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https://FreeSolitaire.win https://FreeSolitaire.win brings around $500/mo in advertising revenue. It’s a Klondike Solitaire PWA (progressive web application).

https://FreeSolitaire.win https://FreeSolitaire.win brings around $500/mo in advertising revenue. It’s a Klondike Solitaire PWA (progressive web application). I started making it in 2016 and I’ve been slowly iterating on it over time. It has stayed minimal & lightweight, on purpose. No framework, no cruft, no obtrusive ads. Fun fact: because it’s so lightweight, it was included in 2020 in Moya (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nu.bi.moya https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nu.bi.moya), a popular messaging app in South Africa that is “data-free” for users (it does reverse-billing). Now ~40% of players are South Africans! Discussed on HN from to time, for instance: — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42026575 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42026575 (38 days ago, 19 points) — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41971887 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41971887 (43 days ago, 25 points) “Quick side-note. Thank you for freesolitaire.win. It's such a beautiful implementation of solitaire. Works so well as a PWA, I can enjoy it even without proper internet connection, it's simple, does the basics, but does it perfectly. There's nothing to add to it, but more importantly... nothing to take out.” (!) — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34483398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34483398 (2023, 4 points) Feedback always welcome, and happy to answer any question!

d--b 2y ago
It should be forbidden to post a game of solitaire on hacker news. This has a direct impact on the world's GDP!
xz18r 2y ago
This is neat! First off, the app itself is really nicely diesigned, props. Before the Moya thing, how did you lure people to your site? I assume there are literally hundreds of places where you can play Solitaire in the browser like this?
- palsecam 2y ago
  Thanks! Wrt attracting visitors: Word of mouth, mainly. Posted it on Reddit back then, things like that. It grew organically from that. And, although it’s far from being on top results on SERP (search engine result pages), some people do find it that way. But yes, the Moya thing was a big boost!
oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
Great app, everything seems to work well. The only thing I noticed was that the suit symbols on the cards are a little odd because they're all the same size (almost?) so a 3 looks like it has 5 symbols on it, etc. But that's minor!
- palsecam 2y ago
  “But that's minor!”: minor maybe, but that’s an issue. Yes, both the central and corner symbols (“pips”, as they are called) are almost the same size. It’s even worse with the court cards (aka “picture cards”: jack, queen, king). Out of laziness and for space-saving, they all share the same design: their suit symbol, in big, in the center (and the two corner pips). Not easy to distinguish between them easily/quickly, especially if your sight isn’t good. I should do something about all that, one of these days. Thank you for your feedback!
vidyesh 2y ago
Impressive! Its well made and such a simple idea making $$$ with some innovative thinking! How does reverse-billing work in case of data usage?
- palsecam 2y ago
  Thank you! Regarding reverse billing: I don’t know much. I am not myself billed by Moya, although they do bill some of their partners. Please see https://datafree.tech https://datafree.tech (that’s quite specific to Moya / South Africa carriers, I guess)
swiftcoder 2y ago
That is pretty slick, and beautifully lightweight. Would love to see artwork for the royalty
- palsecam 2y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! Yes, as mentioned in this thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42382673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42382673), I should do something about the cards design, which is currently too rough.
MrDresden 2y ago
Just spent the last 10 minutes playing, while having my morning coffee. I can honestly not remember when I last played Solitaire. Decades I think. Thank you for making this, it brought some joy to my day.
- palsecam 2y ago
  If it brought you joy, then you made my day <3 Indeed Solitaire is, like chess or go, a timeless game. It’s also a good way to spend the time, like when you are commuting. Keep in mind that https://FreeSolitaire.win https://FreeSolitaire.win works offline (after the 1st visit, using a service worker: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Worker_API/Using_Service_Workers https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Wor...) ;-)
addandsubtract 2y ago
- I wish I could double-click a card to automatically move it up to its respective suit stack (if possible) - This is the first Solitaire game I've played where I was able to move a card from its suit stack back onto the board (or maybe I just didn't try before). Either way, I like that :)
- palsecam 2y ago
  > I wish I could double-click a card to automatically move it up to its respective suit stack (if possible) Oh but you can! But, as I said recently (in an e-mail to another player): “Someone once told me about how ‘double-click is finicky on Windows/Chrome’. But now you are two encountering the same issue, and not on the same OS/browser combo. So it looks like problem is in the game. Thanks, I shall look into it.” > able to move a card from its suit stack back onto the board […] Either way, I like that That’s on purpose, glad you like it! It can help you get unstuck sometimes.
sigma5 2y ago
Thanks for sharing. Are the revenue generated based on the ads on the website ? Are they generated per number of clicks on the ads ? How does it work with ad blockers ? Thanks
- palsecam 2y ago
  Yes, revenue is ads-based (and a few donations). I use Google AdSense. ~40% of players use an ad-blocker; I let them block ads, I don’t play cat-and-mouse.
KomoD 2y ago
That's cool, even with 40% of players being from ZA, I'm guessing most of your revenue doesn't come from them? (unless the other 60% are even lower RPM countries) Curious what % of revenue they account for
- palsecam 2y ago
  ZA (South Africa) is 15–20% of revenue.

