Comparison

Marbly vs Pentix Nova

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

Head to head
About

Marbly

This mobile puzzle game challenges your mind with marble-matching mechanics. Designed by the creator of Tetris, it offers hundreds of unique puzzles and daily challenges. Compete against the clock, aim for high scores, and strategize your moves to clear the board.

Highlights
  • Marble matching gameplay
  • Hundreds of unique puzzles
  • Daily puzzle challenges
  • Time, Score, and Moves challenges
  • Brain-training mechanics
  • Game Center leaderboards
Features
Read full description

TETRIS® 40 YEARS: This game designed by Tetris® creator. Play puzzle classics from Tetris® creator on your mobile device! Shake up your Mind! Alexey Pajitnov – author of world-famous Tetris® comes to you with his new creation. This is the first game ever designed by Mr. Tetris exclusively for mobile devices. Move the marbles to build a line of three or more matching marbles at every go. Remove all marbles from the board to solve a puzzle. - Play free set of puzzles; - Play new free puzzles daily; - Race against the clock in Time Challenge; - Score enough points in Score Challenge; - Build your solution strategy in Moves Challenge and much more. Win enough coins for additional sets of puzzles and challenges. Get your brain ready for a real challenge – Alexey’s Challenge: Marbly ™ Featuring: - 240+ unique puzzles exclusively braincrafted for you by Mr. Tetris; - 1400+ free daily puzzles; - series of Daily, Time, Moves, Score and Golden challenges; - listen Mr. Tetris summary on your play; - Game Center high score competitions and achievements. Marbly™ makes losing your marbles so much fun! Try now and enjoy forever! Please visit official Marby page at Facebook for your questions and comments: https://www.facebook.com/wildsnakemarbly “I highly recommend checking out Marbly. Just like Tetris, this features simple gameplay, but it is definitely tricky at times, which is great to see in a puzzle game.” - Christine Chan, http://www.appadvice.com "The Marbly game, is an innovative, simple yet difficult, interesting, engrossing and brain application, board game." - Chaudhari Ali, http://www.ilovefreesoftware.com "Simply put, Pajitnov and Wildsnake have made a great puzzle game." - Andrew Mandula, http://www.gameskinny.com "Marbly is still both challenging and addictive in equal measure, the perfect combination for a good iOS puzzle game."-Lee Hamlet, http://www.freeitunestore.com

About

Pentix Nova

Experience a fresh take on a classic block-dropping puzzle game. Arrange falling pieces to complete lines and clear them, aiming for high scores or completing specific objectives. Enjoy customizable controls and various difficulty levels in this reimagined brick blast experience.

Highlights
  • Arrange falling pieces to clear lines
  • Endless game mode
  • Objective-based levels
  • Campaign progression
  • Customizable controls
  • Stash pieces for later use
Features
Read full description

Reimagination and a remake of the immortal classic. Arrange the falling pieces to fill up and clear the lines. Clear as many lines as possible to advance through levels or complete various objectives. This game is inspired by the four brick falling blocks games. But instead of easy four brick pieces, where the name Tetra comes from, this game uses five bricks pieces, thus the name Penta. Of course, you are not limited to either set of pieces. Play any combination you would like and consider more fun. Fun question: Do you see the black dots when you are looking at the game title screen? Do you think they are there? Features: - Play an endless game or complete objectives. - Play individual levels or progress through the campaign. - Smooth and customizable controls. - Various difficulty levels. Controls: The controls were designed to make the gameplay smooth and enjoyable. Below are the few highlights that make this game stand out. - Tap with the second finger or swipe down to drop the piece. Of course, you can use the "Drop" buttons too. - Swipe up to stash the piece and use it later in the game. This allows for more strategic play. Privacy policy: https://akatek.biz/apps/pentix_nova/privacy_policy Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

