Last updated on November 30th, 2025 at 01:23 pm
Card Thief – Card Game Review
Card Thief is a Card/Board/Entertainment game from Arnold Rauers, first launched in 19th March 2017.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 829+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Card Thief Stand Out
Card Thief is a solitaire style stealth game played with a deck of cards.
German Developer Award – Best Game Design 2017
German Games Award – Best Mobile Game 2018
In Card Thief you move through a deck of cards as a stealthy thief. Sneak in the shadows, extinguish torches, pickpocket guards and steal valuable treasures without getting caught.
Card Thief, the official follow up to Tinytouchtales excellent dungeon crawler Card Crawl, attempts to condense the classic stealth genre into a solitaire style card game.
The game offers an accessible core gameplay with a deep layer of tactical planning and various risk reward mechanics on top. In 4 different heists you can test your skills against various enemy and trap types. By successfully completing heists you can unlock and upgrade 12 equipment cards each with a unique ability to improve your highscores.
Features
- Solitaire style gameplay
- 4 heists each with different enemy and obstacle types
- 12 unlock able and upgradable equipment cards
- Hire 10 thieves with unique gameplay rules
- Mini deck building
- Daily Heist with global highscores
- Deep tactical planning for fans of the stealth genre
- 2-3mins playtime per game
Visit www.tinytouchtales.com & www.card-thief.com
This Card game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Card Thief is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 5th September 2025
Recent improvements include:
Hello Thief,
this is a small maintenance update.
We also added ES, RU, JA and CN localizations.
If you haven't yet please rate and review the game.
May the shadows guide you.
Download & Availability
Card Thief is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Challenging but it wont melt your brain with an overwhelming amount of rules. You can pick it right up and start playing. The asthetic is cool as well.
Seriously the most fun stealth game we have ever played, easy to pick up and learn, we just wish you'd add more enemies or traps to deal with and more equipment to try out and maybe even give us a level that has a 4×4 layout rather than the 3×3 because it sometimes gets cramped we do understand that the cramped-ness is on purpose but it gets to a point where you sometimes get essentially checkmated after gambling on what the next cards are gonna be from the castle deck and you get sandwiched in.
This game is a really unique solitaire stealth game. Im glad we stumbled upon this game! We say to everyone thinking to try this game to, just give it a shot.
Only sad thing we discovered is that the most recent update was 10 months ago. Please add more this game is so fun, we would love an endless mode to see how much cards we can go through, we would also love multiplayer compatibility too, this is a artistic masterpiece and we only wish for more May the shadow guild guide you.
Ive been obsessed with this game since ive found it. The art style is amazing, its very unique and we absolutely love it. Its addicting; the more you play the better you get. You learn different strategies and its challenging, you do better each time. Ive played some of your other games (card crawl being our 2nd fav) and we love them too dont ever give up! Youve got an amazing talent and im glad you shared it with us. Keep making games, ill keep playing them.
Im enjoying this game so much, but we think this game studio need better advertising. Every game you got so far is fantastic. There are a lot people who would appreciate games like that, but they dont even know that something like that exist.
We have really enjoyed this game as well as Card Crawl and Card Crawl Adventure by the same dev. Great thematic solitaire game. Only complaint we currently have is that we started playing on our iPad and unlocked and upgraded a few cards, paid the IAP to support the dev and then realized that our progress doesnt seem to span devices. On our phone we dont have any cards unlocked or upgraded. So Im stuck deciding if we start over on our phone or try to carry our iPad with us more to continue the game there.
You can play this game and never have to watch any ads, which we appreciate immensely. The ads are optional. Watching them allows you to instantly open the chests you steal instead of waiting. We would not mind watching ads to open them, however, we have been consistently experiencing a bug where every time we try to watch an ad, we are met with video ad error. Other than that great game! We might even just buy it (its only $2).
Was able to unlock chest, but while we were able to use the coins for upgrades, we dont understand what stolen goods are used for. No shops or anything for those, so its pretty pointless. Not only that. Some equipment has upgrades that are not worth it, cause it increases the usage, but not ability. The game is pretty fun though.
Very enjoyable game, addictive even. But after paying for it a few weeks back, can no longer access it. Can the developer fix this.
