Comparison

Visual Pinball vs Dice Gauntlet

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Dice Gauntlet

Features
Read full description

Lead three heroes through a twelve-floor dungeon where every enemy shows its next move. Roll your dice, lock the faces you want, reroll the rest, then drag each die onto a target. Dice Gauntlet is a turn-based tactical roguelike you play like solitaire: take your time, read the fight, and outthink it. No ads, no energy, no timers, no subscriptions. It plays fully offline, and the first four floors are free forever. PLAN EVERY TURN • Each hero has a custom die of six skills: slashes, shields, poisons, heals and more. • Enemies telegraph their intents, so you always know what's coming: raise shields, stun the threat, or strike first. • Build your run from 40 relics, and charge the party's Ultimate for the turn that matters. DESCEND THE GAUNTLET • Twelve floors across the Crypt, the Sunken Citadel and the Void Spire. • 26 kinds of monsters, including three bosses that each fight two different ways: the Bone Golem, the Abyssal Kraken and the Void Arbiter. • Nine hero classes to master, from the Warrior to the Chrono-Mage. • Choose your road before most floors: take the floor as it comes, or make a trade, like an extra monster for a sturdier hero, or a sanctuary that heals the party but hardens every foe. Each card shows the fight ahead and exactly what it costs and gives. A NEW CHALLENGE EVERY DAY AND EVERY WEEK • The Daily Crypt: four seeded floors with the starter party and one modifier. Free, every day. • The Daily Gauntlet: a full twelve-floor run, the same for everyone that day, with a spoiler-free share card. • The Weekly Trial: every Monday, one dungeon with two modifiers, the same for everyone. Pick your party, fight with plain heroes, and earn Bronze, Silver and Gold. Every past Trial stays playable. EVERY RUN PAYS OUT • Earn Renown and Cinders, win or lose, with every point itemized at the end of the run. • Spend Cinders in the Forge on 54 new die faces, eight charms and upgrades. Every price is shown up front, and nothing is random. • Carry a relic to the end of three runs to attune it, and its attuned form joins your drafts. • Earn twelve pieces of gear — six weapons and six sets of armour — by doing deeds, never by spending. Each one sharpens a hero in a single situation: the first round, below half HP, after a kill, while shielded, standing alone, or outnumbered. • Raise each hero's mastery to open forge slots, charm slots and a Cinder dividend, chase 35 feats, and work the bounty board's three standing contracts. • Collect 33 dice skins and 30 titles. Your bests live in the Hall of Records. FOR EXPERTS AND FOR EVERYONE • Conquer the Gauntlet to start climbing fifteen Gauntlet Tiers of extra enemy pressure. • Build your own challenge in the Custom Crucible: pick from 11 modifiers and fight endless waves. • Assist Mode makes every enemy attack one point softer, so more players can see the whole Gauntlet. • VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, Reduce Motion, high-contrast combat, colorblind shapes, left-handed and tap-to-target controls, and adjustable haptics. FAIR BY DESIGN • Free forever: Floors 1 to 4 with the three starter heroes, the Training Grounds, the Daily Crypt, and every Weekly Trial to its Bronze medal. • One purchase unlocks the rest: Floors 5 to 12, six advanced hero classes, the Daily Gauntlet and the Custom Crucible. Family Sharing supported. • No ads, no subscriptions, no loot boxes, no energy or timers, no tracking. Cinders are earned by playing and can't be bought. • Plays fully offline. Your progress never expires or decays, and missing a day costs you nothing.

Screenshots

Visual Pinball3 screens
Dice Gauntlet4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Visual Pinball at none against Dice Gauntlet's 1. Dice Gauntlet's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.6). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Dice Gauntlet sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Visual Pinball asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Visual Pinball ships an update fortnightly, Dice Gauntlet every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Visual Pinball versus Dice Gauntlet: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisual PinballDice Gauntlet
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (75 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings75 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size134 MB6 MB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperJason MillardJason Fraser

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
Show 1 more
  • iPad version with more screen space

Dice Gauntlet

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Visual Pinball

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Dice Gauntlet

One-time1
  • Unlock the Full Gauntlet$4.99

Questions

Is Visual Pinball free?
Visual Pinball is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Dice Gauntlet free?
Dice Gauntlet is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Visual Pinball or Dice Gauntlet have ads?
Neither Visual Pinball nor Dice Gauntlet shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Visual Pinball or Dice Gauntlet?
Visual Pinball ships an update fortnightly, and Dice Gauntlet every 2 days. Most recently, Visual Pinball was updated on November 5, 2026 and Dice Gauntlet on October 31, 2026.

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