Comparison

Viticulture vs Cartographers

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

Head to head
About

Viticulture

Manage a vineyard in pre-modern Tuscany, allocating workers and visitors to tasks across seasons. Expand your estate, plant vines, and fulfill wine orders to become the top winery owner. Enjoy single-player or multiplayer modes with global competition.

Highlights
  • Worker and visitor allocation
  • Seasonal tasks
  • Vineyard expansion
  • Wine order fulfillment
  • Single-player vs AI
  • Online multiplayer
  • Asynchronous gameplay
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

You find yourself in rustic, pre-modern Tuscany, where you’ve inherited a meager vineyard. You own a few plots of land, an old crush pad, a tiny cellar, 3 workers…and the dream of owning the best winery in Italy. Your job is to allocate your workers and helpful visitors to complete various tasks throughout the year. Each season is different on a vineyard, so the workers have different tasks they can take care of in the summer and winter. There’s competition over those tasks, and often the first worker to arrive at each one has an advantage over the rest. Using those workers and visitors, you can expand your vineyard by building structures, planting vines, and filling wine orders as you work towards the goal of owning the most successful winery in Tuscany. Features: • 1 to 6 players • Family friendly – non violent theme • Cross Platform • Easy tutorial to learn the game from scratch. • Single-player mode with 3 challenging levels of computer opponents. • Multiplayer games against your friends in friendly games. • Face players from all over the world in ranked multiplayer games online! • Worlwide leaderboard • Take your time in asynchronous game mode with push notifications and never miss a turn. • Analyze your best games or learn tricks from the best with playback • Uses the newest rules of the board game.

About

Cartographers

Become a royal cartographer tasked with mapping newly reclaimed lands for the Kingdom of Nalos. Fulfill royal edicts, strategically draw your territory, and outmaneuver rival outposts to gain the most reputation. Experience this tactical flip & write game digitally with multiple modes and global leaderboards.

Highlights
  • Map reclaimed northern lands
  • Fulfill royal edicts
  • Outmaneuver rival outposts
  • Tactical flip & write gameplay
  • Multiple game modes
  • Global weekly highscorelists
  • Collect achievements
Features
Read full description

The official Flip & Write companion to the board game hit! Step into the shoes of a royal cartographer and surveyor commissioned by Queen Gimnax. Your mission: explore, stake out, and immortalize the wild northern lands on parchment. In this strategic card game, you decide how to shape your territory—but beware: you are not alone in the wilderness! An Epic Adventure in the Roll Player Universe Cartographers brings the fascinating mechanics of the modern board game directly to your smartphone. Experience the tactical Flip & Write principle that has thrilled critics and fans worldwide and was nominated for the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres (Connoisseur Game of the Year) in 2020. Strategy Through Ever-Changing Decrees At the heart of this board game are four royal decrees. These are recombined in every match, making each game a unique puzzle. You must constantly adapt your strategy to squeeze the maximum score out of your lands: Diverse Scoring: Earn fame through the Gloomy Wood by skillfully enclosing forest patches, or use the Golden Granary to place farm fields on valuable ruins. Tactical Placement: In the Magician's Valley, score points by placing water and farmland near mighty mountains. Every hamlet and settlement must be cleverly planned to meet the Queen’s shifting demands. Seasonal Cycle: Priorities change through Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Only those who plan ahead will be named Master Cartographer at the end of the year. The Gameplay is Simple Flip: Each round, a new card is revealed, showing you landscapes and shapes. Write: Skillfully place these areas on your map. Use the space optimally to fulfill the conditions of the decrees. Score: Collect valuable reputation points, but watch out for monster ambushes! Monsters in the Borderlands A cartographer must be brave! The monsters never sleep. At regular intervals, you will encounter ambushes that thwart your plans. Monster fields will be discovered on your map—surround them quickly to minimize the damage to your reputation. Why You’ll Love "Cartographers": Official Adaptation: The faithful digital version of the popular board game by Thunderworks Games. Weekly Challenges: Compete with players from all over the world in global highscore lists. A new scenario awaits you every week! Three Game Modes: Choose between different difficulty levels and randomness factors—from relaxed puzzling to hardcore strategy. Achievements & Ranks: Collect achievements and rise from apprentice to legendary Royal Cartographer. Solo Fun & Competition: Perfect for a quick round in between or a deep strategic experience. Awards for the Original: 2020 – Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee 2019 – Golden Geek Best Solo Board Game Nominee 2019 – Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee 2019 – Cardboard Republic Socializer Laurel Nominee Are you ready to expand the borders of the realm? Grab your quill, draw your cards, and master the ultimate Flip & Write adventure. Whether you're a fan of board games, logic puzzles, or fantasy strategy, Cartographers offers tactical depth right in your pocket. Download the official app now and begin your journey through the northern lands!

