Comparison

Janggi Pro vs Pocket Chinese Chess

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

Head to head
About

Janggi Pro

Experience authentic Korean chess (Janggi) with traditional rules on a 9x10 board. Features two AI tiers, local multiplayer, and ELO ranking. Enjoy a clean, ad-free interface with no sign-up required.

Highlights
  • Authentic 9x10 Janggi board
  • Traditional rule set
  • Two AI difficulty tiers
  • Local two-player mode
  • ELO ranking system
  • Game Center leaderboards
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

Janggi Pro is the authentic Korean chess (์žฅ๊ธฐ) experience for phone and tablet โ€” full traditional rules including bikjang (kings facing), cannon jumps over a single screen, palace diagonals for guards / kings / cannons, and four piece setups (inner / outer / left / right) on each side. โ€ข Authentic 9ร—10 board with the river and two palaces โ€ข Two AI tiers (Beginner / Intermediate) plus local two-player pass-and-play โ€ข Drag or tap to move with a confirm bar before committing โ€ข Last-move highlight and legal-destination dots โ€ข Pinch-to-zoom on the board โ€ข ELO ranking with kyu / dan label (6 kyu start at 1200, 9 dan at 2600+) โ€ข Game Center leaderboard and achievements (no sign-up required โ€” handled by the OS) โ€ข Five languages โ€” Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified / Traditional) No sign-up. No ads. No tracking. No in-app purchases.

About

Pocket Chinese Chess

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Pocket Chess is a cute, pocket-sized take on Xiangqi โ€” the classic Chinese chess loved by millions for over a thousand years. Whether you're a complete beginner or a seasoned general, there's a battle here for you. Tap to march your soldiers, leap your horses, and fire your cannons over screens of pieces. Trap the enemy general before they trap yours. It's the same deep strategy your grandparents grew up on, dressed up in a friendly, colorful style and tuned for one-handed play on your phone. WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT โ€ข Six CPU difficulties โ€” Beginner, Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, and Insane. The Beginner bot is gentle enough for kids and first-timers. Expert plays a strong, deep search with quiescence. Insane spots you a piece โ€” and still fights back. โ€ข Pass-and-play โ€” share your phone with a friend or family member. Optional auto-rotate flips the board so each side always sees their pieces at the bottom. โ€ข Learn mode โ€” a friendly tour of every piece, the river, the palace, and the rules that surprise beginners (flying generals, cannon screens, soldier promotion). Built for total newcomers. โ€ข Optional hints โ€” flick on a hint toggle when you're learning, flick it off when you're ready to fight clean. โ€ข Take-backs your way โ€” choose whether reversals are allowed at the start of each game. Great for teaching, off-limits for serious matches. โ€ข Resume anytime โ€” life interrupts. Pocket Chess saves the game you're in and lets you pick it back up later, even after a CPU handicap. โ€ข Profile & milestones โ€” track your wins, including the special Insane-mode handicap victories. โ€ข Portrait, one-handed, offline โ€” no Wi-Fi needed. Designed to play on the bus, in line, or under the covers. โ€ข Cute by design โ€” warm parchment board, hand-drawn pieces, and chunky, readable type. Equally at home for ages 6 and 60. ABOUT XIANGQI Xiangqi (่ฑกๆฃ‹, "elephant chess") is played on a 9ร—10 board split by a river. Each side starts with a General, two Advisors, two Elephants, two Horses, two Chariots, two Cannons, and five Soldiers. Cannons must jump a single piece to capture. Elephants can't cross the river. Generals are pinned to their three-by-three palace and can never face each other on an open file. The game ends with checkmate โ€” or with the side to move running out of legal options, which is a loss (not a draw, as in Western chess). If any of that is new to you, don't worry. The Learn screen walks through it all, and the Beginner CPU is patient. FREE TO PLAY Pocket Chess is free, supported by an occasional full-screen ad between games. No subscriptions, no power-ups, no nagging. Just chess.

Screenshots

Janggi Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Janggi Pro at 3 against Pocket Chinese Chess's โ€”. Pocket Chinese Chess's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 6 level
Janggi Pro versus Pocket Chinese Chess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJanggi ProPocket Chinese Chess
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksโ€”
AdsNoโ€”
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betterโ€”
Requires iOS15.013.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size18 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLim SangjinKenny Soh

In-app purchases

None

Janggi Pro

No in-app purchases

None

Pocket Chinese Chess

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Janggi Pro free?
Janggi Pro is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pocket Chinese Chess free?
Pocket Chinese Chess is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

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