d--b 2y ago

It should be forbidden to post a game of solitaire on hacker news. This has a direct impact on the world's GDP!

xz18r 2y ago

This is neat! First off, the app itself is really nicely diesigned, props. Before the Moya thing, how did you lure people to your site? I assume there are literally hundreds of places where you can play Solitaire in the browser like this?

palsecam 2y ago
Thanks! Wrt attracting visitors: Word of mouth, mainly. Posted it on Reddit back then, things like that. It grew organically from that. And, although it’s far from being on top results on SERP (search engine result pages), some people do find it that way. But yes, the Moya thing was a big boost!

oneeyedpigeon 2y ago

Great app, everything seems to work well. The only thing I noticed was that the suit symbols on the cards are a little odd because they're all the same size (almost?) so a 3 looks like it has 5 symbols on it, etc. But that's minor!

palsecam 2y ago
“But that's minor!”: minor maybe, but that’s an issue. Yes, both the central and corner symbols (“pips”, as they are called) are almost the same size. It’s even worse with the court cards (aka “picture cards”: jack, queen, king). Out of laziness and for space-saving, they all share the same design: their suit symbol, in big, in the center (and the two corner pips). Not easy to distinguish between them easily/quickly, especially if your sight isn’t good. I should do something about all that, one of these days. Thank you for your feedback!

vidyesh 2y ago

Impressive! Its well made and such a simple idea making $$$ with some innovative thinking! How does reverse-billing work in case of data usage?

palsecam 2y ago
Thank you! Regarding reverse billing: I don’t know much. I am not myself billed by Moya, although they do bill some of their partners. Please see https://datafree.tech https://datafree.tech (that’s quite specific to Moya / South Africa carriers, I guess)

swiftcoder 2y ago

That is pretty slick, and beautifully lightweight. Would love to see artwork for the royalty

palsecam 2y ago
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, as mentioned in this thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42382673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42382673), I should do something about the cards design, which is currently too rough.

MrDresden 2y ago

Just spent the last 10 minutes playing, while having my morning coffee. I can honestly not remember when I last played Solitaire. Decades I think. Thank you for making this, it brought some joy to my day.

palsecam 2y ago
If it brought you joy, then you made my day <3 Indeed Solitaire is, like chess or go, a timeless game. It’s also a good way to spend the time, like when you are commuting. Keep in mind that https://FreeSolitaire.win https://FreeSolitaire.win works offline (after the 1st visit, using a service worker: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Worker_API/Using_Service_Workers https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Service_Wor...) ;-)

addandsubtract 2y ago

- I wish I could double-click a card to automatically move it up to its respective suit stack (if possible) - This is the first Solitaire game I've played where I was able to move a card from its suit stack back onto the board (or maybe I just didn't try before). Either way, I like that :)

palsecam 2y ago
> I wish I could double-click a card to automatically move it up to its respective suit stack (if possible) Oh but you can! But, as I said recently (in an e-mail to another player): “Someone once told me about how ‘double-click is finicky on Windows/Chrome’. But now you are two encountering the same issue, and not on the same OS/browser combo. So it looks like problem is in the game. Thanks, I shall look into it.” > able to move a card from its suit stack back onto the board […] Either way, I like that That’s on purpose, glad you like it! It can help you get unstuck sometimes.

sigma5 2y ago

Thanks for sharing. Are the revenue generated based on the ads on the website ? Are they generated per number of clicks on the ads ? How does it work with ad blockers ? Thanks

palsecam 2y ago
Yes, revenue is ads-based (and a few donations). I use Google AdSense. ~40% of players use an ad-blocker; I let them block ads, I don’t play cat-and-mouse.

KomoD 2y ago

That's cool, even with 40% of players being from ZA, I'm guessing most of your revenue doesn't come from them? (unless the other 60% are even lower RPM countries) Curious what % of revenue they account for

palsecam 2y ago
ZA (South Africa) is 15–20% of revenue.