Comparison

Pente Live vs Boardspace.net

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

Head to head
About

Pente Live

Engage in strategic board game battles on a 19x19 grid. Compete globally in turn-based or live matches, test your skills against AI, and join tournaments. Explore various Pente and Gomoku variants with unique rules and capture mechanics.

Highlights
  • Turn-based and real-time online play
  • Play against computer opponents
  • Participate in tournaments
  • King of the Hill mode
  • Game database search
  • Multiple Pente and Gomoku variants
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

About

Boardspace.net

Play over 100 board games online with others, including abstract strategy, Euro, and word games. Enjoy real-time, turn-based, or pass-and-play modes. Recommended for tablet-sized screens.

Highlights
  • Over 100 board games
  • Abstract strategy games
  • Multi-player Euro games
  • Word games
  • Real-time play
  • Turn-based play
  • Pass-and-play mode
Features
Read full description

This is the IOS client to play board games with other people at Boardspace.net. Boardspace hosts over 100 games, mostly 2-player abstract strategy games, but also some multi-player Euro games, and word games. All games are played in real time, turn at a time, or in person in pass-and-play mode. Real time games can be suspended, but it is expected that you will play complete games in one sitting, as you would when playing another person face-to-face. Our most popular games are Hive and Euphoria. Tablet sized screens are recommended.

Screenshots

Pente Live3 screens
Boardspace.net1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Pente Live at 4.3 against Boardspace.net's 3.4. Pente Live also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 9 days) and review sentiment (50% vs 31%). Boardspace.net's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Pente Live sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year. Boardspace.net asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pente Live holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pente Live has 340 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Pente Live's written reviews are positive against 31% of Boardspace.net's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pente Live ships an update every 2 days, Boardspace.net every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Pente Live versus Boardspace.net: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPente LiveBoardspace.net
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (340 ratings) — better3.4 (18 ratings)
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews — better30.8% of reviews
Number of ratings340 — better18
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB105 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperWalied OthmanDave Dyer

Customer experience

Pente Live

All ratings340 ratings
Positive84.1%
Neutral5.0%
Negative10.9%
Written reviews44 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral4.5%
Negative45.5%

Boardspace.net

All ratings18 ratings
Positive55.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative44.4%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive30.8%
Neutral15.4%
Negative53.8%

Bugs and requests

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

Boardspace.net

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

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
None

Boardspace.net

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pente Live free?
Pente Live is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Boardspace.net free?
Boardspace.net is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pente Live or Boardspace.net?
Pente Live is rated higher. Pente Live averages 4.3 out of 5 from 340 ratings, while Boardspace.net averages 3.4 from 18 ratings.
Do Pente Live or Boardspace.net have ads?
Neither Pente Live nor Boardspace.net shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pente Live or Boardspace.net?
Pente Live ships an update every 2 days, and Boardspace.net every 9 days. Most recently, Pente Live was updated on October 23, 2026 and Boardspace.net on October 24, 2026.

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