Comparison

Spades vs Bower

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

Head to head
About

Spades

Enjoy a classic card game experience offline, with customizable rules and fair AI opponents. Learn strategies with helpful hints and track your progress with detailed statistics. Play as much as you want with a free-to-play model and an optional one-time purchase for unlimited access.

Highlights
  • Offline play
  • Fair AI opponents
  • Bid and play hints
  • Customizable rules
  • Detailed statistics
  • Multiple difficulty levels
  • Undo and replay options
Features
Read full description

The grown-up Spades app. Free to play, with one optional unlock and fair AI. No ads, no subscriptions, no accounts. Works offline - even on a plane. Whether you have played Spades your whole life or you are still working out when to bid nil, there is a seat at this table: fair AI partners and opponents, hints from your own seat whenever you want one, and the house rules set the way your table plays them. FAIR AI PARTNERS AND OPPONENTS Three difficulty levels - Easy, Normal and Hard - and every one of them plays the hand it was dealt, seeing the same thirteen cards you see and the same tricks on the table. No stacked deals, and no rubber-banding when you pull ahead. Hard bids with the bag count in mind, so it knows when your side is one overtrick from the ten-bag penalty. LEARN THE HAND, PLAY IT BETTER • Bid Hint - what the Hard AI would bid from your seat, and why • Play Hint - the same for the card in front of you, with one line of reasoning • Unplayed Cards - lay out every card still unaccounted for • Play Log - every completed trick of the hand, and who took it • Last Trick - a free look back any time, just tap the middle of the table • Undo a card you wish you had back • Replay Hand and take the deal again from the top • Statistics for every game you play, kept on your device YOUR RULES, YOUR TABLE • Play to 250, 500 or 750 • Bid nil for 100, or go blind nil before you look at your hand for 200 • Turn nil bids off entirely if that is how your table plays • Standard Hoyle scoring, full bag tracking, the ten-bag penalty • Slow, normal or fast card animation • Confirm Before Playing, for when the phone is in one hand • Card backs, table felts and card faces, previewed together on a live table PICK IT UP ANYWHERE • Plays completely offline - on a plane, on the subway, anywhere • Autosaves after every single card, so a phone call never costs you a hand • iPhone and iPad, portrait and landscape, laid out for each • Card sounds, haptics, and an optional jazz loop that steps aside when Spotify or a podcast is already playing FREE TO PLAY, WITH ONE OPTIONAL UNLOCK • A game costs 50 coins, and the game gives you coins: 50 for coming back each day, 50 for a win, 3 for breaking spades • Hints and powerups run 2 to 10 coins • Spades VIP, one purchase, gives you unlimited games, free powerups, and every card back, felt and card face • No ads, no subscription, no coin packs, no accounts, no sign-in Download Spades: No Ads and play classic partnership Spades free and offline, with Family Sharing - one purchase covers the household. Privacy Policy: https://blite.github.io/Spades/privacy/ Terms of Service: https://blite.github.io/Spades/terms/

About

Bower

Experience a classic card game with customizable rules and AI opponents. Learn the game with a guided mode and track your progress with career stats. Play with friends on a single device.

Highlights
  • Offline play
  • Ad-free experience
  • Customizable house rules
  • Three difficulty levels
  • Guide mode for learning
  • Pass and play multiplayer
  • Career statistics tracking
Features
Read full description

Bower is euchre the way it's played at a kitchen table — you and your partner against two opponents, first team to 10 or 11 points. No accounts. No ads. No timers pushing you to play faster. Just the game. A GOOD GAME, EVERY TIME Your partner leads suits that make sense, holds trump when it should, and won't hand the opponents a round it could have taken. Three difficulty levels set how hard the whole table plays — Easy while you learn, Hard once you want a fight. LEARN BY PLAYING Guide mode deals a practice hand and walks you through every decision: what the right bower is, why the left bower counts as trump, when it's worth going alone. Nothing in it counts against your record. A How to Play reference is one tap away whenever a rule slips your mind. THE RULES YOU PLAY BY Every table has its own house rules, so Bower lets you set yours: • Stick the Dealer — the dealer must call if everyone passes twice • First to 10 or first to 11 • Partner's Best — a lone player trades a discard for their partner's best card • Farmer's Hand Redeal — throw in a hand with nothing above a ten • Auto Mode — plays your card for you when there's only one legal choice PASS AND PLAY Hand the phone around. Any seat at the table can be a person instead of the computer, so two, three, or four of you can play on a single device. FOUR LOOKS Classic Felt is the green table you'd expect. Midnight is dark and quiet. Kitchen is warm paper and serif type. Court Press is high-contrast and loud. TRACK YOUR GAME Career stats follow your wins, your euchres, your lone marches and your longest streak. Achievements unlock as you go, and sync to Game Center. Your game saves itself. Close the app mid-hand and pick it up exactly where you left off. Euchre is a 24-card trick-taking game played across the American Midwest, Ontario and beyond. If you grew up with it, Bower will feel familiar. If you didn't, guide mode will get you playing in about five minutes.

Screenshots

Spades4 screens
Bower4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Bower at daily against Spades's fortnightly. Bower also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Spades's advantage is ratings volume (73 vs 2). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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. Spades sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Bower sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bower holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spades has 73 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spades ships an update fortnightly, Bower daily. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Spades versus Bower: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpadesBower
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (73 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings73 — better2
Update frequencyFortnightlyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael HollowayCapware LLC

Customer experience

Spades

All ratings43 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral7.0%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bower

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Spades

One-time1
  • Spades VIP$0.99
1 purchases

Bower

One-time1
  • Bower Pro$2.99

Questions

Is Spades free?
Spades is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bower free?
Bower is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Spades or Bower?
Bower is rated higher. Spades averages 4.6 out of 5 from 73 ratings, while Bower averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Spades or Bower have ads?
Neither Spades nor Bower shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spades or Bower?
Spades ships an update fortnightly, and Bower daily. Most recently, Spades was updated on October 28, 2026 and Bower on October 29, 2026.

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