Comparison

Dink & Dash vs Game Maker

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

Head to head
About

Dink & Dash

Track your pickleball games, discover new courts, and connect with other players. Log matches, earn badges for playing at different locations, and get AI-powered tips to improve your game. Build your pickleball community and share your progress.

Highlights
  • Log match details and notes
  • Find and connect with players
  • Collect court stamps and earn badges
  • AI-powered game insights
  • Discover nearby courts on a map
  • Social feed for community interaction
Features
Read full description

Dink & Dash: Dash to New Courts and Dink with New Friends This isn’t another court finder. It’s where your pickleball story lives. Dink & Dash — Your Pickleball Companion Track your games, connect with players, and level up your pickleball journey. DINK DIARY Log your matches with details like location, date, score, and personal notes. Look back on your pickleball memories anytime. PICKLE PALS Find and connect with other players. Send pal requests, chat in real-time, and build your pickleball community. PICKLE PASSPORT Collect court stamps by playing at different locations. Earn badges like Court Hopper, Early Bird, Night Owl, Streaker, and more. Track your achievements in the Awards tab. BADGE CELEBRATIONS Unlock badges and get a confetti-filled celebration! Show off your earned badges on your profile. SOCIAL FEED Share updates, tag players with @mentions, and interact with your pickleball community through likes and comments. DASH ASSISTANT Get AI-powered insights and tips to improve your game. COURT EXPLORER Discover nearby pickleball courts on an interactive map. QR CODE SHARING Share your profile instantly with a scannable QR code. Whether you're a casual dinker or a tournament grinder, Dink & Dash keeps your pickleball life organized and fun. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

About

Game Maker

Organize pickleball games, find nearby courts, and connect with players. Create custom game formats, manage groups, and communicate with other players.

Highlights
  • Find nearby games and courts
  • Connect with players by DUPR, age, gender
  • Create private groups and chat
  • Organize games with custom formats
  • Scramble, Round Robin, King of the Court modes
  • DUPR rating sessions
Features
Read full description

Game Maker is made for pickleball — the one app you open before, during, and after every session. Find courts and players near you, set up games in seconds, run brackets, track your DUPR rating, and stay connected with the people you play with. Whether you're organizing your regular doubles group or chasing your next rating bump, Game Maker keeps your whole pickleball life in one place. Meet Pickles AI Just ask. Say "set up a private game Saturday morning at 9am with my advanced players group" and Pickles AI — with voice dictation — turns it into a real, confirmable game inside the app. Organizing play has never been this fast. Your games, on your Calendar Every game you create syncs straight to your iPhone's Calendar, including recurring sessions — so your schedule lives where you already look. Find your game • Discover nearby courts and players on the map • Filter by distance to find games that fit • Host or join games and manage invites Play & compete • Build round-robin and tournament brackets • Record match scores • Head-to-head history and leaderboards Track your progress • Connect your DUPR rating • See 90-day performance trends and match insights • Follow your improvement over time Stay connected • Add friends and create groups • Message the players you play with • Game Maker player indicators so you know who's on the app Play anywhere — now in 24 languages Game Maker automatically matches your device language, or pick from 24 languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, Turkish, and more. Download Game Maker and play more pickleball. By using Game Maker, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Privacy Policy: https://pickleball.com/privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://pickleball.com/terms-of-use

Screenshots

Dink & Dash4 screens
Game Maker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Dink & Dash at 5.0 against Game Maker's 3.8. Dink & Dash also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 64%) and ads (none vs shown). Game Maker's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). On price, ratings volume, in-app purchases 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. Dink & Dash sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Game Maker sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Dink & Dash holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 18 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Dink & Dash's written reviews are positive against 64% of Game Maker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Dink & Dash ships an update every 2 months, Game Maker every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Dink & Dash versus Game Maker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDink & DashGame Maker
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (12 ratings) — better3.8 (18 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better63.6% of reviews
Number of ratings1218 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB149 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperGSST ENTERPRISES LLCPickleball TopCo LLC

Customer experience

Dink & Dash

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Game Maker

All ratings18 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral5.6%
Negative27.8%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive63.6%
Neutral9.1%
Negative27.3%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Dink & Dash

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription$2.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription3 Days trial$29.991 Year
4 purchases

Game Maker

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Access$4.991 Month
  • Pro Monthly Access$19.991 Month
  • Yearly Access$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro Annual Access$199.991 Year

Questions

Is Dink & Dash free?
Dink & Dash is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Game Maker free?
Game Maker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Dink & Dash or Game Maker?
Dink & Dash is rated higher. Dink & Dash averages 5.0 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while Game Maker averages 3.8 from 18 ratings.
Do Dink & Dash or Game Maker have ads?
Game Maker shows ads; Dink & Dash does not.
Which is updated more often, Dink & Dash or Game Maker?
Dink & Dash ships an update every 2 months, and Game Maker every 10 days. Most recently, Dink & Dash was updated on October 20, 2026 and Game Maker on October 25, 2026.

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