Visual Pinball vs Thunder Buddy Sudoku
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Visual Pinball
Experience the full virtual pinball simulator with realistic physics, lighting, and sound. This open-source app offers a redesigned interface, enhanced table management, and the complete desktop experience for mobile devices. Enjoy a vast library of tables without ads or in-app purchases.
- Realistic physics, lighting, and sound
- Redesigned interface with Liquid Glass
- Full in-game menu for graphics and controls
- Support for various backglass and display types
- Easy table import and management
- Optimized memory usage
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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.
Thunder Buddy Sudoku
This logic puzzle game offers a guided Sudoku experience with a built-in coach that explains techniques. It features thousands of puzzles, daily challenges, and multiplayer modes to play with friends or against an AI.
- Thousands of graded Sudoku puzzles
- Hints that teach techniques
- Daily Challenge puzzles
- Multiplayer Buddy Duel mode
- Offline practice against AI
- Customizable themes and accessibility options
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Thunder Buddy Sudoku is a clean, fast sudoku with a coach built in. Every hint explains the technique it used, so you get better instead of just getting unstuck, and Bolty, your lightning-bolt buddy, reacts to every move. FIVE THOUSAND GRADED PUZZLES • Easy to Master: 1,000 puzzles at each of five levels, every one graded by the techniques it needs, never by guesswork. • Notes (or fill them all at once), undo, erase and digit-first entry. • Pause any time and pick up where you left off. HINTS THAT TEACH • Stuck? A hint shows the next step and names the technique, one step at a time. • Learn: short lessons from singles to X-Wing and XY-Wing, each with a live example from a real puzzle, then practice it on a real puzzle. • After every win, a solve review: your solve curve, longest think, best minute and the hardest technique you used. A NEW PUZZLE EVERY DAY • The Daily Challenge is the same puzzle for everyone, everywhere, ramping up from Easy on Monday to Master on Sunday. • Build a streak, and catch up on any day you missed from the calendar. • See how today compares with your personal best, your usual time and your trend at every level. PLAY WITH FRIENDS • Buddy Duel: race a friend live on the identical puzzle and watch their progress. • Practice against Bolty Bot, even offline. • Send a "beat my time" challenge over Messages: no account, the puzzle travels in the link. • Game Center leaderboards for every level, the daily and the week, plus 20 trophies. MADE WITH CARE • Time Attack mode when you want a sprint. • Board themes, dark mode, large text, VoiceOver and a full iPad layout. • Free to play, with occasional ads that never interrupt a puzzle. One purchase removes them for good — in this game, or in every Buddy game at once with the Thunder Buddy Pass. • No account needed.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Thunder Buddy Sudoku at 5.0 against Visual Pinball's 4.3. Thunder Buddy Sudoku also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs fortnightly) and review sentiment (100% vs 79%). Visual Pinball's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and 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. Thunder Buddy Sudoku sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Visual Pinball asks for nothing beyond the download.
Thunder Buddy Sudoku holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Visual Pinball has 74 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Visual Pinball's written reviews are positive against 100% of Thunder Buddy Sudoku's.
Visual Pinball ships an update fortnightly, Thunder Buddy Sudoku every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Visual Pinball | Thunder Buddy Sudoku |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (74 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 74 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.6 | 26.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 134 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jason Millard | Thunder Buddy |
Customer experience
Visual Pinball
Thunder Buddy Sudoku
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
Thunder Buddy Sudoku
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Visual Pinball
No in-app purchases
Thunder Buddy Sudoku
- Remove Ads$2.99
- Thunder Buddy Pass$9.99
Questions
Is Visual Pinball free?
Is Thunder Buddy Sudoku free?
Which has better reviews, Visual Pinball or Thunder Buddy Sudoku?
Do Visual Pinball or Thunder Buddy Sudoku have ads?
Which is updated more often, Visual Pinball or Thunder Buddy Sudoku?
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