Was a nice game. Wish it still worked on our ipad.
The gaming of the chests is tedious but the game itself is quite good.
First off, this game is worth your time. Insanely fun, great art style, and gameplay is around 8 minutes or less long. The mechanics of the game: A deck of cards, consisting of guards, gold rooms, traps, and a chest of items being your main objective. When the deck is empty the exit card is brought in. The catch is the longer you leave the chest be, the better quality it becomes. And the better quality it becomes the harder it is to steal. You can only have the contents of the chest if you escape with it. The rest of the mechanics would just sound too confusing to put here Now, ads. Ads are only watchable when wanting to open a chest early. No cramming ads down your thought every 15 seconds. We tried Card crawler, not as good as Card Thief. Fair warning.
But how do we purchase the full version? Cant figure it out.
Fun, smart, and a macabre design, this is easily one of the most genuinely fun games Ive played in a while. We even bought the premium for $1.99 which is nothing and have not seen an advertisement since. We did have to watch the instructions twice! Lol.
Yeah, you can pay $2 to unlock, but that just removes adds/waits for opening chests. But otherwise it is a fun completely free game.
Fantastic game. Really well thought out, fun and brainy, with excellent graphics and animations. Ive gotten our moneys worth many times over, but Im not going to rebuy it as we are being asked to do after redownloading it.
We really love this game & we want more! More levels, more incentives, more variations in the Hideout games. There is so much potential for expanding on this game. The gameplay itself is so enjoyable and very tricky at times. We love puzzles and it really gets our gears turning on how to figure out the best strategy. There are tricks Ive learned and some we havent quite figured out yet. Also, we love all of the artwork so much. Really, this game is great, very smartly done. A few small tweaks (e.g. No more triple-taps to open treasures, please) and some additional goals/achievements would breathe new life into this game. Like the inventory of stolen goods it doesnt appear to get you anything or unlock any achievements (yet?). Id like to be able to cash those in to get new tool cards, or win special cards if you get the final high score on a Hideout game, etc. We look forward to future updates.
Game has lots of potential, but doesnt offer much motivation to persevere. Either advance along the map, number the levels, add new cards, increase stealth/challenge, or offer different layouts (4×4, 2×2, or 3×4) to reward player for playing same game over and over. They are onto something really good, just needs a little more oomph than collecting chests.
The game not working at all we wish you solve this problem.
This was one of our all time favorite games. Many of this developers games are really good. But we bought this (and others) a few years ago, and hadnt played again until recently. The game is now unplayable without buying it a second time. App support for this developer is (as of the time Im writing this), broken. Good game if you only have to buy it once. We should also note that there are no additional functions, levels or DLC which would justify a paywall.
Great game. Its a keeper on our phone.
Beautiful art, sound design, and the gameplay is simple yet engaging. Definitely worth it to but the full game.
Picked up on a recommendation but stayed for the fun. Simple to understand mechanics lead to an enjoyable experience in this stealth strategy game. Can still be enjoyed on free to play but worth upgrading to support this developer. Would recommend to play on long flights if you like stealth strategy.
Hope game data can be synced between Android devices and iOS devices.
From the music and sound effects, to the art of the cards. This game is a good way to spend time. We like how you actually have to think of your moves each time you click along your path because everything changes at each point. We think sometimes some of the things arent explained very well, like with the hideout and how to actually do the contracts, we get confused a bit. Aside from that the game is quite fun. Id recommend it, 9/10.
This is an original, nuanced game, and nicely executed. Ive certainly gotten our moneys worth. Some featuresthe Hideout for oneare confusing and undocumented. We also find that Ive plateaued: the effective employ of some of the higher equipment cards is hard to sort out, and Im missing some critical clue how to pivot strategy to (much) higher scoring.
The cutout on our iPhone 13 pro covers some things at the top.
The notch on the iPhone covers the remaining card counter and difficulty. Tapping the Daily Heist button makes the screen go dark for a second and nothing else happens.
The concept and art of the game are nicely done, however the execution is really terrible. The tutorial is very lacking and we couldnt figure out what to do on the first level. Needs an overhaul and better tutorial.
