Gomoku vs Eastern Dark Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Gomoku
Read full descriptionHide full description
Gomoku — Five in a Row, refined. A meditative, fully offline take on the timeless five-in-a-row board game. No accounts, no ads, no tracking. Just you, the board, and a thinking AI. CORE FEATURES • Classic 15×15 board with crisp wood-grain visuals and warm dark theme. • Six AI difficulty levels — Novice, Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert, Master — built on heuristic scoring and minimax search up to depth-3. • Renju Forbidden Rule (optional, applied to black): double-three, double-four and overline are restricted, faithfully reproducing professional rule sets. • One-tap Undo to revert your last full round, perfect for learning. • Beautiful animated stones, last-move highlight, hint toggle. • Local statistics: total games, wins, losses, draws, real-time win rate, instant reset. • Haptic feedback and subtle sound effects (both can be disabled). WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT • 100% offline. No network requests, ever. • No accounts, no sign-ups, no ads, no in-app purchases. • All data stays on your device. • iPhone-optimized portrait layout, dark mode by design. WHO IT'S FOR • Casual players who want a quick, calming match. • Strategy lovers seeking a sharp opponent. • Anyone who wants to learn Gomoku from scratch — start at Novice and climb to Master. Place your stone. Plan five in a row. Outwit the silicon.
Eastern Dark Chess
Read full descriptionHide full description
Chinese Chess Skirmish is a beautifully crafted, fully offline Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) and Dark Chess (Banqi) experience for iPhone and iPad. Whether you're a lifelong Xiangqi master or just curious about Asia's most beloved strategy game, you'll find a mode that fits. TWO TIMELESS GAMES, ONE APP • Classic Xiangqi — the 2,500-year-old game of generals, cannons, and palace strategy. Play standard Xiangqi or "Skirmish," a fast-paced variant where horses and elephants are replaced with extra chariots for a rapid, attack-heavy showdown. • Dark Chess (Banqi) — the popular face-down variant where every piece is hidden until flipped. Mix bluffing with classical strategy across nine hand-painted board layouts: Classic 8×4, Cross-32, Cross-64, H-shape, Tian-shape, Double 8×8, Ri-shape, and more. SMART AI, THREE DIFFICULTIES Easy plays a polished, beginner-friendly game with built-in quiescence search to avoid blunders. Medium and Hard use deeper minimax with alpha-beta pruning — strong enough to challenge seasoned players. Every move is honest: the AI never peeks at hidden Dark Chess pieces. TWO PLAYERS, ONE DEVICE Pass-and-play mode lets two players share one screen. Perfect for couples, friends, or family game night — no internet, no accounts, no waiting for a match. BEAUTIFUL HOME SCREEN WIDGET Add a Chinese Chess widget to your home screen and choose from seven hand-crafted themes: Bronze Relief, Cyberpunk, Wasteland, Storybook, Ancient Scroll, Ink Wash, and Imperial Jade. Switch any time with iOS's Edit Widget UI. Supports Medium and Large sizes on iPhone, plus Extra Large on iPad. NINE LANGUAGES English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Spanish, French, Italian. OFFLINE • AD-FREE • PRIVACY-RESPECTING No accounts. No ads. No tracking. No internet required. Just chess. Designed for landscape on every device — iPhone (compact, dense layout) and iPad (spacious, room-to-breathe layout). Includes piece-display options (traditional characters or pictorial icons), background music with sequence/random/recycle playlist modes, and adjustable AI difficulty. Whether you're learning your first Xiangqi moves or playing your thousandth Banqi game, Chinese Chess Skirmish is built to be the most thoughtful and beautiful Chinese chess app on iOS.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Gomoku at 15.0 against Eastern Dark Chess's 17.6. 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Gomoku | Eastern Dark Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | — | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 422 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 晓 郭 | 尚 王 |
In-app purchases
Gomoku
No in-app purchases
Eastern Dark Chess
No in-app purchases









