Comparison

Abalone Game vs KnuckleTrainer

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

Head to head
About

Abalone Game

This is a two-player abstract strategy board game where players push their opponent's marbles off the edge of a hexagonal board. The first player to push six opponent marbles wins. It's designed for iPad, with players facing each other across the device.

Highlights
  • Two-player abstract strategy
  • Push opponent's marbles off board
  • Hexagonal game board
  • Designed for iPad
  • Intuitive drag-and-drop controls
  • Confirm or undo moves
Read full description

Abalone is a two-player abstract strategy board game. Players are represented by opposing black and white marbles on a hexagonal board with the objective of pushing six of the opponent's marbles off the edge of the board. The present version is made for iPad, and the players shoud stay on the opposite short sides of the iPad, in front of each other. One player gets the black marbles and the second the white ones. The board consists of 61 hexagonal cells. Each player has 14 marbles that rest in the spaces and are initially automatically arranged as the game begins. The players take turns with the black marbles moving first. For each move, a player moves a straight line of one, two or three marbles of one color one space in one of six directions. The move can be either broadside / arrow-like (parallel to the line of marbles) or in-line / in a line (serial in respect to the line of marbles). The marbles should be moved one at a time, dragging them with a finger, and dropping them on the destination cells. If the move of two or three is longitudinal, i.e. in the same direction of the marble sequence, the leading piece must be moved first, followed by the second one, and (eventually) the tird one. After the moves are made, the player shoud confirm them, hitting the Confirm button, or cancel them, using the Undo button. A player can push their opponent's marbles (a "sumito") that are in a line to their own with an in-line move only. They can only push if the pushing line has more marbles than the pushed line (three can push one or two; two can push one). Marbles must be pushed to an empty space (i.e. not blocked by a marble) or off the board. The winner is the first player to push six of the opponent's marbles off of the edge of the board. The dynamics of the basic game may have one serious flaw: it seems that a good but conservative player can set up their marbles in a defensive wedge and ward off all attacks indefinitely. An attacker may try to outflank this wedge or lure it into traps, but such advances are often more dangerous to the attacker than the defender. Thus, from the starting position, it takes little skill and no imagination to avoid losing, and nothing in the rules prevents games from being interminable. The first player who succedes pushing six opponent's mables off the edge of the board wins the game.

About

KnuckleTrainer

Features
Read full description

Master Knucklebones, the addictive dice game from Cult of the Lamb, with KnuckleTrainer — the ultimate training companion for players who want to dominate. PLAY VS AI Challenge yourself across 8 difficulty levels, from casual fun to our neural network–powered Grandmaster AI. The adaptive Master AI learns your playstyle and adjusts its strategy to counter you — the more you play, the smarter it gets. TRAINING MODE Enable Training Mode to see win probability percentages for every possible move. Powered by Monte Carlo Tree Search analysis, learn which placements maximize your chances of victory and develop intuition for optimal strategy. MULTIPLAYER Create a room and share a code with friends for real-time online matches. Experience the thrill of outmaneuvering a human opponent. SPECTATE LIVE GAMES Watch public matches in progress and learn from other players’ strategies. Study different playstyles and pick up new tactics. AI VS AI BATTLES Pit different AI strategies against each other and watch them compete in real time. See how our neural network Grandmaster performs against traditional search algorithms and discover winning patterns. MASS SIMULATION Run hundreds of AI games to analyze strategy performance. Compare win rates, view score distributions, and replay individual games to understand what works. KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS Quick controls for desktop players — use number keys to select columns and speed through your games. PLAY OFFLINE Once loaded, play anywhere without an internet connection. Your games auto-save so you can pick up right where you left off. HOW TO PLAY KNUCKLEBONES • Roll the die and place it in one of your 3 columns • Matching dice in a column multiply their score (2 of a kind = 2x, 3 of a kind = 3x) • Placing a die removes matching dice from your opponent’s column • First to fill their grid ends the game — highest score wins! Simple to learn, endlessly deep to master. Whether you’re a Cult of the Lamb fan looking to practice or a strategy game enthusiast seeking a new challenge, KnuckleTrainer is your path to mastery. Download now and become a Knucklebones champion!

Screenshots

Abalone Game1 screens
KnuckleTrainer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: KnuckleTrainer at Free against Abalone Game's $1.99. KnuckleTrainer also leads on rating (3.0 vs 2.7). Abalone Game's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly) and ratings volume (3 vs 1). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

KnuckleTrainer is free to download; Abalone Game costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

KnuckleTrainer holds the better App Store score, 3.0 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Abalone Game ships an update every 4 days, KnuckleTrainer fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Abalone Game versus KnuckleTrainer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAbalone GameKnuckleTrainer
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating2.7 (3 ratings)3.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.515.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLuigi FontiCharles Goldader

In-app purchases

None

Abalone Game

No in-app purchases

None

KnuckleTrainer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Abalone Game free?
Abalone Game costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is KnuckleTrainer free?
KnuckleTrainer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Abalone Game or KnuckleTrainer?
KnuckleTrainer is rated higher. Abalone Game averages 2.7 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while KnuckleTrainer averages 3.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Abalone Game or KnuckleTrainer have ads?
Neither Abalone Game nor KnuckleTrainer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Abalone Game or KnuckleTrainer?
Abalone Game ships an update every 4 days, and KnuckleTrainer fortnightly. Most recently, Abalone Game was updated on October 24, 2026 and KnuckleTrainer on October 24, 2026.

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