Comparison

Five in a row vs Pente Live

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

Head to head
About

Five in a row

This game challenges players to connect five marbles in a row on a rotating board. After each move, a quadrant of the board can be rotated, adding a strategic twist. Compete against a friend or the AI to achieve victory.

Highlights
  • Connect 5 marbles
  • Rotate board quadrants
  • Single-player vs AI
  • Two-player local mode
  • Strategic gameplay
Features
Read full description

Pentaballs is a game where the players' aim is to connect 5 marbles on a board, but after each move, you're able to rotate one of the 4 quadrants on the board. The first player to reach 5 wins! Play against your friend or the phone.

About

Pente Live

Explore various Pente and Gomoku variants with turn-based or live online play. Challenge AI opponents, join tournaments, and study game positions. Offers unique rule sets and capture mechanics for deep strategic gameplay.

Highlights
  • Multiple Pente and Gomoku variants
  • Turn-based and real-time online play
  • Play against AI opponents
  • Participate in tournaments
  • Study game database by position
  • Unique capture and poof mechanics
Features
Read full description

Pente is a board game that is easy to learn, difficult to master. Compete with players all over the world on a 19x19 board. There is - turn-based play, - realtime (live) play, - play against 2 different computer players, - participate in tournaments, - play King of the Hill and earn a crown, - search the game database by position for the most popular or best move! Gomoku: To win, place 5 (not more) of your stones in a straight continuous line (either horizontally, vertically or diagonally). Pente is like Gomoku but you can win by getting more than 5 in a row. In Pente you can capture stones by enclosing a pair of your opponent's stones. For example, if the stones are like this XOO and you place your stone so it becomes XOOX, then your opponents' stones are removed from the board, leaving X__X. You can also win at Pente by capturing 10 or more of your opponents stones. You can't play into a capture. Rated games have a "Tournament Rule". It restricts player 1's second move so that player 1's second move must be at least 3 intersections away from the center of the board. Keryo-Pente is like Pente but you can also capture 3 stones in a row. G-Pente restricts player 1's second move, like the tournament rule. It additionally prohibits playing on the 4th and 5th intersections away from the center of the board that are one the same horizontal or vertical line as player 1's first move. (These are the most common 2nd moves for white). D-Pente: Player 1 places 2 white and 2 black stones as a first move. Then player 2 decides to play as player 2, or decides to swap seats and take over as player 1! Afterwards, play continues like regular Pente. Poof-Pente: The main difference is that you can play into a capture! (e.g., from XO_X player plays XOOX) then the stones are "poofed" (removed from the board and counted as captures). Normal captures are still allowed and the number of captures to win remains at 10 stones. Up to 5 stones could be poofed in one move! Also note that my current implementation performs the following actions in sequence after a move: Check if move captured any opponents stones, if so remove stones from the board. Check if move creates a poof position, if so remove stones from the board. Check if player has a 5-in-a-row, if so the player wins. A player could capture and be poofed in the same move and the capture count could end up as 10-10. The game keeps going until one player has an advantage (i.e., gets more captured stones or gets five-in-a-row). There are no draws. Boat-Pente differs in the end game. Once a Pente is made (5 stones in a row), the game continues as long as the opponent is able to capture across the Pente! Capturing 5 pairs is still a win like in Pente and the tournament rule is used for rated games. Connect6: The goal is to be the first player to get 6 pieces in a row, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Player one plays one stone at the center of the board. After that each player gets to place two stones on the board at a time. DK-Pente is D-Pente with Keryo-Pente rules. O-Pente combines Keryo, Poof, and Boat Pente Go is also available on 3 different board sizes: 19x19, 13x13, and 9x9. Swap2-Pente is Pente with Swap2 rules. Swap2-Keryo is Keryo-Pente with Swap2 rules. ------ This app offers a 1 year auto-renewable subscription for $4.99 USD/year. Payment will be charged to your iTunes account, and your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. Prices may vary in countries other than the U.S. and are subject to change without notice. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during the active subscription period. If you don’t choose to purchase a subscription you can simply continue playing for free. The privacy policy and TOS can be found at https://pente.org/help/helpWindow.jsp?file=privacyPolicy

Screenshots

Five in a row3 screens
Pente Live3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Pente Live at every 3 days against Five in a row's every 6 months. Five in a row's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (64% vs 50%). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Five in a row sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pente Live sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Five in a row holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 322 and 341 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Five in a row's written reviews are positive against 50% of Pente Live's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Five in a row ships an update every 6 months, Pente Live every 3 days. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Five in a row versus Pente Live: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFive in a rowPente Live
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (322 ratings) — better4.3 (341 ratings)
Positive reviews64.3% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings322341 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB5 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperOval Software OyWalied Othman

Customer experience

Five in a row

All ratings321 ratings
Positive88.5%
Neutral5.0%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews84 reviews
Positive64.3%
Neutral13.1%
Negative22.6%

Pente Live

All ratings341 ratings
Positive84.2%
Neutral5.0%
Negative10.9%
Written reviews44 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral4.5%
Negative45.5%

User reviews

Five in a row

From 322 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fun and interesting strategy game
  • 👍 Mentally challenging and thought-provoking
  • 👍 Addictive and engaging gameplay
  • 👍 Clear graphics
  • 👍 Good free game

Room to improve

  • 😞 Too many ads
  • 😞 In-app purchases/premium model
  • 😞 AI is too smart/difficult to win against
  • 😞 Glitches and bugs
  • 😞 Boring for some users

Pente Live

From 341 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great Pente app
  • 👍 Good community
  • 👍 Play local or online
  • 👍 Excellent platform
  • 👍 Many variants available

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Grid too small for fingers
  • 🐛 Game play is arbitrary
  • 🐛 No learning curve
  • 🐛 Distracting ads
  • 🐛 Difficult to read

Bugs and requests

Five in a row

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App glitches
  • Doesn't let you twist a square
  • Game crashes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Remove ads and premium, unlock all modes
  • Support watchOS3
  • Add difficulty choices for AI
  • Add Wi-Fi or Bluetooth two-player option
  • Support Game Center

Pente Live

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • Drops stone in wrong spot
  • Move ends up in different position
  • Changes last location
  • Freezes
  • Bumps out of a game
Show 7 more
  • App down
  • Screen frozen
  • App freezes
  • App keeps crashing intermittently
  • Crashes after every game
  • App quits every time to start a game
  • Game froze

Requested features

9 requests
  • Replay button
  • Landscape mode on iPad
  • Slower AI response time
  • Improved UI
  • Take back move option
Show 4 more
  • Pinch to zoom and separate 'finish move' button
  • Dark mode
  • Option to disable ads
  • Sign in with AppleID or Google

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Five in a row

One-time1
  • Remove Ad$2.99
5 purchases

Pente Live

Subscriptions1
  • Pente.org subscription$4.991 Year
One-time4
  • One month subscriber benefits$1.99
  • 10 vacation days$2.99
  • Extra vacation days (30)$4.99
Show 1 more
  • 60 vacation days$7.99

Questions

Is Five in a row free?
Five in a row is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pente Live free?
Pente Live is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Five in a row or Pente Live?
Five in a row is rated higher. Five in a row averages 4.6 out of 5 from 322 ratings, while Pente Live averages 4.3 from 341 ratings.
Do Five in a row or Pente Live have ads?
Neither Five in a row nor Pente Live shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Five in a row or Pente Live?
Five in a row ships an update every 6 months, and Pente Live every 3 days. Most recently, Five in a row was updated on November 1, 2026 and Pente Live on November 1, 2026.

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