Grindstone vs Zookeeper World
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Grindstone
Engage in a challenging puzzle-battle game where you slash your way up a treacherous mountain. Cleave through swarms of enemies, battle bosses, and discover blueprints for powerful gear. Over 200 levels of intense puzzle-battling await.
- Sword-slashing puzzle battles
- Over 200 levels
- Battle bosses
- Loot resources
- Discover gear blueprints
- Cleave deadly foes
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GRINDSTONE is a game of sword-slashing puzzle battles from the award-winning creators of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes and Critter Crunch! Grindstone Mountain is overrun with vicious Creeps! Slay your way up its treacherous peak where fortune, glory (and death) awaits! It’ll take sharp puzzle skills and an even sharper blade to cleave your way through the swarms of bloodthirsty Creeps dwelling within Grindstone’s dungeons. Battle bosses, loot resources, discover long-lost blueprints for powerful gear, all while cleaving the innards from your deadly foes! Now with more than 200 levels of intense puzzle-battling madness!
Zookeeper World
Solve match-3 puzzles to build and customize your unique zoo. Collect coins to acquire animals and decorations, increasing your zoo's appeal. Upgrade animals into unique cosplay versions and defend your zoo from MECHA BOSS attacks to earn gems. Regular updates add new content and events.
- Match-3 puzzle gameplay
- Zoo building and customization
- Animal collection and upgrades
- Cosplay animal transformations
- MECHA BOSS challenges
- Visitor requests and zoo ranking
- Weekend multiplayer events
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Weekend-exclusive multiplayer events are underway! Zookeeper, the definitive action-puzzle game played by more than 30 million people, is now available as a Apple Arcade exclusive! Solve simple match-3 puzzles to create your own zoo. Make it the only one of its kind in the world! Get through a variety of puzzles and collect Coins to fill your zoo with cute animals, plants and more! They’ll increase your zoo’s Charm and attract all sorts of visitors! As you complete requests from these visitors as well as the Boss, your zoo rank will increase. Before long, you'll be expanding and customizing your zoo with various designs and decorations! You just might come across a family of ducks or a calico cat, or even cruise around in a UFO! With endless ways to spice things up, there’s never a dull moment as a zookeeper! You can upgrade the animals you’ve collected, too. Increase their Charm and turn them into cosplay animals! Hula Dance Rabbit, Punk Monkey, Tanned Giraffe, Afro Panda, Santa Fennec, Tuxedo Penguin, Franken-Lion, Muay Thai Polar Bear, Sailor Crocodile, Pancake Elephant, Witch Flamingo… Can you collect them all? To upgrade your animals though, you’ll need gems. You can get them by defeating MECHA BOSS, who will occasionally attack your zoo! There are lots of puzzle stages with innovative gimmicks like "One Move All Challenge," where you have to match all the animals in one move, and "MECHA BOSS Challenge," where you go all out against MECHA BOSS! You can get gems in several ways, such as by scoring EXCELLENT in "Star Collection Quest." All you have to do is complete the puzzles and collect stars! New animals, puzzle stages and events will be added and updated on a regular basis. Come join the fun! Don't forget to feed your animals when they get hungry!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Zookeeper World at free against Grindstone's paid. On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Grindstone against 4.7 for Zookeeper World. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6.7K and 4.8K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 78% of Grindstone's written reviews are positive against 74% of Zookeeper World's.
Grindstone ships an update every 6 weeks, Zookeeper World every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 26, 2026.
| Parameter | Grindstone | Zookeeper World |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (6.7K ratings) | 4.7 (4.8K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.1% of reviews — better | 74.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6.7K — better | 4.8K |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 988 MB | 1.1 GB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Capybara Games Inc. | KITERETSU INC. |
Customer experience
Grindstone
Zookeeper World
User reviews
Grindstone
From 6.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Addictive gameplay
- 👍 Unique and charming art style
- 🎨 Excellent soundtrack and sound effects
- 💡 Satisfying chain combos
- 🕹️ Intuitive and challenging mechanics
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- ⏱️ Unskippable animations
- 🔄 Progress loss when switching apps
- 🤔 Difficulty spike in later levels
Zookeeper World
From 4.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Relaxing and enjoyable gameplay
- 🚀 Unlimited retries without time limits
- 💎 No in-app purchases or ads
- 🎨 Cute and charming animal designs
- 🏆 Variety of challenges and events
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy path editor and camera controls
- ⏱️ Frustratingly long loading times
- 🔋 High battery drain
- 🤔 Difficulty spikes and luck-based puzzles
- 🤖 Intrusive and distracting hint system
Bugs and requests
Grindstone
Reported bugs
3 issues- Freezing on black screen after intro
- Inability to complete certain levels due to glitches
- Disappearing save data after updates
Requested features
5 requests- More levels and content updates
- Ability to save progress mid-level
- Option to disable animations
- Landscape mode support on iPad
- In-game enemy encyclopedia
Zookeeper World
Reported bugs
3 issues- Levels with impossible objectives
- Inconsistent star rewards and scoring
- Freezing and crashes on certain devices
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to customize zoo layout more freely
- Option to turn off notifications and hints
- Increased inventory and item limit for zoo
- Faster animal upgrade and costume unlocking
- More levels and content updates
In-app purchases
Grindstone
No in-app purchases
Zookeeper World
No in-app purchases









