Little Go vs iMaki
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Little Go
Play the strategic game of Go on your iPhone or iPad. Challenge a human opponent or test your skills against a powerful AI. Customize game settings, analyze moves, and save your progress.
- Multiple board sizes (7x7 to 19x19)
- Play against AI or human opponent
- Adjustable AI strength
- Score calculation (area/territory)
- Handicap stone placement
- Customizable rulesets
- Save and load games
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Little Go is a free and open source iOS application that lets you play the game of Go on the iPhone or iPad. You can play against another human (on the same device), or against the computer. The computer player is powered by the open source software library Fuego (http://fuego.sf.net/). The minimum requirement for running this version of Little Go is iOS 16.0. Features: - Board sizes between 7x7 and 19x19 (start a new game to change the board size) - Let the computer player suggest a move or immediately play the move for you - Calculate the score at any time during the game (area scoring is the default, territory scoring can be selected at the start of a new game) - Adjust the computer's playing strength and resign behaviour by selecting from a number of presets, or by fine-tuning advanced settings - Play even games, or games with 2-9 handicap stones (fixed stone placement) - Select from 5 pre-defined rulesets when you start a new game, or adjust game rules to your preference (komi, ko rule, area/territory scoring system, number of passes to end game, resume play by alternating/non-alternating play, four passes end game) - Optionally play with time limits (Main time only, Overtime only, Main time + Overtime), with a choice from 5 Overtime systems - Place arbitrary black and white stones for initial board setup before a game starts - View board positions for moves played earlier during the game - View and create game variations - Discard moves (aka "undo") - Display move numbers and coordinate labels - Zoom & scroll board - Create and edit board and move annotations (e.g. good/bad move, good position for black/white, etc.) and add textual notes to a position - Mark intersections on the board with symbols, markers and labels, and draw arrows or lines on the board - Display player influence (aka territory statistics) for an estimate who owns an area - Computer vs. computer game for entertainment - Save & load games to/from the archive using the SGF file format - Support for almost all properties of the SGF file format, with strict conformance to the specification - Use file sharing to transfer saved games from your iOS device to your computer, and vice versa - Import/export game files from/to other apps on your device (e.g. Mail, DropBox) - In-app user manual - Submit bug report email from inside the app (yes, this *is* a feature :-)) - For the technically inclined: Watch what happens behind the scenes when Little Go and Fuego talk to each other over the Go Text Protocol (GTP) Your contribution in any form (coding, UI design, testing, bug reports, creating an app video preview, website design) is welcome - please contact me or visit the support website to find out more. A note about the project state: Several years of development have gone into Little Go since its inception in January 2011. The app now has a feature set that is, I believe, quite nice :-) for a free program. My main focus therefore lies on fixing any remaining bugs (of which I am sure there are plenty) and keeping the app running under future versions of iOS. Little Go is released under the Apache License 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).
iMaki
Score points by strategically removing groups of same-colored tiles. Advance through increasingly challenging levels by clearing enough tiles. Utilize special tools to aid your decisions and customize the game's appearance.
- Strategic tile removal
- Score multiplier for larger groups
- Level progression
- In-game tools
- Appearance customization
- Cross-device play
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A fun, deceptively simple little game that rewards you for strategic thinking. Score points by removing groups of two or more same-colored tiles. The larger you can make a group before you remove it, the more points you score. Advance to another level by clearing enough tiles on the current board. The higher the level you get to, the more points you can rack up, but the more challenging the board becomes. That simple premise can keep you thoroughly absorbed. iMaki's tools let you make strategic decisions to keep a game going... as long as you don't use them up too soon or wait too long to use them. Plus: • Customize iMaki's appearance with different display modes and color palettes • Use tools to control your fate • Earn more tools with good moves • Play on iPhone, iPad or iPod touch
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: iMaki at 100% against Little Go's 50%. iMaki also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.3). Little Go's advantage is price (Free vs $0.99) and ratings volume (121 vs 5). On update cadence, ads, 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
Little Go is free to download; iMaki costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
iMaki holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Little Go has 121 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Little Go's written reviews are positive against 100% of iMaki's.
Little Go ships an update every 4 months, iMaki every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Little Go | iMaki |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 3.3 (121 ratings) | 5.0 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 121 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 51 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Patrick Naf Moser | Dennis Birch |
Customer experience
Little Go
iMaki
Bugs and requests
Little Go
Reported bugs
9 issues- Cannot pass to end the game
- Human player cannot place stones (sometimes)
- AI makes illegal moves
- AI resigns too early
- Undo button glitches
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- Game crashes
- AI plays the same game repeatedly
- Scoring inaccuracies
- Forward/fast forward buttons too close
Requested features
7 requests- Add a tutorial for beginners
- Improve UI clarity and intuitiveness
- Add a demo board for teaching
- Add a rematch option
- Add Game Center support for turn-based matches
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Option to turn off auto-scoring
- Add a Windows program version
iMaki
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Little Go
No in-app purchases
iMaki
No in-app purchases









