Visual Pinball vs Placid Plastic Duck Simulator
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Visual Pinball
Enjoy a realistic pinball simulation with hundreds of community-created tables. Experience immersive haptic feedback and customize your gameplay with intuitive settings and controller support. Advanced options are available for power users.
- Hundreds of community-developed tables
- Haptic feedback for immersive gameplay
- Customizable settings and POV adjustments
- Game controller support
- External DMD and AltColor/AltSound support
- Touch overlay and instructions
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The official Visual Pinball app. Built by volunteers since 2000 and open source since 2010, Visual Pinball is the simulator the virtual pinball community has been playing for over two decades. More than 70 people have contributed to it, and this app runs the same engine as the desktop version, so every table plays with the physics, lighting and sound its creator intended. No ads. No in-app purchases. No tracking. Made by volunteers. Two years of work from the Visual Pinball volunteers, in one update. Thank you for your patience, and for playing! A FRESH NEW LOOK • Redesigned for iOS 26 with Liquid Glass • Favorites and recently played tables at the top of your list • Search, sorting and three tile sizes • Light, Dark or System appearance • New loading screen that shows progress THE FULL DESKTOP EXPERIENCE • The complete Visual Pinball in-game menu for graphics, sound, controls and table options • Remap every button on keyboards and game controllers • Save settings for every table, or just the one you're playing MORE TABLES, LOOKING BETTER • Show the backglass and score display (DMD, alphanumeric or reels) on screen, right where you want them • Support for PUP packs, FlexDMD, B2S backglasses, video playback and VNI colorizations • All the latest physics and rendering improvements from the desktop version • Much lower memory use: textures are compressed on first load, then cached EASIER TABLE MANAGEMENT • Import .zip files, along with .vpx and .vpxz • Share any table as a single .vpxz file • The web file manager can now upload whole folders, extract archives, edit scripts and settings, and show the log live AND MORE • Many stability and memory fixes This version requires iOS 26.6 or later.
Placid Plastic Duck Simulator
Experience a serene 3D environment as a rubber duck. Enjoy a peaceful stay at a seaside pool, interacting with other ducks, floating, sunbathing, and sliding. Embrace the present moment and find bliss.
- 3D rubber duck simulation
- Serene seaside pool environment
- Interact with other ducks
- Float, sunbathe, and slide
- Day/night cycle with stars
- Nostalgic radio tunes
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A relaxing 3D environment where you experience life as a rubber duck, Placid Plastic Duck Simulator is an experiment to induce calm and bliss. You're up for a reinvigorating stay at your favorite seaside pool. You are not alone. Different ducks will slowly and happily fall into the pool with you, each with their own style and demeanor (you can name them and have names appear over their heads). Float on the water, sunbathe, dip your beak, go down the slide. The radio is playing a nostalgic tune. Here comes the night. Look at the stars. Turn off the radio, listen to the waves in the dark. Dream. The sun is rising. The sky is blue. Slide down into the second pool. An airplane is rushing somewhere, there's stuff to do. Not for you. Live in the present moment, enjoy life. Everything is going to be alright.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Visual Pinball at Free against Placid Plastic Duck Simulator's $1.99. Visual Pinball also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 8). Placid Plastic Duck Simulator's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (93% vs 79%). On update cadence, 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
Visual Pinball is free to download; Placid Plastic Duck Simulator costs $1.99 up front. Placid Plastic Duck Simulator sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Visual Pinball asks for nothing beyond the download.
Placid Plastic Duck Simulator holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 74 and 252 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Visual Pinball's written reviews are positive against 93% of Placid Plastic Duck Simulator's.
Visual Pinball ships an update every 12 months, Placid Plastic Duck Simulator daily. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Visual Pinball | Placid Plastic Duck Simulator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.3 (74 ratings) | 4.9 (252 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.6% of reviews | 93.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 74 | 252 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 12 months | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #69 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.6 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 120 MB | 670 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jason Millard | Tunnel Vision Srl |
Customer experience
Visual Pinball
Placid Plastic Duck Simulator
User reviews
Visual Pinball
From 74 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Awesome way to play virtual pinball on the go
- 👍 Super easy to set up with minimal file prep time
- 👍 Insane that I can play favorite pins on just my phone
- 👍 Fantastic portable implementation of VPX
- 👍 Fun and exciting to archive the history of pinball
Room to improve
- 🔧 More ability to adjust table settings needed
- 🔧 Struggling to manage camera angle
- 🔧 No fullscreen on iPad, plunger and outlanes cropped
- 🔧 Some tables don't work or have issues
Placid Plastic Duck Simulator
From 252 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ❤️ Love the ducks
- 🎉 Relaxing and calming experience
- 👍 Great game for duck enthusiasts
- 🎨 Enjoyable visuals and aesthetics
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bug with logo overlapping in Forsaken folder
Bugs and requests
Visual Pinball
Reported bugs
2 issues- Tables don't load for some users
- Certain complex/intensive tables error out or run at low FPS
Requested features
6 requests- List of most played tables
- Ability to reposition DMD
- Option to skip startup checks for some tables
- Ability to edit table scripts on the app
- Direct link to table depository
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- iPad version with more screen space
Placid Plastic Duck Simulator
Reported bugs
1 issue- Bug with logo overlapping in Forsaken folder
Requested features
2 requests- Cloud save feature
- Remote control duck or boat
In-app purchases
Visual Pinball
No in-app purchases
Placid Plastic Duck Simulator
- Ducks, Please$0.99
- Quacking the Ice$0.99
- Duck Addiction$0.99
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- So Many Ducks$0.99
- Hippospace Download$0.99
- Rooftop One Percent$0.99
- Ducks Galore$0.99
- All DLCs Bundle$4.99
Questions
Is Visual Pinball free?
Is Placid Plastic Duck Simulator free?
Which has better reviews, Visual Pinball or Placid Plastic Duck Simulator?
Do Visual Pinball or Placid Plastic Duck Simulator have ads?
Which is updated more often, Visual Pinball or Placid Plastic Duck Simulator?
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