Having conqured the PC and console spaces, with over a million copies sold in just over a month after it launched, CloverPit has now arrived on mobile. Though not strictly a card game, we did review the mobile version’s big brother, and found enough similarities with games such as Balatro that we thought it was worth covering. So how does the mobile version compare? Let’s take a look!

What Is CloverPit?

When you start CloverPit, you’re already trapped in a dingy, filthy and very creepy room. It’s filled with odd paraphernalia, a telephone, a machine for depositing coins and another that dishes out tickets. There’s also a selection of glass fronted boxes containing weird charms, a telephone, a computer and some mysteriously locked drawers, amongst other things.

The main object you’ll be interacting with is the fruit machine; you’ll need to reach certain cash targets by earning coins through spins, and you’ll be able to impressively increase the money you earn by using different combinations of charms, purchased using tickets you’ll also earn through pulling the lever on the slot machine and as rewards for hitting your cash goals.

It’s rendered in a deliberately low-poly style, which adds to its oppressive and sinister atmosphere. There’s some gruesomeness here and there, but for the most part it’s implied; this isn’t an outright horror game, but it’s definitely horror-adjacent, and it’s just less reliant on jump scares and explicit gore to work its way into the darker recesses of your brain. Of course, you’ll be wondering if there’s a way out of the room; a locked door and the potential to open an emergency cabinet to reach a key may provide the answer, but you’ll have a lot of work ahead of you if you really want to escape.

Is CloverPit Fun to Play?

The mobile version of CloverPit is pretty much exactly the same as its “full size” versions. Of course, you have a touchscreen instead of more traditional controls (though this is also implemented if you played CloverPit on a Steam Deck or other device equipped with a touchscreen), but generally the experience is impressively similar.

I did find that, on my Google Pixel 10, the frame rate when looking around the room could be a little jerky, so I can imagine that things might be even less smooth on older, less capable devices. That said, CloverPit is a game that doesn’t demand a smooth framerate for success; though played in first person, the real crux of the gameplay is centred on the slot machine action, which is perfectly smooth and responsive.

Even though I’ve unlocked at least one ending on the console version of CloverPit, I still felt the draw to play more and more of the mobile version, and didn’t even begrudge having to unlock the game’s vast number of Charms again.

Though CloverPit feels incredibly luck-based at the beginning, it’s still addictive. That said, it can really drag during the runs where you’re desperately trying to reach specific goals and unlock more, shall we say, tools in order to facilitate your escape. However, once you figure out how to reach the endgame, it becomes massively addictive once more.

This version’s portability and price, with little sacrificed over the “main” experience, pretty much makes it the version to have, in my opinion. That is, if you don’t already own it on another format.

Having CloverPit in my pocket is both a blessing and a curse. The game’s meta commentary on the futility of gambling doesn’t seem to register so much when I can just reach for my phone and get a few more spins in, no matter where I am. As the fruit machine in CloverPit itself declares whenever you enter coins: “Let’s go gambling!”

CloverPit is available now for Android and iOS devices. Check out more of our reviews of digital games, such as Talystro and Sengodai.