AsciiTapper vs Wild Showdown
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AsciiTapper
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Serve up frosty mugs of root beer in a glowing green terminal. AsciiTapper is a love letter to 80s arcade serving games, rendered entirely in living phosphor text. Customers are walking up the bars and they're thirsty. Slide mugs down the bar to push them back, catch the empties before they crash, and read the room: rush the big spenders for early-serve bonuses, keep up with speedy customers, and never pour for the grumpy ones. Features: - An eight-stage career of 84 hand-authored shifts, each with its own twist and a Master contract - Clear, Clean, and Master ratings on every shift - Daily Challenge: one ranked attempt per day, the same seeded puzzle for everyone, unlimited practice afterward - Combo scoring that rewards sustained, error-free serve-and-catch play - Achievements tracked in-game, plus Game Center leaderboards - A pure retro terminal aesthetic: the whole game is ASCII art, with optional cosmetic CRT themes - Simple two-tap play: tap a lane to move, tap again to serve, and be there to catch - No ads. Ever. The tutorial, the first three career stages, and Daily Challenge are free. One optional Full Shift purchase unlocks stages 4 through 8 plus Endless mode. No subscriptions, and purchases never affect ranked play. The terminal is warmed up. The mugs are cold. Tap in. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Wild Showdown
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A tipsy sheriff. One saloon. Hold the line! Wild Showdown is a saloon shoot-out in the style of 1980s LCD handheld games. Characters don't glide around — fixed LCD segments light up one by one, just like the handhelds you used to hold. SHOOT Step left and right and press FIRE to shoot straight up. Smash the plates, bottles and glasses the bartender throws. One, two or three items in a single shot score 10, 50 or 150 — and a triple earns a bonus bottle. DODGE The card player hurls ashtrays and the red-haired lady throws apples. When a customer stands up, get moving. DYNAMITE & WHISKEY From the 2nd pattern, dynamite flies across the saloon — shoot it and it blows. In the 3rd pattern the bartender drops dynamite at your feet: walk to the far right and press RIGHT once more to pour whiskey on the fuse. THE SHOWDOWN After 20 hits, the desperado pushes through the swinging doors and everyone ducks. He fakes and peeks. Wait until he kneels and aims, then draw — fire too early and he shoots back. The overturned table stops only 3 bullets. FEATURES • 10 levels × 3 patterns that keep speeding up; after level 10 it loops back to level 6 • Game Center high-score leaderboard • Live-synthesized square-wave sound and haptic feedback • Bluetooth keyboard and MFi / Xbox / PlayStation controller support • Free, no ads, no in-app purchases, no account — your data stays on your device
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Wild Showdown at none against AsciiTapper's 4. AsciiTapper's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence and ads 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. AsciiTapper sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Wild Showdown asks for nothing beyond the download.
AsciiTapper ships an update monthly, Wild Showdown every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 13, 2026.
| Parameter | AsciiTapper | Wild Showdown |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Vertolini | Tsung Ying Tu |
In-app purchases
AsciiTapper
- Faster Mugs$0.99
- Mug Catcher$1.99
- CRT Theme Pack$1.99
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- Full Shift$3.99
Wild Showdown
No in-app purchases









