Comparison

John Bottom vs Simple Marble Run

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

Head to head
About

John Bottom

Experience classic retro arcade action as you guide John to escape the Bottom and reach the Top. Clear levels, defeat monsters, and uncover John's story in this challenging and fun game for all ages.

Highlights
  • Classic retro arcade action
  • Level clearing
  • Defeat cute monsters
  • Compete for best score
  • Multiple difficulty levels
  • Old school graphics with TV filters
Read full description

John Bottom is classic retro inspired arcade action at its best! Help John escape the Bottom and reach the Top. Clear levels, defeat the cute monsters and read John's story. - Free for ever - Fast paced - Challenging - Fun for all ages - Compete for the best score against the world - 4 different difficulty levels - Old school graphics with multiple old school TV filters

About

Simple Marble Run

Experience a calming marble game with customizable courses. Manipulate the flow with stoppers, pins, and throwing mechanics. Watch marbles collect and depart in a delightful cycle, offering a unique ASMR-like experience.

Highlights
  • Customizable marble courses
  • Interactive marble manipulation (stoppers, pins)
  • Marble throwing mechanic
  • Truck collection and departure cycle
  • Adjustable camera viewpoints
  • Soothing ASMR-like experience
Features
Read full description

A relaxing marble app where countless marbles roll and tumble across the course. Watching small marbles roll one after another is soothing and fun — you may even lose track of time just gazing at them. In this app, you can enjoy many different types of courses, from classic and simple layouts to unique and playful ones. The charm lies not only in watching the flow, but also in being able to add your own twists and enjoy different ways to play. The rolling marbles can be stopped, thrown, or redirected, allowing for all kinds of surprising moments. • With stoppers, you can hold back marbles and then release them all at once. It feels exciting to see a sudden rush of marbles flowing out together. • Place pins wherever you like to scatter the flow, split the marbles into unexpected paths, or even create small dead ends. Just a little change can transform the whole course. • With the throwing feature, you can tap the screen and toss a marble right to that spot. This lets you add marbles directly into the middle of the action. • At the goal, a truck waits to collect the marbles. Once enough marbles have piled up, a start button appears and the truck drives off, only for a new one to arrive. Watching the marbles leave together with the truck is a delightful part of the experience. • Along the course, you’ll also find camera buttons. Press them to switch the viewpoint and enjoy the marbles from a fresh angle. If you change the camera right before releasing a big group of marbles, the scene becomes even more thrilling to watch. There’s a special satisfaction in building up marbles and letting them flow all at once, in experimenting with setups that create surprising movements, or in simply enjoying the unexpected. Unlike real-life marble play, where preparing many marbles can be difficult, here you can easily enjoy “lots of marbles” and “special tricks” as many times as you like. The rolling sounds and movements are soothing and calming, almost like an ASMR experience that brings a sense of relaxation. You can play however you like — relax and watch quietly, or set up bold tricks and let the marbles rush in large numbers. A marble playground you can enjoy anytime, right on your phone. Roll them again and again, and find your own favorite way to play.

Screenshots

John Bottom3 screens
Simple Marble Run4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: John Bottom at 100% against Simple Marble Run's 17%. John Bottom also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 6 weeks). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

John Bottom ships an update every 2 days, Simple Marble Run every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
John Bottom versus Simple Marble Run: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJohn BottomSimple Marble Run
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.4 (252 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better16.7% of reviews
Number of ratings—252 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size111 MB193 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMarios Karagiannismonois Inc.

Customer experience

John Bottom

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Simple Marble Run

All ratings252 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative9.9%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive16.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

John Bottom

No in-app purchases

None

Simple Marble Run

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is John Bottom free?
John Bottom is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Simple Marble Run free?
Simple Marble Run is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do John Bottom or Simple Marble Run have ads?
Simple Marble Run shows ads; John Bottom does not.
Which is updated more often, John Bottom or Simple Marble Run?
John Bottom ships an update every 2 days, and Simple Marble Run every 6 weeks. Most recently, John Bottom was updated on June 1, 2026 and Simple Marble Run on September 28, 2026.

Other comparisons