Comparison

Ancient Games vs Beyond Chess D20

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

Head to head
About

Ancient Games

Explore and play a collection of ancient board games brought back to life with modern app design. Enjoy offline and online play, collect customizable game pieces, and tackle fun challenges. Save progress across all games with cloud saves.

Highlights
  • Play multiple ancient games in one app
  • Offline and online multiplayer
  • AI, friend, and random player matches
  • Collectible game pieces and boards
  • Challenges with rule variants
  • Free cloud saves across games
Features
Read full description

/!\ If you play more than one of my Ancient Games, I suggest you delete the individual apps and install this one. It will allow you to play them all and save disk storage. /!\ -Languages : English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Turkish. The past is full of fascinating games that haves been mostly forgotten. The Ancient Games collection aims to resurrect them as a meticulously crafted mix between what a player wants from an historical game and what he/she expects of a modern application. Features : -Play against the IA, friends and random players from around the world (Coming back soon) -Play Online & Offline. -Multiple collectibles : boards, game pieces, dice, nameplates, etc. -Challenges (Fun rule variants) -Free cloudsave across the collection : your progress in one game is available in all the others. -Much more features to come! Currently, the collection is comprised of four games : the Royal Game of Ur, Senet, XII Scripta and Puluc, but 40 games are in the works! You can see the roadmap here : https://trello.com/b/QYtOXwJi/ancient-games-roadmap Each game will be added to the Ancient Games app and will have its own individual app as well. The privacy policy has been updated in accordance to the latest data protection laws.

About

Beyond Chess D20

Features
Read full description

Beyond Chess is a strategy game that takes the core of chess and adds one missing ingredient: uncertainty. Choose how you want to play: CLASSIC MODE Pure chess. Deterministic captures. No randomness. STATISTICAL MODE Captures are resolved by probability. Each piece has a fixed chance to capture other pieces, sometimes you win, sometimes you bounce back. No victory is guaranteed. RPG DICE MODE (D20) Every capture attempt rolls a d20: • 1: Critical fail — your piece self-destructs • 2–5: Capture fails — your piece stays in its original square • 6–19: Normal capture • 20: Wololo conversion — the target piece turns to your color while your piece stays in place ONLINE PvP Play online matches in public or private rooms, choose a nickname and jump in. (Online play requires an internet connection.) If you enjoy chess, tabletop RNG, and tactical risk management, Beyond Chess is built for you.

Screenshots

Ancient Games3 screens
Beyond Chess D204 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Ancient Games at Free against Beyond Chess D20's $9.99. Ancient Games also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 14.0). Beyond Chess D20's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 11) and ads (none vs shown). On update cadence 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

Ancient Games is free to download; Beyond Chess D20 costs $9.99 up front. Ancient Games sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Beyond Chess D20 asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ancient Games ships an update every 3 weeks, Beyond Chess D20 monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Ancient Games versus Beyond Chess D20: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAncient GamesBeyond Chess D20
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating4.6 (287 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings287 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size212 MB187 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSullivan BousiniereOMER GULERYUZ

Bugs and requests

Ancient Games

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Game freezes after match completion
  • Screen goes dark and becomes unresponsive post-game
  • Ad removal purchase only lasts one game
  • Paid ad removal still shows advertisements
  • Game continues playing after player wins
Show 6 more
  • Cannot make legal moves despite availability
  • XII Scripta piece stacking rules not enforced correctly
  • Purchased board content inaccessible due to subscription requirement
  • Report button links to Mail app instead of App Store
  • Text rendering issues making content hard to read
  • Online play frequently unavailable or non-functional

Requested features

10 requests
  • Two-player local multiplayer mode
  • Friends list and challenge system
  • Leaderboards and ranking system
  • Win/loss statistics and game history tracking
  • Ability to play offline while waiting for online opponents
Show 5 more
  • Permanent one-time purchase option instead of subscription
  • More ancient games added to collection
  • Harder difficulty levels beyond current maximum
  • Better XP progression for unlocking boards
  • Improved customer support contact options

Beyond Chess D20

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Ancient Games

Subscriptions1
  • AG+$3.991 Month
One-time9
  • Ancient Artifact$0.99
  • Purchase Game Edition2 variants$1.99
  • Dawn of Civilization DLC$2.99
Show 6 more
  • Purchase Game Edition$2.99
  • Skeleton Key$2.99
  • Ur Divine Edition$3.99
  • Purchase Game Edition$3.99
  • Purchase Game Edition$10.99
  • Royal Pass$12.99
None

Beyond Chess D20

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Ancient Games free?
Ancient Games is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Beyond Chess D20 free?
Beyond Chess D20 costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Ancient Games or Beyond Chess D20 have ads?
Ancient Games shows ads; Beyond Chess D20 does not.
Which is updated more often, Ancient Games or Beyond Chess D20?
Ancient Games ships an update every 3 weeks, and Beyond Chess D20 monthly. Most recently, Ancient Games was updated on October 24, 2026 and Beyond Chess D20 on October 25, 2026.

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