Alistairs Games vs Notebook Games
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Alistairs Games
Engage in over 120 multiplayer games directly within your messaging conversations. Challenge friends to quick matches or tournaments across various genres, from retro arcade to strategic board games and word puzzles. Enjoy seamless turn-based play without leaving your messages app.
- Over 120 multiplayer games
- Play within Messages app
- Turn-based gameplay
- No separate downloads
- Multiple genres including arcade, strategy, word, sports, trivia, cards, social, and puzzles
- Rich preview cards for game state
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Transform your message conversations into an epic gaming arena with over 120 multiplayer games spanning every genre imaginable. Challenge friends to quick matches or extended tournaments without ever leaving your Messages app. Dive into nostalgic arcade action with competitive versions of retro classics like Ghost Maze Chase, Space Shooter, Bug Blaster, City Defense, Brick Breaker, and Space Rocks. Test your reflexes and rack up high scores in fast-paced battles that capture the golden age of gaming. Outsmart opponents with strategic board games including Chess Lite, Checkers, Four in a Row, Naval Combat, Reversi, Wall Maze, and Marble Push. From classic favorites to modern abstract strategy games like Hex, Gomoku, and Lines of Action, there is a thinking game for every tactical mind. Flex your vocabulary with word challenges like Word Tiles, Anagrams, Word Hunt, Hangman, Word Grid, Rhyme Time, and Letter Chains. Race to find the longest words, solve puzzles faster, or create the cleverest responses in party games like Fill in the Blanks and Forbidden Words. Compete in realistic sports simulations including 8-Ball Pool, 9-Ball Pool, Mini Golf, Bowling, Basketball Hoops, Darts, Air Hockey, Shuffleboard, Curling, and Cup Pong. Each game features authentic physics and intuitive touch controls for satisfying gameplay. Test your knowledge with trivia battles across every subject. Face off in Pop Quiz, Sports Trivia, Movie Quote Duel, Geography Battle, Music Guess, History Timeline, and Science Showdown. Answer quickly and accurately to prove you are the ultimate trivia champion. Deal yourself in with card game classics like Poker Lite, Blackjack, Crazy Eights, Go Fish, War, Old Maid, and Rummy Lite. Every hand is a new chance to outwit your opponent and claim victory. Get creative with social games like Draw and Guess, Emoji Story, Meme Caption, Sound Effects, and Fortune Teller. These conversation starters add humor and personality to every match. Solve puzzles competitively in Number Grid, Tile Merge Duel, Pipe Connect, Sliding Puzzle, Lights Out, Color Flood, and Memory Match. Race against friends to complete challenges faster and smarter. Every game is designed for seamless turn-based play. Send your move through iMessage and your friend can respond whenever they have time. Games automatically save progress so you can juggle multiple matches simultaneously. Rich preview cards show the current game state right in your message thread. No separate app downloads or account creation required. Just tap a game, make your move, and send. Your opponent receives a beautiful interactive message and can jump right into the action. Perfect for staying connected with friends and family across any distance. Whether you have 30 seconds or 30 minutes, there is always a perfect game waiting. Simple mechanics make every game easy to learn, but deep strategy keeps you coming back for more. Track your wins, challenge rivals to rematches, and discover new favorites across 10 distinct categories.
Notebook Games
Relive classic notebook paper games with 16 hand-drawn mini-games. Enjoy offline play, pass-and-play multiplayer, and customizable themes without ads or data collection.
- 16 hand-drawn mini-games
- Offline play
- Pass-and-play multiplayer
- Multiple notebook themes
- Game statistics tracking
- No ads or data collection
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Remember doodling games in the back of your notebook during class? Tic Tac Toe in the margins. Dots & Boxes on the last page. Snake on every scrap of paper you could find. Notebook Games brings that feeling back — right on your phone. Every game is hand-drawn on warm, yellowed notebook paper. The lines wobble a little. The text looks pencilled in. The background has eraser marks and pencil smudges, just like the real thing. It's not polished. That's the point. 18 games, all hand-drawn on paper: • Doodle Kingdom — A full card adventure drawn in the margins. Build your deck, battle doodle monsters, reach the boss. No two runs alike. • Tic Tac Toe — The timeless classic, plus Super (4x4) and Ultimate (nine boards in one) modes. • Dots & Boxes — Draw lines, capture squares, outwit the AI. • Gomoku — Five in a row on a 15x15 grid. Pinch to zoom, undo moves. • Connect Four — Drop pieces to connect four in a row. Three AI levels. • Checkers — Jump and capture on an 8x8 board. Three AI difficulty levels. • Winding Words — Trace the theme words as they twist through the grid. Every letter gets used. • Five Letters — Guess the five-letter word in six tries. Hand-drawn circles and scribbles for clues. • Mini Sudoku — Quick 4x4 puzzles. Three difficulty levels with timer. • Minesweeper — Tap to reveal, hold to flag. Includes a no-guess mode: every board is solvable by pure logic. • Word Search — Find hidden words in a letter grid. Drag to select. • Maze — Find the exit, or try One Line mode: cover every cell with a single unbroken pencil stroke. • Snake — A calmer, softer Snake. Pencil-drawn on notebook paper. • Hangman — Guess the word before the stickman swings, then learn it: pronunciation, meaning, and an example sentence. • Notebook Siege — Angry-doodles-style slingshot game. 30 hand-crafted levels across 3 chapters, plus endless mode. • Paper Football — Flick a folded paper triangle across the desk. Score touchdowns on notebook paper. • Paper Airplane — Launch a paper airplane through rings and past obstacles. Tilt to steer. • Doodle Jump — Bounce a stickman up through pencil platforms. How high can you go? A new puzzle every day: The Daily Challenge rotates through the week — a fresh Minesweeper board, Word Search, Maze, Winding Words, Five Letters, and more. Everyone gets the same puzzle. Keep your streak alive with tally marks in the margin, and share your result as a hand-drawn card. Everything you'd want, nothing you wouldn't: - No account required. Just open and play. - Works completely offline. No Wi-Fi, no problem. - No ads during gameplay - ever. - AI opponents for solo play. - Sound effects that feel like pencil on paper. - Dark mode support throughout. - Warm notebook paper aesthetic. Notebook Games Pro ($1.99 one-time): Unlock four extra notebook themes - Graph Paper, Blackboard, Aged Parchment, and Blueprint - plus detailed game stats. One purchase, yours forever. No subscription. Whether you're looking to unwind, challenge a friend, or just relive the joy of rainy-day doodling, Notebook Games is here for you. No sign-in. No nonsense. Just games on paper. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://quietbyte.io/privacy-notebookgames.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Notebook Games at 5.0 against Alistairs Games's 3.6. Notebook Games also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.2). Alistairs Games's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (5 vs 1). On price, ads, monetization model 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. Notebook Games sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Alistairs Games asks for nothing beyond the download.
Notebook Games holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Alistairs Games has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | Alistairs Games | Notebook Games |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (5 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | — | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.2 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ian SMITH | JUMING LAI |
In-app purchases
Alistairs Games
No in-app purchases
Notebook Games
- Notebook Games Pro$1.99
Questions
Is Alistairs Games free?
Is Notebook Games free?
Which has better reviews, Alistairs Games or Notebook Games?
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