Active Chess vs Flamingo Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Active Chess
Experience a unique chess variant with randomized starting positions and modified rules for dynamic gameplay. Develop your strategic thinking and planning skills in this engaging board game.
- Randomized starting positions
- Modified chess rules
- Strategic gameplay
- Cognitive skill development
- Choice of board sizes
- Play against a chess bot
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Playing chess regularly develops human cognitive abilities, such as: logical thinking, attentiveness, memory, ability to analyse and plan. However, in classical chess there is one drawback that does not contribute to the interest in the game on the part of millions of potential players. For thousands of years of the existence of chess, all combinations, the so-called openings, that can appear on the chessboard at the beginning of the game, have been developed and well studied. A professional player who knows several of these openings will certainly gain an advantage over an ordinary player, even if his cognitive abilities are obviously lower. Active Chess got its name because it excludes the use of different preliminary preparations in different game situations, especially at the beginning of the game. In active chess, there is no well-known traditional arrangement of pieces, and this precludes the use of a library of openings. From the first moves of the game, an active game begins, the result of which depends on the player's cognitive abilities, his ability to think and a bit of luck. The luck factor is associated with the formation of the starting position randomly for each player. But in order not to depend on capricious luck, the player can independently form his position on the board. At the same time he does not know what position his opponent will have. This gives a special sharpness of the game. In Active Chess, almost all the rules of classical chess are followed with a few exceptions: • Rule for castling of kings is absent since a player, when creating an initial position, can place his king in that part of the board and among other pieces, where he will be in the greatest safety. • Chess pieces can be placed on the first three ranks of each side in the order that suits the player. • A special mark is applied to the image of the pawns of the first move, which disappears after the first move. • Bishops can be of the same color field or different color fields at the choice of the player. Active Chess has to a choice of two options for boards 8x8 and 8x10. In the current version of the application, only a game with a chess bot is available. The application has ads are shown after the end of the game. The winner does not see ads! You can remove all Ads and limit of preset positions by subscription. Enjoy Game! Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: http://books.virenter.com/policy.php
Flamingo Chess
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Flamingo Chess is plain chess for you and your friends: in Messages, live in the app, or across the table on one phone. No login, no tracking, no engine. Just a game of chess between people. PLAY IN MESSAGES Start a game right in a conversation and take turns whenever it suits you. Your opponent's move plays out on the board when you open it. Games in Messages are serverless: your moves travel in the conversation between your iPhones and are never stored on our servers. PLAY LIVE IN THE APP Pick a color, start a game, and share its five-letter invite code. Your friend types in the code and takes the other seat. Moves appear the moment they are made, and every game you play in the app waits in your games list, titled with both players' names, like "blueberry764 vs orange489." PLAY HOT SEAT Two people, one phone. The board turns to face whoever moves next, you can take moves back, and the game stays on your phone until you come back to it. SHARE YOUR GAMES Share any online or hot seat game as a scoresheet: plain text laid out like the paper sheet at a tournament, with the date, both players, the result, and every move in numbered rows. Send it to your opponent or keep it in your notes. KEEP YOUR GAMES Finished games go to the archive, where you can replay them move by move. AND ALSO • Offer a draw or resign, just like over the board • Speak your move: hold the Speech button and say "Move pawn to D3" • Playable with VoiceOver: every square announces its name and its piece, and legal moves are called out • Two board themes, Neon and Standard • Choose your own display name in Settings Have fun everyone!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Flamingo Chess at none against Active Chess's 3. Flamingo Chess also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 39 months). Active Chess's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. Active Chess sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Flamingo Chess asks for nothing beyond the download.
Active Chess ships an update every 39 months, Flamingo Chess every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Active Chess | Flamingo Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 39 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alexey Polunin | Martin Kim Đưng-Phạm |
In-app purchases
Active Chess
- Unlimited Positions 1 Week$0.997 Days
- Unlimited Positions 1 Month$1.991 Month
- Unlimited Positions 3 Month$4.993 Months
Flamingo Chess
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Active Chess free?
Is Flamingo Chess free?
Do Active Chess or Flamingo Chess have ads?
Which is updated more often, Active Chess or Flamingo Chess?
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