Comparison

Strategery vs Deep Green

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

Head to head
About

Strategery

Engage in a rapid world domination game on your iOS device. Compete against AI or friends in strategic battles with customizable options and randomly generated maps for endless replayability.

Highlights
  • Offensive and defensive strategy gameplay
  • Play for short or long sessions
  • Four difficulty settings
  • Online battles with matchmaking
  • Pass-and-play multiplayer
  • Automatically saves games
  • Randomly generated maps
  • Customizable gameplay options
Features
Read full description

Dominate the world. One blob at a time. World domination isn't a very fashionable ambition these days, but that doesn't mean you can't pretend. Strategery is a battle between your pegs and the green, orange, blue, and red blobs that dare to stand in your way. It's also a little bit of App Store history. Strategery first launched in 2008, back when the App Store was barely a few months old. Macworld named it the Best Strategy Game of 2009. Slate called it their latest iPhone gaming habit. Daring Fireball said the gameplay had a great feel. And a Macworld reviewer named Lex Friedman wrote that there was no game he played on his iPhone more. That reviewer now makes Strategery. Life is funny. HOW IT'S PLAYED The world is made of blobs. Every blob holds pegs — your pegs, ideally. Pick a blob you own, point at a neighboring blob you don't, and roll. More pegs, better odds. Win the roll and the blob changes color. Lose it and, well, you still have your other blobs. Keep going until the whole map is your color and everyone else is looking for the rematch button. Your turn, your dice, your questionable decisions Bigger stacks of pegs win more rolls. Usually. Every blob you hold earns you more pegs Last color standing dominates the world. Politely. THREE WAYS TO CONQUER Solo: Play against the computer. It has no friends, no feelings, and no plans this evening. It will happily lose to you all night. (Or not. You choose how clever it gets to be.) Online: Play against your friends. Take turns from wherever you are. A push notification lets you know when it's your move, or when someone has done something regrettable to your blobs. Pass and play: One phone, one couch, several rivals. Hand it over, let them try, and try not to gloat. CLASSIC OR CHAOS Classic is the game you remember: dice, blobs, and your own poor judgment. Chaos adds starred blobs. Capture one and the wheel spins. Your conquest has consequences. Either way, you pick how much world there is to dominate. A WAR WITH NO CASUALTIES Blobs don't bleed. Pegs don't feel pain. Nothing explodes, nobody gets hurt, and the only thing that ever gets conquered is a colorful shape on a map. Somebody's pride may be wounded when you take their last blob, but that's between the two of you. For iPhone and iPad. Contains no violence, several dice, a healthy number of blobs, and a reasonable amount of whimsy. Strategery was originally designed by Sumul Shah, Courtland Idstrom, and Peter Ju. This version comes from Lex Friedman, who is one person and would be delighted by a rating or review. It's not strategy. It's Strategery.

About

Deep Green

This app provides a classical chess experience with a clean, native interface and customizable piece designs. It supports open game formats, offers a unique chess engine with adjustable strength, and features a private, ad-free environment.

Highlights
  • Clean, native user interface
  • Customizable chess piece designs
  • Open game format (PGN/FEN)
  • Adjustable strength chess engine
  • Private and ad-free experience
  • System-level integration
Read full description

A no-nonsense classical chess app. - CLEAN UI: Deep Green offers a distraction-free experience in a clean, native user interface – now with the Liquid Glass design on iOS 26. - CUSTOM PIECE DESIGN: Beautiful chess set designed specifically for Deep Green and rendered at high resolution in both outline and 3D throughout the app. - MADE FOR IPAD: Dedicated menu bar, multiple windows, and refined trackpad, mouse, and Apple Pencil support. Squares highlight as you hover over the board. - TIGHT SYSTEM INTEGRATION: System-level sharing, drag and drop, AirDrop, undo/redo, contextual menus, Quick Look previews of chess files, Dark Mode, high contrast support and more. - OPEN GAME FORMAT: Games can be shared, saved, copied, pasted, imported, exported in the ubiquitous, open source PGN and FEN formats. Deep Green can open chess files straight from the Files app. - UNIQUE CHESS ENGINE: Enjoyable opponent with adjustable strength, praised for its humane gameplay, developed for Deep Green on the Apple Newton more than 25 years ago. - TWEAKABLE APPEARANCE: Engage the knights in the game by having them turn towards the center of the board, apply a humane, slightly random placement of the pieces. - IN YOUR LANGUAGE: Available in English, German, and Danish. - MODERN ARCHITECTURE: Written in Swift as a fully native app – modern, maintainable, and prepared for the future. - PRIVATE, AD-FREE: No ads, no tracking, no analytics, no nonsense. If you like Deep Green, please rate it favorably on the App Store.

