Chess Puzzles vs Forbidden!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chess Puzzles
Enhance your chess skills with adaptive tactical training. Solve millions of real-game puzzles to build pattern recognition and increase your rating. The system adjusts to your level, offering structured sessions for steady progress.
- Adaptive puzzle difficulty
- Millions of real-game chess puzzles
- Themed tactical training (forks, pins, etc.)
- Engine-supported analysis
- Rating growth and accuracy tracking
- Structured training sessions
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Turn every puzzle into progress. Train with 5M+ puzzles from real games, personalized to your level. When you make a mistake, understand why - and learn from it. That’s the idea we built this app around. Solving more puzzles is useful, but we wanted training to be about more than getting a position right or wrong. We wanted every puzzle to teach you something - about the move you missed, the pattern you didn’t recognize, or the way you calculated the position. There are more than 5 million puzzles from real games. But the number itself isn’t really the point. What matters is finding the right positions for you, at the right difficulty, and helping you learn from them. When you make a mistake, you can understand why. Use hints, explore better moves, get coaching, and look deeper into the position instead of simply moving on to the next puzzle. Over time, your training starts to reveal which tactical patterns give you the most trouble. You can practice across 64 motifs and patterns - forks, pins, sacrifices, checkmates, endgames, and many more - and spend more time on the ideas that need it. You can also see how your training develops over time: your rating, accuracy, training time, and performance across different patterns. And when you’re ready for something truly advanced, there are more than 300,000 composed chess problems from solving competitions. They’re difficult, precise, often beautiful - and solving them can be one of the most satisfying forms of chess training. We’ve also tried to make this a place you’ll actually want to come back to. Solve a few puzzles when you have five minutes. Sit down for a longer session when you feel like training seriously. Build a streak, reach a milestone, or simply keep showing up. Whether you’re new to tactics or have been playing chess for years, the goal stays the same: Learn something from every puzzle. Play better chess. And we’re here to help you along the way. Privacy Policy: https://chess.phd/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://chess.phd/terms/
Forbidden!
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FORBIDDEN! is the party word game where every word you want to say is off-limits. You see a word on your card. Your friends have to guess it. But you can't use ANY of the 5 forbidden clue words underneath it. Race the timer, pass tough cards, and outsmart the bans. Say the wrong thing? -1 point. - Wild, simple, family-friendly fun - Solo or team mode (2-4 teams, 1-5 players each) - 6 topic categories: Cultural, Sports, Movies & TV, Food & Drink, Science, History - Cards in 10 languages: English, German, French, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Vietnamese, Arabic and Turkish - 3 difficulty levels: Basic, Medium, Hard - 4,700+ word cards - Customizable rules: round duration, max passes, forbidden penalty on/off HOW TO PLAY 1. Pick a topic and difficulty 2. One player describes the word on the card - without using any of the 5 forbidden clues 3. Teammates shout out guesses 4. Each correct guess = +1, each forbidden word said = -1, passes are limited 5. Most points when the timer runs out, wins the round TEAM MODE Make it a competition. Set up 2-4 teams with custom names and player rosters. Players take turns describing for their team. Run as many rounds as you want. Track scores, forbidden violations, and pass counts per team. Highest score at the end wins. PERFECT FOR - Game nights with family or friends - Parties, road trips, holidays - Quick fun anytime: rounds are only 60 seconds (and adjustable) NO ACCOUNT, NO SIGN-UP The cards play fully offline. No login, no registration. Your settings stay on your device. We hope you love it. Send us feedback - see the support link below. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://forbidden-app.github.io/forbidden-support/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Forbidden! at none against Chess Puzzles's 26. On price, 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
Both are free to download. Chess Puzzles sells 20 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Forbidden! asks for nothing beyond the download.
Chess Puzzles ships an update every 4 days, Forbidden! weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chess Puzzles | Forbidden! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (240 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 94.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 240 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 112 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sergei Tovmasian | Yasin Akbas |
In-app purchases
Chess Puzzles
- Premium Weekly3 Days trial$3.997 Days
- Chess.PhD Weekly Access3 Days trial$3.997 Days
- Chess.PhD Premium (1 Week)$4.997 Days
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- Premium Weekly3 variants$4.997 Days
- Chess.PhD Weekly Premium3 Days trial$4.997 Days
- Chess.PhD Monthly Premium$6.991 Month
- Chess.PhD Monthly Access$7.991 Month
- Chess.PhD Premium (1 Month)$9.991 Month
- Premium Monthly3 variants$9.991 Month
- Premium Annual$29.991 Year
- Chess.PhD Annual Access$39.991 Year
- Chess.PhD Premium (1 Year)7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Chess.PhD Premium (1 Year)3 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Premium Annual2 variants$49.991 Year
- Premium Annual3 Days trial2 variants$49.991 Year
- Premium Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Premium 1 Year3 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Chess.PhD Annual Premium$49.991 Year
- Premium Annual7 Days trial$79.991 Year
- Premium Annual3 Days trial$79.991 Year
Forbidden!
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chess Puzzles free?
Is Forbidden! free?
Do Chess Puzzles or Forbidden! have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chess Puzzles or Forbidden!?
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