Esfera Chess vs Root Down
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Esfera Chess
Experience chess on a unique 3D spherical board with 132 hexagonal and pentagonal cells. Enjoy familiar pieces with entirely new strategic possibilities due to the curved surface. Play against AI, a friend locally, or learn with an interactive tutorial.
- 132-cell geodesic sphere board
- Familiar chess pieces, new strategy
- Local AI and pass-and-play modes
- Interactive 10-step tutorial
- Animated piece movements
- Full iPad support
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Chess reimagined on a sphere. Two armies clash on a geodesic world of 132 hexagonal and pentagonal cells — familiar pieces, completely new strategy. Every piece you know from chess is here — kings, queens, rooks, bishops, knights, and pawns — but the curved surface changes everything. There are no edges, no corners, and no safe back rank. Attacks come from every direction. PLAY LOCALLY Challenge the built-in AI, or pass-and-play with a friend on the same device. Pick your color before every game. LEARN An interactive 10-step tutorial teaches every piece type hands-on. Tap a piece to see where it can move. An in-game rules reference is always available. FEATURES - 132-cell geodesic sphere with translucent surface - Pinch to zoom, swipe to rotate, two-finger twist - Animated piece movements with auto-rotating globe - Cinematic intro sequence - Sound effects for moves, captures, and check - Full iPad support - No ads. No pay-to-win. Just chess on a sphere.
Root Down
An original abstract strategy game for two players with unique movement rules. Figure out how to move your pieces to capture your opponent's and win. Offers AI play and pass-and-play modes with variable setups.
- Abstract strategy gameplay
- Unique piece movement rules
- AI opponent
- Pass-and-play mode
- Variable game setups
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Root Down is an original abstract strategy game designed by Martin Grider for 2-players. It's rules about which pieces you can move are a little quirky, but once you figure it out, it's very quick to play, and has some interesting gameplay mechanics. In Root Down, you have two types of pieces. There are "kicker" pieces that must be next to a "root" piece to move. (Root pieces cannot move.) Kickers can only move exactly as far as the number of kickers next to the root. After a kicker moves, it "kicks" all of the neighboring pieces, then settles down into a new "root" piece. If you kick one of your own root pieces, it becomes another "kicker"! Kicking an opponent's root does the same, and if you kick it again before it has a chance to move, you'll to capture it! The game features an AI player, as well as pass-and-play options. There are several variable setups to chose from. Each one plays slightly different. Please use the "send feedback" button to send me your input, or email me: rootdown@abstractpuzzle.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Esfera Chess at 4.4 against Root Down's 4.0. Esfera Chess also leads on ratings volume (11 vs 3). Root Down's advantage is update cadence (every 27 months vs every 92 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 84%). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Esfera Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 3 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 84% of Esfera Chess's written reviews are positive against 100% of Root Down's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Esfera Chess ships an update every 92 months, Root Down every 27 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Esfera Chess | Root Down |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (11 ratings) — better | 4.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 92 months | Every 27 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Squz | Martin Grider |
Customer experience
Esfera Chess
Root Down
In-app purchases
Esfera Chess
No in-app purchases
Root Down
No in-app purchases









