Word Laces vs SPAN
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Word Laces
This word puzzle game challenges you to find words associated with images and connect them. Enjoy daily puzzles and events, with over 1000 levels to solve and a shoe collection to expand. Play the first 100 levels for free.
- Image-based word association puzzles
- Swipe to lace words
- Over 1000 puzzles
- Unlockable shoe collection
- Daily topical puzzles and events
- Former Apple Arcade title
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Free with no ads. Please enjoy the first 100 levels of this game for free, with the option of buying the full game with a one-time purchase. Word Laces is a word puzzle game about associations, connotations, and collecting shoes. Every picture tells a story. Find the meaning and solve the puzzle. Just swipe to lace up words, it’s simple and satisfying! Each level presents you with an image and a set of jumbled letters. Your task is to find words associated with the image and “lace” the words together. Loop, link, and weave your way through over 1000 puzzles. Unlock new themes and expand your shoe collection. How many can you collect? The daily puzzle for Word Laces features topical content from around the world. Whether it’s Thanksgiving, Ramadan, Halloween or Hanukkah, every day is worth celebrating. Enjoy this former Apple Arcade game, now on the App Store
SPAN
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SPAN — Competitive Numberlink Duels Think fast. Draw faster. SPAN turns the classic numberlink puzzle into a real-time 1v1 duel. You and your opponent get the exact same board at the exact same moment — connect every matching pair of dots, fill every cell, and submit before they do. First correct solution wins. No luck. No pay-to-win. Just pure puzzle skill against a real rival. REAL-TIME 1v1 MATCHES Get matched with a player of similar skill and race head-to-head on an identical board. Every second counts. RANKED & LEADERBOARDS Climb a true skill rating (Glicko-2) in Ranked play. Compete on global and country leaderboards to prove you're the fastest solver in your region — and the world. LIVE TOURNAMENTS Scheduled knockout events where the whole field plays at once. Register in advance, check in before the start, then survive a single-elimination bracket — best-of-3 early rounds, best-of-5 semifinals, a best-of-7 final — until one player is left standing. Every game is an 8×8 board with a 120-second clock, so a full event runs about half an hour. Too big a field? A qualifier race cuts it down to the bracket first. Free entry, always — no tickets, no entry fees, no buy-ins. Selected events carry real prizes: gift-card vouchers, or a week or a month of Span Plus granted straight to your account. Tournament games are unrated, so your ladder rating is never on the line. Knocked out? Stay and watch the bracket play out live. Turn on tournament reminders and we'll ping you when a new event opens and when check-in starts. CASUAL PLAY Want the thrill without the pressure? Jump into skill-matched Casual games anytime. Your rating stays hidden — just play. PLAY WITH FRIENDS Create a private match, share the code, and settle it in a best-of series. Head-to-head records keep score across all your rematches. PARTY MODE Race up to 8 players at once on the same board. Host a party, share the code (or list it publicly), and run game after game — friends can even jump in mid-session. Session stats and leaderboards crown the night's champion. TRAINING MODE Sharpen your skills solo across board sizes from 5×5 up to a brain-bending 9×9. Stuck? Reveal the solution and learn the pattern. INSTANT REMATCH Lost a nail-biter? Fire off a rematch in one tap and run it back. REPLAYS & SHAREABLE RECAPS Watch how the match unfolded stroke by stroke, then export a highlight video to share your best wins. HOW TO PLAY Every board is a grid with pairs of colored dots. Draw a path to connect each pair — but paths can't cross, and when you're done, every single cell must be filled. Simple to learn, endlessly deep to master. Boards are guaranteed solvable and never trivial. SPAN PLUS Go ad-free and unlock premium extras with an optional subscription (7-day free trial). Never required to compete — monetization never touches difficulty, rating, or matchmaking, and tournaments stay free to enter for everyone. Connect the dots. Span the grid. Outrace the world. Download SPAN, enter the next tournament, and start your first duel now. Terms of Use: https://span-game.web.app/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SPAN at none against Word Laces's 1. SPAN also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks). Word Laces's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Word Laces sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. SPAN asks for nothing beyond the download.
Word Laces ships an update every 3 weeks, SPAN every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Word Laces | SPAN |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (201 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 42.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 201 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 518 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Minimega | Software KiT SRL |
In-app purchases
Word Laces
- Unlock Full Game$5.99
SPAN
No in-app purchases









