Powder Game vs Golly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Powder Game
Explore a physics sandbox where you can simulate the interactions of various elements like water, fire, and gunpowder. Witness unique reactions and emergent phenomena as different 'dots' collide and influence each other.
- Physics simulation with powder elements
- Over 30 different dot variations
- Simulate element reactions
- Explosion effects
- Plant growth simulation
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Imagine the cool phenomenon when the wind blows the falling leaves. This game physics simulates the phenomenon with powder (dots)! You can choose more than 30 different variations of the dot. Water, fire, oil, gunpowder, metal, seed, birds, Ant and more. The various reactions when in hit with a dot and a dot. The explosion on hit with fire and gunpowder. Trees grow when in hit with the seed and sand.
Golly
Explore Conway's Game of Life and various cellular automata with this open-source application. It supports diverse universe types, multiple algorithms, and a wide array of cellular automata rules. Users can import patterns, download from online archives, and utilize unlimited undo/redo functionality.
- Supports bounded and unbounded universes
- Multiple algorithms including hashlife
- Variety of cellular automata types included
- Reads multiple file formats (RLE, macrocell, etc.)
- Extracts patterns and rules from zip files
- Downloads patterns and rules from online archives
- Unlimited undo/redo
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Golly is an open source, cross-platform application for exploring Conway's Game of Life and many other types of cellular automata. Key features: Supports bounded and unbounded universes, with cells of up to 256 states. Supports multiple algorithms, including Bill Gosper's super fast hashlife algorithm. Many different types of CA are included: John von Neumann's 29-state CA, Wolfram's 1D rules, WireWorld, Generations, Langton's Loops, Larger than Life, etc. Reads RLE, macrocell, Life 1.05/1.06, dblife, and MCell files. Can extract patterns and rules from zip files. Can download patterns and rules from online archives. Includes a state-of-the-art pattern collection. Unlimited undo/redo. Extensive help, with an integrated Life Lexicon.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Golly at none against Powder Game's shown. Golly also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). Powder Game's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 32 months) and ratings volume (2.2K vs 47). On price 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Golly holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Powder Game has 2.2K ratings behind it against 47, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Powder Game's written reviews are positive against 97% of Golly's.
Powder Game ships an update every 6 weeks, Golly every 32 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Powder Game | Golly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (2.2K ratings) | 4.8 (47 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.5% of reviews | 96.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.2K — better | 47 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 32 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | DAN-BALL | Andrew Trevorrow |
Customer experience
Powder Game
Golly
Bugs and requests
Powder Game
Reported bugs
4 issues- View feature not working as expected
- Occasional freezing or crashing
- Inconsistent player/fighter behavior
- Saved creations sometimes disappearing
Requested features
6 requests- Add more elements and materials
- Increase pixel/dot limit or make it unlimited
- Implement a save/load system for creations
- Add more player/fighter customization options
- Introduce new gameplay modes or challenges
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- Improve visibility of glass and other transparent elements
Golly
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Powder Game
No in-app purchases
Golly
No in-app purchases
