Close Cities vs Puzzle Parlor
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Close Cities
Build beautiful cities on diverse worlds by solving unique puzzles. This relaxing game guides you through 160 levels with a simple tap or drag interface, requiring no architectural knowledge. Conquer each world's challenges and travel through time with its calming soundtrack.
- Build cities on empty maps
- Solve 160 unique puzzle levels
- Intuitive tap and drag controls
- No architectural knowledge needed
- Travel through different worlds
- Relaxing music and pace
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Close Cities is a relaxing puzzle game in which you will have to build cities in different worlds over time. Find a road and start there. Solve all 160 levels and become a Close Cities legend! UNIQUE PUZZLES You will start each level with an empty map that you will have to fill with beautiful cities. Choose the right road, choose the area and tap or drag with your fingers! DOES NOT REQUIRE KNOWLEDGE OF ARCHITECTURE Close Cities offers a fun experience even if you don't know the difference between a square and a bevel. The game's tutorial will show you everything you need to know at a relaxed pace. CONQUER ITS 160 LEVELS Each world has its king and 16 levels that you must solve to build his empire. TRAVEL THROUGH TIME During the course of the game you will discover different worlds over time with relaxed music to let you go.
Puzzle Parlor
Enjoy a curated collection of daily and classic puzzle games without ads or in-app purchases. Track your progress with streaks and sync across devices. A simple, family-made experience for puzzle enthusiasts.
- Daily new puzzles
- Classic puzzle games
- No ads or dark patterns
- Streak tracking
- Optional cloud sync
- Dark mode
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Puzzle Parlor is a small, lovingly-curated collection of puzzle games - a few new dailies each morning, a stack of classics for whenever you want to keep going, and exactly zero ads, dark patterns, or "buy unlimited hints" buttons. DAILY PUZZLES (NEW EVERY DAY) - Fiver - five guesses, five letters - Crossjam - trace letters, build words - Sudoku - classic 9x9, easy / medium / hard rotation through the week - Cypherly - crack a daily quote, one letter at a time CLASSICS (ALWAYS AVAILABLE) - 2048 - Solitaire - Minesweeper - Match - the memory / concentration game NICETIES - Streaks per game - Solve any classic without signing in - Optional cloud sync if you want the same progress on phone and tablet - Daily email digest (optional, one tap to subscribe) - Dark mode OPTIONAL SUPPORTER SUBSCRIPTION If the app's brought you a few good mornings, you can chip in with a $14.99/year Supporter subscription. You'll get a small sun emblem next to your name. Nothing in the app is paywalled - Supporter is a tip-jar, not a content gate. More thank-yous as the project grows. Subscription auto-renews yearly at $14.99 until cancelled. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Manage or cancel anytime in your device Settings > Apple ID > Subscriptions; no refunds for the unused portion of a term. Privacy Policy: https://puzzleparlor.fun/#/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Built by a family for our own family - we play it, the kids help pick the puzzles, and we keep it simple because that's why we wanted it in the first place. Privacy-respecting by default: no ads, no third-party tracking, no data brokers. Email is collected only if you sign in (magic-link, no password) or subscribe to the daily digest, and we never share it. Site: https://puzzleparlor.fun Made by: Lazybrains
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Puzzle Parlor at none against Close Cities's shown. Puzzle Parlor also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 69%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Close Cities's advantage is ratings volume (362 vs 4). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Close Cities sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Puzzle Parlor sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $14.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Puzzle Parlor holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Close Cities has 362 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Close Cities's written reviews are positive against 100% of Puzzle Parlor's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Close Cities | Puzzle Parlor |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (362 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 69.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 362 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 158 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Juan Manuel Altamirano Argudo | DAVID ISAAC SCHUSTER |
Customer experience
Close Cities
Puzzle Parlor
In-app purchases
Close Cities
- Hints - Small Pack$0.99
- Hints - Medium Pack$2.99
- Remove Ads + Hints$2.99
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- Hints - Big Pack$5.99
Puzzle Parlor
- Puzzle Parlor Supporter$14.991 Year









