it was fun while it lasted. maybe consider making a game for those that dont have gold in their wallet.
Carol
Monday 3rd of October 2022
What are the balloons that are scattered around the house for?
Toni starks
Monday 4th of July 2022
What next when you finish the tree house and mansion I’m done