Pinochle vs Crates!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pinochle
Experience a full-featured card game with configurable options for single- or double-deck play. Enjoy bidding, melding, and trick-taking against AI opponents. Updates include user-suggested features and AI improvements.
- Single- or double-deck play
- Configurable bidding options
- Meld bids and shoot the moon
- Play with AI opponents
- User-suggested features
- AI improvements
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Full-featured, ad-supported pinochle app for iPhone and iPad. Play single- or double-deck with configurable options including meld bids and shoot the moon. Pinochle is updated frequently with user-suggested features and AI improvements. Also available in the App Store is a paid version with NO advertising. Pinochle is a card game played with a 48- or 80-card deck of 9s, 10s, jacks, queens, kings and aces. The game consists of a repeating sequence of bidding (for the right to name the trump suit and optionally to pass cards), melding, and trick-taking. Players score points by melding various card combinations and by taking tricks. In this version, one human player (South) plays with a computer partner (North) and two computer opponents (West and East). BIDDING: Each player bids the number of points she thinks she can make with her hand. Player to the dealer's left is required to bid, and bidding proceeds to the left. Players who pass are out of the bidding for that hand. A typical high bid is 35 points (for 48 cards) or 60 (for 80 cards). High bidder names the trump suit for the hand and optionally exchanges cards with her partner. MELDING: Players get points by showing various card combinations. A run (or straight) in the trump suit is worth 15 points. Aces in all four suits is 10 points. Pinochle (queen of spades and jack of diamonds) is 4 points, or 30 points for double pinochle (two of each). TRICKS: Play begins with the high bidder, and proceeds around the table to the left, 4 cards per trick. Each trick has a winner, who gets 1 point per ace, ten or king. SCORING: If the high bidder fails to make the bid (his team's total meld plus trick points is less than the bid), the bid amount is subtracted from the team score. Play continues until one team goes out.
Crates!
A physics-based puzzle game where players must strategically remove crates to safely land a yellow crate on a brown one. New crate types with unique behaviors are introduced every five levels, increasing the challenge. The game features 75 levels and a variety of crate mechanics.
- Physics-based gameplay
- Strategic crate removal
- Progressive level difficulty
- Introduction of new crate types
- 75 challenging levels
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The goal of the game is to place the yellow crate safely on top of a brown crate. You have to remove all the other crates (by tapping them) in order to complete the level. The level will restart if the yellow crate hits the ground. Every 5th level, a new type of crate is revealed. New crates have different attributes and different behaviors when you tap them. The Game Currently Contains: - 75 Levels - 13 Types of Crates
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Crates! at 100% against Pinochle's 54%. Crates! also leads on ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). Pinochle's advantage is ratings volume (26K vs 2) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). On price, update cadence, 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.
Pinochle holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pinochle has 26K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 54% of Pinochle's written reviews are positive against 100% of Crates!'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Pinochle ships an update monthly, Crates! every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pinochle | Crates! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (26K ratings) — better | 4.5 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 53.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 26K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | fishdog.net | Dag Andersen |
Customer experience
Pinochle
Crates!
Bugs and requests
Pinochle
Reported bugs
4 issues- Partner passing poor cards instead of trumps
- Partner overbidding or underbidding
- Opponents getting unrealistic meld hands
- Computer players making suboptimal plays
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to set minimum bid value
- Partner bidding and play options
- More realistic card dealing
- Online multiplayer mode
Crates!
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Pinochle
No in-app purchases
Crates!
No in-app purchases
