Grid Journey vs Taploom
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Grid Journey
Solve puzzles by merging gems to forge a path through a mysterious cave. Explore new realms, including the Windy River, with over 500 levels. Revisit stages to improve scores or tackle ultimate challenges.
- Gem merging puzzles
- Mysterious cave exploration
- Over 500 levels
- Windy River chapter
- Score challenges
- No-restart challenges
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Merge gems to clear a path through a mysterious cave. What secrets will you uncover? Tickle your brain, as you find your way through an unknown realm! In the latest chapter, sail the Windy River! Now 500 levels to explore! With Challenges, revisit earlier stages of your journey to improve your scores. Or try the ultimate challenge, to complete an entire stage without any restarts!
Taploom
A minimalist puzzle game where you tap tiles to create color ripples that drain the board. Plan your moves to chain reactions and solve each level efficiently. Features hand-crafted levels, a daily puzzle, and an endless mode.
- Minimalist ripple puzzle gameplay
- 55 hand-crafted levels
- Daily and endless puzzle modes
- Built-in level editor
- Three-star scoring system
- One-handed play
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Tap a tile. Watch the color ripple outward. Drain every tile on the board. ColorDrain is a minimalist puzzle game built around one simple idea: every tap sends a wave through the grid. Plan your taps, chain the reactions, and clear each board in as few moves as possible. HOW IT PLAYS You have a board of empty tiles. Each tap fills the tapped tile and ripples outward through its neighbors. Tiles, walls, mirrors, and other obstacles shape where the color can go. Your goal is to fill the entire board, and your score depends on how cleanly you do it. WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT Most puzzle games ask you to match. ColorDrain asks you to plan. The same board can be solved in five taps or twenty, and finding the elegant solution feels like solving a tiny machine. FEATURES • 55 hand-crafted levels across 11 themed rows • A fresh daily puzzle, the same seed for every player worldwide • Endless mode with seeded levels you can replay • A built-in level editor for designing and saving your own puzzles • Three-star scoring rewards efficient solutions • Built one-handed for iPhone, fully portrait, no ads, no IAP A GROWING TOOLBOX Each row of levels introduces a new tile that changes how the ripple flows: • Amplifiers boost a tap into a long beam • Mirrors bend rays around corners • Bombs detonate when filled, taking neighbors with them • Teleporters warp the ripple to their partners on the same heading • Frozen barriers thaw under bomb blasts • Canals carry rays across long distances • Prisms burst light in all four directions • Locked tiles open only when surrounded • Infection tiles spread on their own once seeded • Heart tiles are the final puzzle: protect them, route around them, or finish them last BUILT FOR THE DEVICE Every action has a haptic. Every fill has a sound. Tap placement is precise enough to play with one thumb on the bus, and slow enough to think through on the couch. No accounts. No tracking. No internet required.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Taploom at none against Grid Journey's 1. Taploom also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Grid Journey sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Taploom asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Grid Journey against 5.0 for Taploom. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 3 respectively.
Grid Journey ships an update every 2 months, Taploom every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Grid Journey | Taploom |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 141 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stephen Rice | Cylandea Systems LLC |
Customer experience
Grid Journey
Taploom
In-app purchases
Grid Journey
- Upgrade to Full Game$2.99
Taploom
No in-app purchases









