Comparison

Pocket8 vs BackCheckers

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

Head to head
About

Pocket8

This app brings the PICO-8 fantasy console experience to your mobile device, offering access to thousands of community-made games. Enjoy customizable touch controls or gamepad support, and never lose progress with an instant save system.

Highlights
  • Browse and play community-made PICO-8 games
  • Customizable touch controls and gamepad support
  • Instant save states for unlimited progress saving
  • Portrait and landscape orientation support
  • Locked 60FPS gameplay
Features
Read full description

Experience PICO-8 Anywhere: Pocket8 brings the magic of the PICO-8 fantasy console to your pocket. Whether you’re on a commute or relaxing at home, thousands of indie games are a single tap away. A Massive Library in Your Pocket: Discover thousands of community-made games with integrated BBS exploration. From challenging platformers to relaxing puzzles, there’s always something new to play. Download your favorites and build a personal collection that goes offline wherever you do. Controls That Feel Right: Gaming on a touch screen can be a struggle. Pocket8 features high-precision controls that feel as good as a real handheld. Choose between a classic D-pad or virtual joystick, or swap the face buttons positioning to match your playstyle. Wanna go touch-less? Connect a controller and play with a bluetooth gamepad or keyboard. Play Without Interruption: Instant save system lets you freeze time and jump back in to the exact pixel where you left off. Manage an infinite amount of save states per cartridge. Features: Browse & Play: Explore the Lexaloffle BBS to find and download new games instantly. Pro-Style Controls: Fluid movement and adaptive controls. Gamepad and Keyboard support included. Portrait & Landscape: Play comfortably in any orientation. Save Anywhere: Never lose your progress with instant state saves. Pure Performance: Locked 60FPS gameplay for the ultimate retro experience.

About

BackCheckers

A fast-paced, turn-based hockey strategy board game for two players. It combines dice rolling and strategic movement with real hockey-inspired gameplay for quick, intense matches. Play solo against the CPU or locally with a friend.

Highlights
  • Turn-based hockey gameplay
  • Dice rolling with strategic movement
  • 2-player local pass-and-play
  • CPU opponent mode
  • Built-in stat tracking
  • Matches 5-20 minutes
Read full description

BackCheckers is a fast-paced dice strategy game for hockey lovers and board game fans. Built for two players, it combines dice rolling, strategic movement, and real hockey-inspired play in quick, intense matches. Play a friend across the table, take on the CPU, or use it as a live scoreboard for the physical BackCheckers board game. Every move matters. TWO GAMES IN ONE BackCheckers — turn-based hockey on the rink. Roll, move, shoot and backcheck. Shots, saves, takeaways, breakaways and penalty shots all play out on the board. Odd Man Rush — a hockey-themed checkers variant. Jump your opponent, promote defenders into forwards, and break away one-on-one against the goalie. FOR THE PHYSICAL BOARD GAME A full digital scoreboard for playing BackCheckers on a real table. Game clock, periods, shots, saves, takeaways, breakaways, faceoffs and possession, all tracked live while you play. Log the final score when you're done and it goes straight into your career stats. SHARE YOUR GAMES Send a finished game to whoever you played and it lands in their stats too, once they confirm it. Send it by AirDrop, Messages, or any app you like — and it works whether or not they have BackCheckers yet. STATS THAT LAST Career records across every mode League standings for everyone you play Full box scores, goal by goal Wins, shooting percentage, save records and more PLAY YOUR WAY Pass-and-play locally with a friend Solo against the CPU Digital scoreboard for the physical board game Adjustable rink size, period length, and first-to-five or three-period matches No internet required Matches average 3-15 minutes. Easy to learn, but every decision counts. PRIVACY FIRST No accounts. No ads. No tracking. No data collected. BackCheckers works entirely offline and your stats live on your device. When you share a game, it travels inside the link itself — there's no server holding your record of it. Bring the intensity of hockey to your fingertips. Download BackCheckers and start competing today.

Screenshots

Pocket84 screens
BackCheckers4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Pocket8 at free against BackCheckers's paid. Pocket8 also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 3 days) and ratings volume (10 vs 3). BackCheckers's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 67%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). On price, ads, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

BackCheckers holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 3 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Pocket8's written reviews are positive against 100% of BackCheckers's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pocket8 ships an update daily, BackCheckers every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 17, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pocket8 versus BackCheckers: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket8BackCheckers
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (10 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings10 — better3
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB126 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperJevon LipseyReal Weird World LLC

Customer experience

Pocket8

Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%

BackCheckers

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Pocket8

No in-app purchases

None

BackCheckers

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pocket8 free?
Pocket8 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BackCheckers free?
BackCheckers is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pocket8 or BackCheckers?
BackCheckers is rated higher. Pocket8 averages 4.6 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while BackCheckers averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Pocket8 or BackCheckers have ads?
Neither Pocket8 nor BackCheckers shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pocket8 or BackCheckers?
Pocket8 ships an update daily, and BackCheckers every 3 days. Most recently, Pocket8 was updated on October 17, 2026 and BackCheckers on October 17, 2026.

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