Comparison

Chess Tutor vs Category Mania

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

Head to head
About

Chess Tutor

This app guides new players from novice to skilled chess players through interactive tutorials, mini-games, and puzzles. It offers various learning modules, practice challenges, and the ability to play full games against a computer opponent with adjustable difficulty.

Highlights
  • Interactive tutorials on piece movement and rules
  • Skill-honing mini-games and puzzles
  • Checkmate challenges for all skill levels
  • Play against a computer opponent with 5 difficulty levels
  • Customizable board colors and piece sets
  • Knight's Tour puzzle
Features
Read full description

Chess Tutor has been specifically developed for beginners and new chess players. It can take you through from complete novice to a good chess player. It makes learning and developing in chess fun by a range of tutorials, mini-games and puzzles that hone skills before the full chess game is tackled. Of course, you can just play it at chess if you please! The main features are: >Tutor Levels - How pieces move - The rules of the game - Special moves such as forks, pins, skewers and en-passant - Practice challenges to be completed in less than 1 minute - Puzzles - Can you check mate in as few moves as challenged - Ranging from beginner to advanced - Complete puzzles to unlock more > Minigames - Play games against the computer - Games for beginners and more experienced players - Games that teach end game techniques and practice specific pieces - Complete games to unlock more games and challenges > Challenges - Challenge style puzzles - Puzzles for beginners and more advanced players - The famous "Knight's Tour" puzzle > Play Chess - Computer opponent with 5 levels of difficulty - 3 piece sets to choose from - 3 board colours - animated pieces - Sounds - Undo/take back - Play White or Black - Integrated opening book

About

Category Mania

Engage your mind with a challenging card sorting puzzle game. Unstack layered cards to reveal hidden ones and sort them into their correct categories. Hundreds of levels offer a relaxing yet brain-training experience.

Highlights
  • Layered card stacking mechanics
  • Hundreds of puzzle levels
  • Brain-training logic gameplay
  • Smooth casual gameplay
  • Play at your own pace
Features
Read full description

Category Mania: Card Sort Challenge your brain with Category Mania, a relaxing yet tricky card sorting puzzle game. Each level gives you stacks of layered cards. Cards are piled on top of one another — you can only reach the lower cards after moving the top ones away. Your task is to sort every card into its matching group: fruits, mammals, accessories, occupations and many more fun categories await. When all cards of one category are correctly sorted, that group clears away and reveals new sets to solve. Complete every category in the level, and you win! ### Game features *Layered card stacking mechanics: move top cards to uncover hidden cards underneath* * Hundreds of puzzle levels with varied themes and categories* * Brain‑training logic gameplay, easy to learn but challenging to master* * Smooth casual gameplay, perfect for short game sessions* * No rush, play at your own pace* Sharpen your categorization and logical thinking. Unstack, sort, and clear every group to beat all puzzles!

Screenshots

Chess Tutor4 screens
Category Mania4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Category Mania at 4.9 against Chess Tutor's 2.3. Category Mania also leads on ratings volume (152 vs 4). Chess Tutor's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, update cadence, 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. Chess Tutor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Category Mania sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Category Mania holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Category Mania has 152 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Tutor ships an update every 2 weeks, Category Mania fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Chess Tutor versus Category Mania: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess TutorCategory Mania
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.3 (4 ratings)4.9 (152 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4152 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB673 MB
Age rating4++12
DeveloperR.D. HarePLAYNEXX

Customer experience

Chess Tutor

All ratings4 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative75.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Category Mania

All ratings152 ratings
Positive97.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Chess Tutor

One-time1
  • Remove ads$1.99
10 purchases

Category Mania

One-time10
  • 1000 Coins$1.99
  • Starter Bundle$2.99
  • 5000 Coins$7.99
Show 7 more
  • No Ads$9.99
  • Small Bundle$9.99
  • No Ads Bundle$12.99
  • 10000 Coins$14.99
  • 25000 Coins$29.99
  • 60000 Coins$59.99
  • 120000 Coins$99.99

Questions

Is Chess Tutor free?
Chess Tutor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Category Mania free?
Category Mania is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess Tutor or Category Mania?
Category Mania is rated higher. Chess Tutor averages 2.3 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Category Mania averages 4.9 from 152 ratings.
Do Chess Tutor or Category Mania have ads?
Both Chess Tutor and Category Mania show ads.
Which is updated more often, Chess Tutor or Category Mania?
Chess Tutor ships an update every 2 weeks, and Category Mania fortnightly. Most recently, Chess Tutor was updated on November 1, 2026 and Category Mania on November 1, 2026.

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