Comparison

100 Squares vs Active Chess

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

Head to head
About

100 Squares

Fill a 100-box grid by strategically placing numbers, leaving specific gaps horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. Compete with others by checking and adding your scores to a network leaderboard. Enjoy a simple yet challenging puzzle experience.

Highlights
  • Fill 100 boxes
  • Strategic placement rules
  • Help mode available
  • Undo moves
  • Network scores and comments
  • Leaderboard functionality
Features
Read full description

Rule of the game Your goal : To fill the 100 boxes! - Begin with a box of your choice - You have to fill the grid leaving 2 boxes for horizontal and vertical, and 1 for diagonals. Help mode is available. - You can cancel a play many times, but not twice. Good luck! - Check out the scores on the network and add yours with a breif comment. Warning don't shake too hard ! © JF Pautex 2010-2017

About

Active Chess

Experience a unique chess variant with randomized starting positions and modified rules for dynamic gameplay. Develop your strategic thinking and planning skills in this engaging board game.

Highlights
  • Randomized starting positions
  • Modified chess rules
  • Strategic gameplay
  • Cognitive skill development
  • Choice of board sizes
  • Play against a chess bot
Features
Read full description

Playing chess regularly develops human cognitive abilities, such as: logical thinking, attentiveness, memory, ability to analyse and plan. However, in classical chess there is one drawback that does not contribute to the interest in the game on the part of millions of potential players. For thousands of years of the existence of chess, all combinations, the so-called openings, that can appear on the chessboard at the beginning of the game, have been developed and well studied. A professional player who knows several of these openings will certainly gain an advantage over an ordinary player, even if his cognitive abilities are obviously lower. Active Chess got its name because it excludes the use of different preliminary preparations in different game situations, especially at the beginning of the game. In active chess, there is no well-known traditional arrangement of pieces, and this precludes the use of a library of openings. From the first moves of the game, an active game begins, the result of which depends on the player's cognitive abilities, his ability to think and a bit of luck. The luck factor is associated with the formation of the starting position randomly for each player. But in order not to depend on capricious luck, the player can independently form his position on the board. At the same time he does not know what position his opponent will have. This gives a special sharpness of the game. In Active Chess, almost all the rules of classical chess are followed with a few exceptions: • Rule for castling of kings is absent since a player, when creating an initial position, can place his king in that part of the board and among other pieces, where he will be in the greatest safety. • Chess pieces can be placed on the first three ranks of each side in the order that suits the player. • A special mark is applied to the image of the pawns of the first move, which disappears after the first move. • Bishops can be of the same color field or different color fields at the choice of the player. Active Chess has to a choice of two options for boards 8x8 and 8x10. In the current version of the application, only a game with a chess bot is available. The application has ads are shown after the end of the game. The winner does not see ads! You can remove all Ads and limit of preset positions by subscription. Enjoy Game! Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: http://books.virenter.com/policy.php

Screenshots

100 Squares3 screens
Active Chess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Active Chess at 5.0 against 100 Squares's 3.0. 100 Squares's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (8.1 vs 15.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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

Both are free to download. Active Chess sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. 100 Squares asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Active Chess holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

100 Squares ships an update every 21 months, Active Chess every 39 months. The most recent releases landed on June 5, 2026 and August 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
100 Squares versus Active Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter100 SquaresActive Chess
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 21 months — betterEvery 39 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS8.1 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJean-Francois PautexAlexey Polunin

Customer experience

100 Squares

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Active Chess

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

100 Squares

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Active Chess

Subscriptions3
  • Unlimited Positions 1 Week$0.997 Days
  • Unlimited Positions 1 Month$1.991 Month
  • Unlimited Positions 3 Month$4.993 Months

Questions

Is 100 Squares free?
100 Squares is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Active Chess free?
Active Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, 100 Squares or Active Chess?
Active Chess is rated higher. 100 Squares averages 3.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Active Chess averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do 100 Squares or Active Chess have ads?
Neither 100 Squares nor Active Chess shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 100 Squares or Active Chess?
100 Squares ships an update every 21 months, and Active Chess every 39 months. Most recently, 100 Squares was updated on June 5, 2026 and Active Chess on August 10, 2026.

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