Im obsessed with Card Crawl, Card Thief, and Miracle Merchant, but none of them have loaded the the daily heists for 2 days. They dont work on our iPhone or iPad. Card Thief just wont load, and Card Crawl says theres no internet connection (there is). Please fix this.
Cannot read stealth numbers at top of screen.
We love this game, but on our iPhone 12 mini the top of the screen, including the current path value, is cut off. Its still playable, theres just more guesswork and less skill involved.
Every time we tried to play the game it would load to show a moon over some kind of house, and promptly close out by itself.
Other reviews have gone on about the lack of variety, every game feeling identical to the last, the rather dull way the app shakes money out of you, and the absolutely abysmal tutorial, but no one has mentioned the strategy and skilled needed to play the game. The game is designed for you to use one strategy and only one strategy extinguish torches and save every sneak card until the end. Thats how you get the most points. The problem? This strategy is entirely based on luck. You either wait for the deck to generate the cards you need to win, or you dont and the game ends. As far as design goes, this is a terrible practice.
This is a pretty good game. Honestly, with the new model, theres no reason not to try for free and then decide if you want to pay. Love the card aesthetic, and the art in general. Infinitely replay-able strategic mini-rogue.
That game is so cool, we're playing in pc thief dark project( so good stealth game) and if this game was in steampunk we think it was from the thief world but from other side of life.
A genuinely new game with new mechanics.
Great game but we cant see the number of cards left in the deck or path difficulty on the iPhone 12 mini – the cut out on the top of the screen for the camera/mic/etc hides those numbers.
This game is really freaking good. Very well made and when you play a round perfectly its very satisfying. However, there is an annoying little bug with the contracts game mode. In this game mode you get to play as a different character with their own art, quirk to make it more challenging, and sound effect. However, at least for us, the art for the other characters just doesnt show up. It just shows a brick wall. Great game but would love to see this bug fixed sometime soon.
We downloaded this game for just a quick casual time waster, and it certainly feels like that: quick and casual. The stealth mechanics are somewhat interesting, however the grind to get chests, which randomly drop the materials required to get to new content is quite tiresome. Additionally the stealth sometimes is completely screwed by bad tile placement and you cannot win or complete a run, yet still are forced into running into a guard, or conversely just have new cards come down and lose immediately.
Long, boring and confusing tutorial. We got so bored 10 mins into the tutorial we uninstalled.
We have been waiting for a game like this for a while. We are really into rogue-like games and also card games. This game perfectly combines the two to make a great game with infinite possibilities and creative solutions. But what really elevates this game is the great art and animations. The art style really helps set the mood and the subtle animations are really well done. Our only complaint is that the tutorial could be better, but once you start playing it will make sense.
This game truly gets all of our respect.
The remaining cards are obscured by the notch.
Really this game! Clever and fun time killer.
Cool game. We already own it on our Google Pixel device. These is a serious issue on our iOS device: some important messages like points and cards info are obscured by the notch on iPhone XR. Please fix it.
Just being honest here: Im super confused about how exactly this game is played. We WANT to like this as Card Crawl was our jam for the last month. But currently, not knowing how to play, this game isnt very enjoyable.
Keeps crashing when we get in, it wont let us play, but we love it.
This game has some really cool concepts, and the gameplay itself is really fun, but it can get a little repetitive. Though we think the art and animation is spectacular (love the style), we think the game needs al little bit more. Our suggestion is that you make it to where you can team up or go against your friends. You could make the arena twice as big, and the goal when youre working together is the same basic game where you have to escape with the chest, but there is two chests, and if one of you gets caught, you both do. When you are competing with your friend it should be where you are still trying to make it out without being caught, but the player with the most gems/ gold/ coins (we dont know if they have an official name or not) and there is only one chest, which gives you bonus points. Thank you for your time, we hope you take these suggestions to mind, or maybe even just read this at all (it took 10 minutes). Sincerely, a grateful player, StormCrow.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.3.9
- Size: 160.68 MB
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Languages: EN, DE, JA, RU, ZH, ES
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes
- Developer: Arnold Rauers
Last updated: 5th September 2025 | Genre: Card, Board | Developer: Arnold Rauers