Screenshots

Strategery4 screens
Deep Green4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Deep Green at Free against Strategery's $4.99. Deep Green also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). Strategery's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 4 months) and chart position (#27 vs unranked). On rating, review sentiment, ads 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

Deep Green is free to download; Strategery costs $4.99 up front. Strategery sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Deep Green asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.9 for Strategery against 3.9 for Deep Green. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 334 and 75 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Strategery's written reviews are positive against 66% of Deep Green's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Strategery ships an update daily, Deep Green every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Strategery versus Deep Green: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStrategeryDeep Green
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating3.9 (334 ratings)3.9 (75 ratings)
Positive reviews68.8% of reviews — better66.0% of reviews
Number of ratings334 — better75
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#27 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size53 MB24 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLex FriedmanCocoa Stuff

Customer experience

Strategery

All ratings334 ratings
Positive71.0%
Neutral2.7%
Negative26.3%
Written reviews465 reviews
Positive68.8%
Neutral7.3%
Negative23.9%

Deep Green

All ratings75 ratings
Positive70.7%
Neutral5.3%
Negative24.0%
Written reviews212 reviews
Positive66.0%
Neutral9.9%
Negative24.1%

User reviews

Strategery

From 334 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Online play
  • 💡 Challenging gameplay
  • 👍 Simple and addictive
  • 👍 Great strategy game
  • 👍 Excellent game

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and bugs
  • 🔋 Battery draining
  • 🔒 Online play issues
  • 🔒 Cannot create account
  • 🔒 Multiplayer not working

Deep Green

From 75 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌟 Elegant and polished design
  • 🤖 Strong chess engine
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🎨 Beautiful graphics and animations
  • 🕹️ Smooth gameplay and controls

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • ⚠️ Lack of features (e.g. game saving, online play)
  • 🔍 Difficulty settings too challenging for some users
  • 🔕 Missing audio/sound effects
  • 📏 Board/pieces not optimized for larger screens

Bugs and requests

Strategery

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezes when opponent is eliminated
  • Armies disappear after switching apps
  • Cannot log in or create account
  • Game crashes on newer iOS versions

Requested features

8 requests
  • Pinch to zoom for maps
  • More map options and sizes
  • Ability to redeploy armies
  • Online multiplayer with random opponents
  • Ability to play more than 2 players online
Show 3 more
  • Stats and leaderboards
  • Automatic army placement option
  • Ability to skip replay at end of game

Deep Green

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes when promoting pawns
  • Board orientation issues when rotating device
  • Unresponsive UI elements
  • Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Game saving and loading functionality
  • Online/multiplayer mode
  • Customizable board/piece themes
  • Difficulty settings for beginners
  • Indicators for check, checkmate, and draw

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Strategery

One-time2
  • $3 tip$2.99
  • War Chest$9.99
None

Deep Green

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Strategery free?
Strategery costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Deep Green free?
Deep Green is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Strategery or Deep Green?
Strategery and Deep Green are both rated 3.9 out of 5 on the App Store, from 334 and 75 ratings respectively.
Do Strategery or Deep Green have ads?
Neither Strategery nor Deep Green shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Strategery or Deep Green?
Strategery ships an update daily, and Deep Green every 4 months. Most recently, Strategery was updated on September 29, 2026 and Deep Green on September 30, 2026.

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