Ships Squared vs Balls Challenge
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ships Squared
A logic puzzle game where players deduce the hidden layout of thirteen ships on a 10x10 grid. It offers varying difficulty levels, from casual to intensely challenging, and allows for custom game creation and sharing with friends.
- Deduce hidden ship layouts
- 10x10 grid gameplay
- 12 difficulty levels
- Unlimited custom games
- Design and share own layouts
- Workout for the mind
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Ships Squared (Ships²) is a new game exclusive to the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch. You probably grew out of Battleships a long time ago. Now it's time to grow back in. Because Ships² is for adults, not children. Ships² is addictive. If you let it, it will take over your mind and ruin your life. Thirteen ships are laid out on a 10x10 board according to strict rules. You fire at squares. You get the results. You deduce where the ships are. And you draw them. Unlike traditional Battleships, you don't actually need to sink the ships: it's deducing their layout that is the achievement. There are 12 levels, all using the same basic rules. The lightest ones can be played casually while waiting for the bus. The middling ones take from 5 to 20 minutes of concentrated thought. The heaviest levels demand intense, rigorous, error-free reasoning for half an hour or more. Only a few geniuses will attempt the top level, which takes two hours at least. Ships² is not a game of chance but of reasoning. It's a workout for the mind. Like all workouts, you mustn't overdo it. As it says on the bottle: please think responsibly! Ships² can create an unlimited number of different games for you to play. You can design your own layouts too, and send them to your friends to see how well they do. Full, illustrated instructions are included as part of the game.
Balls Challenge
A puzzle game where players rotate mazes to guide balls into a pipe. It features simple controls and engaging gameplay for a fun challenge.
- Maze rotation gameplay
- Ball guiding mechanics
- Simple controls
- Engaging puzzle challenges
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Rotate the mazes to move the balls into the pipe! The game has simple controls and excellent gameplay!
Screenshots
Verdict
Ships Squared and Balls Challenge both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 80% of Ships Squared's written reviews are positive against 0% of Balls Challenge's. Ships Squared also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 7 months). On price, rating, in-app purchases 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
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 — 5.0 for Ships Squared against 5.0 for Balls Challenge. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ships Squared has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of Ships Squared's written reviews are positive against 0% of Balls Challenge's.
Ships Squared ships an update every 6 weeks, Balls Challenge every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and August 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ships Squared | Balls Challenge |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (5 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.3 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 170 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Universalis Publishing | Sergei Shendrikov |
Customer experience
Ships Squared
Balls Challenge
In-app purchases
Ships Squared
No in-app purchases
Balls Challenge
No in-app purchases