Screenshots

Marbly4 screens
Pentix Nova4 screens

Verdict

The call

Marbly and Pentix Nova both sit at 4.4 stars, but that hides the real split: 78% of Marbly's written reviews are positive against 47% of Pentix Nova's. Pentix Nova's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (14K vs 54). On price, rating, 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. Marbly sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Pentix Nova sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for Marbly against 4.5 for Pentix Nova. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pentix Nova has 14K ratings behind it against 54, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 78% of Marbly's written reviews are positive against 47% of Pentix Nova's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Marbly ships an update every 3 months, Pentix Nova weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Marbly versus Pentix Nova: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarblyPentix Nova
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (54 ratings)4.5 (14K ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.6% of reviews — better47.1% of reviews
Number of ratings5414K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsWeekly — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size84 MB87 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperANDREY NOVIKOVAkaTek LLC

Customer experience

Marbly

All ratings54 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral9.3%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews192 reviews
Positive77.6%
Neutral7.3%
Negative15.1%

Pentix Nova

All ratings13,739 ratings
Positive87.3%
Neutral6.2%
Negative6.4%
Written reviews191 reviews
Positive47.1%
Neutral14.1%
Negative38.7%

User reviews

Marbly

From 54 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🧠 Intellectually stimulating and challenging puzzles
  • 😊 Highly addictive and engaging gameplay
  • 🎮 Simple yet fun mechanics easy to learn
  • 🎯 Good difficulty progression from easy to hard
  • 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family-friendly and suitable for all ages

Room to improve

  • 📱 Severe overheating issues on iPhones
  • 💔 Excessive pop-up advertisements
  • 💰 Aggressive in-app purchase monetization
  • 🔇 Difficult to disable sound/music
  • 🎮 Inconsistent and unclear scoring system

Pentix Nova

From 14K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Challenging and fun
  • 👍 Nostalgic and relaxing
  • 🎮 Great Tetris variant
  • 💡 Interesting new piece shapes
  • 🎨 Visually appealing

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Controls issues (sensitivity, responsiveness, placement of buttons)
  • 💰 Intrusive ads with no ad-free option
  • 🕹️ Clunky controls and frequent errors
  • 🔧 Bugs and glitches after updates
  • 🤯 Frustrating difficulty spikes

Bugs and requests

Marbly

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • iPhone overheating to dangerous levels
  • App crashes on startup with blue screen
  • App won't open or immediately crashes to home
  • Scoring system produces incorrect/inconsistent results
  • Sound cannot be disabled even when turned off
Show 4 more
  • Daily challenge doesn't update daily
  • Achievements not working properly
  • Puzzle difficulty inconsistencies and balance issues
  • Crashes on iPhone 4S and iOS 15.0.2

Requested features

10 requests
  • Sound/music volume control option
  • Clear and detailed game rules documentation
  • More ways to earn coins without daily challenges
  • Additional puzzle volumes and levels
  • Better explanation of scoring mechanics
Show 5 more
  • More frequent daily challenges
  • Adjustable difficulty settings
  • Unlimited undo and restart options
  • Achievements system fix and improvements
  • Reduced in-app purchase pricing

Pentix Nova

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Goal line disappearing in adventure mode
  • Pieces teleporting and rotating unexpectedly
  • Drop button functionality issues after updates
  • Game progress not saved when switching apps
  • Compatibility issues on older devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to rotate pieces both ways
  • Implement variable drop speed
  • Provide an ad-free paid version
  • Add more levels and challenges
  • Improve overall control scheme

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Marbly

One-time6
  • Pack of 10 Marbly Coins$0.99
  • Pack of 25 Marbly Coins$1.99
  • Pack of 20 Marbly Coins$1.99
Show 3 more
  • Pack of 50 Marbly Coins$3.99
  • Pack of 100 Marbly Coins$6.99
  • Magic Sac (unlimited coins)$14.99
2 purchases

Pentix Nova

One-time2
  • Unlock All Levels$3.99
  • Remove Ads$4.99

Questions

Is Marbly free?
Marbly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pentix Nova free?
Pentix Nova is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Marbly or Pentix Nova?
Pentix Nova is rated higher. Marbly averages 4.4 out of 5 from 54 ratings, while Pentix Nova averages 4.5 from 14K ratings.
Do Marbly or Pentix Nova have ads?
Both Marbly and Pentix Nova show ads.
Which is updated more often, Marbly or Pentix Nova?
Marbly ships an update every 3 months, and Pentix Nova weekly. Most recently, Marbly was updated on November 1, 2026 and Pentix Nova on November 10, 2026.

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