Comparison

Really Bad Chess vs Chess

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

Head to head
About

Really Bad Chess

This app reimagines chess with completely randomized pieces, offering a fresh strategic challenge. It's perfect for both seasoned players seeking a new puzzle and beginners looking to learn the fundamentals in a fun, accessible way.

Highlights
  • Randomized chess piece sets
  • AI opponent challenges
  • Ranked, Daily, and Weekly modes
  • Freeplay practice mode
  • Local multiplayer (with IAP)
  • Alternate color palettes (with IAP)
Features
Read full description

Really Bad Chess is just like chess, but with totally random pieces. Try 8 Knights, 4 Bishops, and 3 pawns — why not? As heard on NPR's Weekend Edition 5 out of 5 Stars "An essential puzzle experience for anyone even remotely interested in strategy games" - TouchArcade Whether you play chess daily, or quit just after learning the rules, this small twist will open the door to an entire new world of chess. ------WHATS IN THE “BOX”? The free version of Really Bad Chess lets you compete vs. an AI in Ranked, Daily, or Weekly Challenges. Improve your skills using the included Freeplay mode. A single in-app purchase unlocks Versus Mode so you can compete against your friends locally! It also removes ads, displays captured pieces, and adds soothing alternate color-palettes to choose from. ------REALLY BAD PRESS "Makes chess fun even if you’re really bad" - The Verge "Feels more modern than chess has ever felt" - Applenapps "Really Bad Chess takes a really bad idea and somehow manages to make it a lot of fun." - Pocket Gamer "Really good fun" - MacLife ------A WORD FROM THE DEVELOPER Chess is one of those games I always wished I enjoyed, but its commitment to beauty, elegance, and perfect balance always turned me away. Really Bad Chess removes these boring restrictions and flips chess on its head. As much as random pieces change the game in some ways, I was really surprised to notice how much the game remains the same, and how powerful some pieces are — you've never truly struggled against a pawn until you've struggled against a pawn in the back row. For chess pros, Really Bad Chess will give you a new type of challenge — the pieces & the moves are the same, but you'll have to throw out your openings and your understanding of normal patterns of play. For novice chess players (like most of us), Really Bad Chess greatly opens up the game. Instead of starting by studying openings, in your first games you'll get to discover the joy (and challenge!) of learning how to checkmate. I hope you have as much fun with Really Bad Chess as much as I did making it. -zach

About

Chess

Enhance your chess skills with over 1500 tactical exercises drawn from real games. This app provides hints, explanations, and refutations to help beginners improve their play and learn new combinations. It acts as a personal coach, adapting to your progress and offering interactive lessons.

Highlights
  • Over 1500 tactical exercises
  • Hints and explanations
  • Refutations of mistakes
  • Interactive theoretical lessons
  • Progress monitoring (ELO rating)
  • Offline play
Features
Read full description

If you are a beginner, you just cannot afford to give away your piece in 1 move, presuming, of course, that you wish to improve your play! Another thing you cannot afford is to miss a chance of grabbing an undefended piece of your opponent's! This course includes more than 1500 exercises with lots of pieces on the board. Such a great number of exercises makes this course an excellent tool for quick training of chess beginners. The course is intended for players who are already acquainted with the rules of the game. Even if you study and solve only 20% of exercises you are sure to improve your chess skills and not to miss a chance to take an undefended piece in your practical game! All the exercises are taken from practical games and arranged according to the names of pieces and difficulty levels. This course is in the series Chess King Learn (https://learn.chessking.com/), which is an unprecedented chess teaching method. In the series are included courses in tactics, strategy, openings, middle game, and endgame, split by levels from beginners to experienced players, and even professional players. With the help of this course, you can improve your chess knowledge, learn new tactical tricks and combinations, and consolidate the acquired knowledge into practice. The program acts as a coach who gives tasks to solve and helps to solve them if you get stuck. It will give you hints, explanations and show you even striking refutation of the mistakes you might make. Advantages of the program: • High quality examples, all double-checked for correctness • You need to enter all key moves, required by the teacher • Different levels of complexity of the tasks • Various goals, which need to be reached in the problems • The program gives hint if an error is made • For typical mistaken moves, the refutation is shown • You can play out any position of the tasks against the computer • Interactive theoretical lessons • Structured table of contents • The program monitors the change in the rating (ELO) of the player during the learning process • Test mode with flexible settings • Possibility to bookmark favorite exercises • The application is adapted to the bigger screen of a tablet • The application does not require an internet connection The course includes a free part, in which you can test the program. Lessons offered in the free version is fully functional. They allow you to test the application in real world conditions before releasing the following topics: 1. Part 1 1.1. Winning a knight 1.2. Winning a bishop 1.3. Winning a rook 1.4. Winning a queen 2. Part 2. Win a piece 2.1. Level 1 2.2. Level 2 2.3. Level 3 2.4. Level 4 2.5. Level 5 2.6. Level 6 2.7. Level 7 2.8. Level 8

Screenshots

Really Bad Chess4 screens
Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Chess at 100% against Really Bad Chess's 46%. Chess also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.8) and ads (none vs shown). Really Bad Chess's advantage is ratings volume (1.6K vs 11) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

Both are free to download. Really Bad Chess sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Chess sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Really Bad Chess has 1.6K ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Really Bad Chess's written reviews are positive against 100% of Chess's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Really Bad Chess ships an update every 3 weeks, Chess every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Really Bad Chess versus Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReally Bad ChessChess
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (1.6K ratings)4.5 (11 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.6K — better11
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size125 MB42 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZach GageChess King

Customer experience

Really Bad Chess

All ratings1,633 ratings
Positive66.6%
Neutral9.0%
Negative24.4%
Written reviews611 reviews
Positive46.3%
Neutral16.4%
Negative37.3%

Chess

All ratings11 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral9.1%
Negative9.1%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Really Bad Chess

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Pieces unable to move as per chess rules
  • Game freezes and crashes
  • Incorrect checkmate detection

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add draw conditions and stalemate rules
  • Implement online/multiplayer mode
  • Provide more difficulty settings
  • Allow custom piece arrangements
  • Sync progress across devices

Chess

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Really Bad Chess

One-time2
  • 100 Undos$0.99
  • Full Game Unlock$3.99
1 purchases

Chess

One-time1
  • Full course$3.99

Questions

Is Really Bad Chess free?
Really Bad Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess free?
Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Really Bad Chess or Chess?
Chess is rated higher. Really Bad Chess averages 3.8 out of 5 from 1.6K ratings, while Chess averages 4.5 from 11 ratings.
Do Really Bad Chess or Chess have ads?
Really Bad Chess shows ads; Chess does not.
Which is updated more often, Really Bad Chess or Chess?
Really Bad Chess ships an update every 3 weeks, and Chess every 6 weeks. Most recently, Really Bad Chess was updated on September 23, 2026 and Chess on September 10, 2026.

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