Thirsty Empire vs ATM KING
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Thirsty Empire
Build a business empire from humble beginnings on the San Antonio Riverwalk. Grow from a street vendor to a billionaire by investing in various businesses and real estate across the city. Experience a rags-to-riches journey with strategic economic choices.
- Rags-to-riches climb with 8 wealth tiers
- Explore real San Antonio locations
- Engage in a hustle economy with savings, crypto, and loans
- Save and resume empire progress
- Street-smart guide with full voice narration
- Deterministic and replayable game runs
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You're broke, standing on the San Antonio Riverwalk with nothing but hustle. Thirsty Empire is a fast, addictive tycoon game about clawing your way from busker to billionaire across real San Antonio. Start with a single frozen-drink cart. Flip it into a bar. Then a candy shop, an e-bike store, real estate, the casino floor - until you own the whole city. FEATURES - Rags-to-riches climb: 8 wealth tiers from Broke to Run the City - Real San Antonio: Riverwalk, Southtown, downtown landmarks - A hustle economy: savings, crypto, casino, property, loans - Save and resume your empire anytime - A street-smart guide who talks you through every move (full voice) - Deterministic, replayable runs: chase your best score No timers nagging you. No pay-to-win. Just you, the city, and the grind. How fast can you run the city?
ATM KING
Build a global cash empire by placing and upgrading ATMs. Earn money even when offline and unlock new zones, from convenience stores to the Moon. Compete with others on leaderboards and collect rare assets.
- Build ATM empire across 11 themed zones
- Earn money offline
- Upgrade machines and hire workers
- Reset empire for permanent multipliers
- Collect rare assets from crates
- Compete on global leaderboards
- Engage in random in-game events
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Start with one ATM in a convenience store. End up owning machines across the entire planet and beyond. ATM King is an idle tycoon game about building the biggest cash empire in the world. Tap to collect, place ATMs in bigger and bigger locations, and watch your money pile up even while you're away. GROW YOUR EMPIRE - Place ATMs across 11 themed zones from a small-town gas station to Tokyo, Dubai, London, the Moon, and Mars - Unlock higher-tier locations as your income climbs - Upgrade your machines and hire workers to collect and protect your cash EARN WHILE YOU'RE AWAY - Your ATMs keep earning when the app is closed - Come back to a stack of offline cash and surprise events REBIRTH FOR MORE - Reset your empire to earn permanent multipliers - Each rebirth unlocks new bonuses, extra crate slots, and faster growth COLLECT RARE ASSETS - Open crates to collect assets across multiple rarities - Chase Legendary, Mythic, and S-Tier pulls - Full drop odds are shown in-game before you spend COMPETE WITH THE WORLD - Climb the global leaderboard - Add friends and see who's building the biggest empire - Spend raid tokens to hit rivals and steal a cut of their cash RANDOM EVENTS - Crypto booms, holiday rushes, blackouts, and more keep every session fresh Free to play. Optional in-app purchases for coins and an ad-free Pro upgrade. An account is optional and only used to sync your save
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Thirsty Empire at none against ATM KING's 6. Thirsty Empire also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). ATM KING's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and ratings volume (7 vs 1). On price, rating 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. ATM KING sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Thirsty Empire asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Thirsty Empire against 5.0 for ATM KING. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ATM KING has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Thirsty Empire ships an update every 3 weeks, ATM KING every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Thirsty Empire | ATM KING |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 98 MB | 126 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Joel Panchevre | Zachary Winter |
In-app purchases
Thirsty Empire
No in-app purchases
ATM KING
- 100 Coins$0.99
- 500 + 50 Bouns coins$3.99
- ATM KING PRO$4.99
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- 1,200 + 200 Bouns coins$7.99
- 2,500 + 200 Bouns coins$14.99
- 6,500 + 1500 Bouns coins$29.99
Questions
Is Thirsty Empire free?
Is ATM KING free?
Which has better reviews, Thirsty Empire or ATM KING?
Do Thirsty Empire or ATM KING have ads?
Which is updated more often, Thirsty Empire or ATM KING?
Other comparisons