Screenshots

Viticulture4 screens
Cartographers4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Viticulture at 3.7 against Cartographers's 3.3. Viticulture also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (55% vs 36%). Cartographers's advantage is price ($3.99 vs $8.99) and chart position (#50 vs #171). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Viticulture costs $8.99 and Cartographers $3.99 up front. Viticulture sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Cartographers 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

Viticulture holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 93 and 113 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of Viticulture's written reviews are positive against 36% of Cartographers's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Viticulture ships an update every 3 weeks, Cartographers every 3 months. Both last shipped on September 26, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Viticulture versus Cartographers: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterViticultureCartographers
Price$8.99$3.99 — better
Rating3.7 (93 ratings) — better3.3 (113 ratings)
Positive reviews54.5% of reviews — better36.2% of reviews
Number of ratings93113 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#171#50 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size322 MB47 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDIGIDICEDBrettspielWelt

Customer experience

Viticulture

All ratings93 ratings
Positive60.2%
Neutral15.1%
Negative24.7%
Written reviews132 reviews
Positive54.5%
Neutral22.0%
Negative23.5%

Cartographers

All ratings113 ratings
Positive52.2%
Neutral15.9%
Negative31.9%
Written reviews163 reviews
Positive36.2%
Neutral19.6%
Negative44.2%

User reviews

Viticulture

From 93 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Faithful recreation of beloved board game
  • 🎮 Engaging gameplay with strategic depth
  • 🎨 Good graphics and visual presentation
  • 🎵 Nice background music
  • 📱 Convenient portable play anywhere

Room to improve

  • 🐢 AI turns extremely slow and tedious
  • 🎮 Clunky and unintuitive user interface
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and game freezes
  • ❌ Poor UI conventions and design patterns
  • ⏱️ Excessive confirmation buttons required

Cartographers

From 113 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Faithful adaptation of the board game
  • 🚀 Great solo experience
  • 💡 Helpful visual cues for gameplay

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and unstable app
  • 🔒 Login and account issues
  • 🔋 Performance and battery drain problems
  • 👎 Lacking key features like multiplayer

Bugs and requests

Viticulture

Reported bugs

20 issues
  • Game crashes on startup or during gameplay
  • Unable to plant grapes despite having buildings
  • Special workers cannot be selected at correct times
  • Merchant worker action not functioning
  • Game hangs when multiple human players with AI
Show 15 more
  • AI gets stuck and requires force quit to progress
  • Blank tableau display
  • Missing windmill points for summer actions
  • Visitor cards appearing back-to-back duplicates
  • Motivator card not allowing all players to respond
  • Summer volunteer crew card not functioning
  • Build button greyed out despite sufficient coins
  • Cannot purchase multiple workers in one season
  • Game ends abruptly without warning
  • Undo function causes game freeze
  • Games not syncing across devices
  • Main screen cannot find games that side menu shows
  • Card selection prompts disappear too quickly
  • Unclear when multi-action cards end turn
  • Loading screen hangs indefinitely

Requested features

16 requests
  • Tuscany expansion (now available)
  • Moors and Visitors expansion
  • Auto-save functionality for crashes
  • Improved notification system
  • Configurable turn timers for casual play
Show 11 more
  • Separate volume controls for music and effects
  • Replay button for quick rematches
  • Better game history and turn tracking
  • Simultaneous action selection (not turn-based)
  • Clearer worker placement location labels
  • Guided tutorial for UI elements
  • Pause functionality for async games
  • Undo multiple moves (not just current decision)
  • Dark mode option
  • Better iPad optimization
  • Improved app icon design

Cartographers

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezes and crashes
  • Incorrect tile placement and scoring
  • Inconsistent save/resume functionality
  • Registration and login problems

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add online/local multiplayer modes
  • Implement undo/rollback functionality
  • Improve tutorial and in-game help
  • Add support for expansions and new maps

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Viticulture

One-time1
  • Tuscany Essential Edition$8.99
1 purchases

Cartographers

One-time1
  • Cartographers Heroes$1.99

Questions

Is Viticulture free?
Viticulture costs $8.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Cartographers free?
Cartographers costs $3.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Viticulture or Cartographers?
Viticulture is rated higher. Viticulture averages 3.7 out of 5 from 93 ratings, while Cartographers averages 3.3 from 113 ratings.
Do Viticulture or Cartographers have ads?
Neither Viticulture nor Cartographers shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Viticulture or Cartographers?
Viticulture ships an update every 3 weeks, and Cartographers every 3 months. Most recently, Viticulture was updated on September 26, 2026 and Cartographers on September 26, 2026.
Which is more popular, Viticulture or Cartographers?
Viticulture currently peaks at #171 in the App Store charts, and Cartographers at #50. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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