Backyard Baseball '01 vs Explosive Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Backyard Baseball '01
Relive a classic baseball game enhanced for modern devices. Assemble your dream team with quirky kids and legendary MLB players, then compete in pick-up games or full seasons with fun power-ups and lively commentary.
- Assemble dream teams
- Play pick-up games or full seasons
- Customize uniforms
- Utilize pitching and batting power-ups
- Features legendary MLB players
- Includes hilarious bloopers
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STEP UP TO THE PLATE Relive the second baseball game in the Backyard Sports franchise, now enhanced to run on iOS. Whether you're picking your dream team, playing a pick-up game, or diving into a full season, step up to the plate and experience the game that made baseball fun for everyone! Backyard Baseball ‘01 teams up the Backyard kids with Backyardified MLB legends. Create your own Backyard team, customize your uniforms, and strategize to win the Championship. Play a single pick-up game or play through an entire season. Backyard Baseball ‘01 features intuitive controls for all ages! SWING BACK INTO BASEBALL Enjoy baseball like it’s 2001! 30 Charming Backyard kids Legendary MLB Players MLB Team Marks Hilarious Bloopers 8 Classic Ballparks 9 Pitching Power-ups and 4 batting Power-ups Lively commentary from Sunny Day and Vinnie To get into the swing of things, choose a batter and face Mr. Clanky for some batting practice. This is where you’ll learn just when to click to make your chosen batter hit the ball! THE GOAT RETURNS Play with the legend himself, Pablo Sanchez. Build a roster from a cast of 30 hilarious child athletes and 28 legendary pros that made Backyard Baseball ‘01 a sports classic. Returning MLB players include Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Cal Ripken Jr., Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Randy Johnson, Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Bagwell, Jason Giambi, Chipper Jones, Jeromy Burnitz, Mark McGwire, Shawn Green, Vladimir Guerrero, Kenny Lofton, Jason Kendall, Barry Larkin, Marty Cordova, Mo Vaughn, Raul Mondesi, Curt Schilling, Alex Gonzalez, Juan Gonzalez, Larry Walker, Carlos Beltran, Tony Gwynn, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jose Canseco. Game Modes include: Choose from three modes of play (Easy Mode, Medium Mode, Hard Mode) Random Pick-up: A quick way to jump right in! The computer chooses a random team for you and itself and the game starts immediately. Single Game: You take turns with the computer choosing players from a random pool of characters. Season: You pick your home field, create a team, and manage the team through a 14 game series. The opposing teams are computer generated. At the end of the season, the best two teams advance to the BBL playoffs (best of 3). If you keep winning, you’ll compete in the Super Entire Nation Tournament and Ultra Grand Championship of the Universe Series! ADDITIONAL INFORMATION At our core, we are fans first – not just of video games, but of the Backyard Sports franchise. Fans have asked for accessible and legal ways to play their original Backyard titles for years, and we are excited to deliver. Without having access to the source code, there are hard limitations on the experience we can create. As an example, we can’t use the original 32bit code to support modern macOS, as even with an incredibly clever wrapper, macOS can’t execute the binaries. Backyard Baseball ‘01 runs well, looks better than ever, includes new bonus features to test your mettle, and creates a new installation for digital preservation within the Backyard Sports catalog that allows the next generation of fans to fall in love with the game.
Explosive Chess
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Explosive Chess is a turn-based strategy game that combines chess movement with tactical, timed bomb explosions. Move your pieces like chess — but the only way to destroy anything is with bombs. Every turn you choose: move a piece, or arm a bomb. Bombs detonate on a fuse, blast in patterns determined by the piece that armed them, and friendly fire is real. Your own King can be destroyed by your own bomb. HOW TO PLAY Select a piece and move it — or switch to Arm mode and place a bomb on any square it threatens. Every piece has a unique blast shape. Rooks blast in a cross. Knights blast in an L-pattern that ignores everything in between. Pawns blast diagonally forward. The only way to win is to destroy the enemy King. FEATURES · Single-player vs AI with three difficulty levels — Easy, Medium, and Hard · Pass & Play multiplayer on one device · Three power-ups hidden in destructible rubble: Extra Bomb, Fuse Control, and Shield · Randomized board layouts every game — no two games play the same · No ads. No subscriptions. No in-app purchases. Buy it once, own it forever.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is chart position: Backyard Baseball '01 at #2 against Explosive Chess's unranked. Backyard Baseball '01 also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Explosive Chess's advantage is price ($2.99 vs $4.99). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases 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
Backyard Baseball '01 costs $4.99 and Explosive Chess $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Backyard Baseball '01 | Explosive Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | $2.99 — better |
| Rating | 3.9 (649 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 55.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 649 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Best chart rank | #2 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 359 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Playground Productions LLC | Jason Fawley |
Bugs and requests
Backyard Baseball '01
Reported bugs
2 issues- Soft-lock in Season mode
- Inconsistent player abilities (e.g., Pablo Sanchez)
Requested features
3 requests- Online multiplayer
- Full-screen mode on mobile
- Faster game pace
Explosive Chess
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Backyard Baseball '01
No in-app purchases
Explosive Chess
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Backyard Baseball '01 free?
Is Explosive Chess free?
Do Backyard Baseball '01 or Explosive Chess have ads?
Which is updated more often, Backyard Baseball '01 or Explosive Chess?
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