Caldera Tropics vs Sprouts+
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Caldera Tropics
A puzzle game where you manipulate the terrain to push robots into water or off the map. Strategically move tiles to trigger enemy actions and clear levels without taking damage.
- Terrain manipulation gameplay
- Push enemies into water
- Destroy enemies by pushing them off-edge
- Strategic enemy action timers
- Level-based progression
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A game inspired by Into the Breach and Baba is You in which you push enemy robots into water by moving the earth beneath your feet! Push tiles by tapping an adjacent tile in your desired direction. When you do, your tile pushes every other solid (non-water) tile in front of you in that direction. You cannot, however, push toward a mountain tile. Whenever you move, each enemy's action timer decreases by one. When it reaches zero, they attack the endangered space(s) in front of them. Destroy enemies or tiles by pushing them off of the edge or into chasms. Destroy all enemies without dying to complete the level! Credits Created by Munro Hoberman and Lionel Miele-Herndon Music by Antti Luode Thanks to Gravity Sounds for some sound effects Special Thanks to Kurt Bieg, Henry Lam, and the rest of our playtesters and classmates.
Sprouts+
This app offers a digital rendition of a classic mathematical strategy game. Players take turns drawing lines between dots, adding new dots and strategically encircling areas to limit opponent moves. The goal is to be the last player to draw a valid line.
- Classic mathematical game
- Turn-based gameplay
- Line drawing mechanics
- Dot connection strategy
- Multiplayer options
- In-app purchases for tokens
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Sprouts is a mathematical game invented in 1967 by John H. Conway and Michael S. Paterson. The rules are simple. Two players start with a certain number of Dots. They take turns drawing a Line connecting any two Dots or connecting a Dot back onto itself. After each Line is drawn an additional Dot is added along the newly drawn Line. No Line can cross another Line. A Dot can have up to three Lines connected to it. The players take turns drawing a Line until no additional Lines can be drawn. The player who drew the last Line wins the game. The app color codes each Dot to indicate if it has three lines connected to it, is reachable by another Dot or is blocked by lines and cannot be reached. The strategy of the game is to divide the Dots into M groups by encircling Dots so that Lines cannot be connected to them from Dots in the other groups. M starts at 1 and increases as the players draw Lines that encircle Dots to form additional groups. Note that each time a Line is drawn, it fills two connections on preexisting Dots and it creates a new Dot that has one additional connection so the total number of connections is decreased by one (i.e. -2 + 1 = -1) for each new Line drawn. Note also that the last Line drawn in each encircled group will always generate a new Dot with one unfilled connection. If the game starts with N Dots that represents 3*N unfilled connections and there can therefore be 3*N Lines drawn minus one Line for each of the M groups formed during the game. This number will be even if N-M is even (2*N is always even) and odd if N-M is odd. To be the last player to draw a Line, the player who plays first will want to form M groups such that N-M is odd while the player who plays second will want to form M' groups such that N-M' is even. The app allows you to play with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 Dots. Two Dot games are unlimited. Other games require a Token. The game comes with 20 Tokens. Additional Tokens can be purchased through an IAP: 25 Tokens for $1, 100 Tokens for $2 (approximately). The game can be played on one device or on two connected devices connected through local WiFi or the Game Center. Using the Game Center you can invite friends and use SharePlay to incorporate a FaceTime window and voice communication. Alternatively you can play with a random player at a matching skill level.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Sprouts+ at 5.0 against Caldera Tropics's 1.7. Sprouts+ also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 26 months). Caldera Tropics's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (12 vs 1). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Sprouts+ sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Caldera Tropics asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sprouts+ holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Caldera Tropics has 12 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Caldera Tropics ships an update every 26 months, Sprouts+ every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Caldera Tropics | Sprouts+ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.7 (12 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 13.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 26 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 89 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ken Herndon | Peter Kramer |
Customer experience
Caldera Tropics
Sprouts+
In-app purchases
Caldera Tropics
No in-app purchases
Sprouts+
- Package of 25 Tokens$0.99
- Package of 100 Tokens$1.99









