Comparison

Gambit vs ScrollChess

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

Head to head
About

Gambit

Explore classic chess and five unique variants on a single board. Play against AI with adjustable difficulty, with friends offline, or online against others. Features include post-game analysis and a library of famous games.

Highlights
  • Classic Chess
  • Five Chess Variants
  • Computer AI Play
  • Pass-and-Play Mode
  • Online Multiplayer
  • Post-Game Analysis
  • Famous Game Library
Features
Read full description

Gambit is chess — and five chess worlds beyond it. One clean board, every way to play. GAME TYPES • Classic Chess — full rules: castling, en passant, promotion, draws. • Fischer Random (Chess960) — randomized back rank with generalized castling. • Open Borders (Horde) — 36 pawns storm a full army. • Turnabout (Crazyhouse) — capture a piece, then drop it back as your own. • Siamese (Bughouse) — two boards, captured pieces feed your partner. • Star Trek Tri-D — three-dimensional chess across seven boards. WAYS TO PLAY • Computer — five difficulty levels, from a gentle start to a real fight. Moves are instant. • Pass-and-play — two players on one device. • Online — invite a friend with a link, or find a match automatically. Live clocks, resign and draw offers, and you can watch other live games. MORE • Eight board themes. • Post-game analysis — an evaluation graph and move-quality marks. • A library of famous games to replay. • Optional cross-device game history with "Sign in with Knomee." No account is required to play. Sign in only if you want your game history synced across devices.

About

ScrollChess

Features
Read full description

Chess on Apple Watch you cannot mis-tap. A chess square on a watch is about half the size Apple's own guidelines set as the minimum for anything you tap. So ScrollChess does not ask you to tap one. The Digital Crown moves a crosshair from one legal option to the next, and a tap — anywhere on the screen — confirms it. Nothing on the board is a touch target, so there is nothing to miss. ON YOUR WRIST • Play a full game against a chess engine written for this app, at four levels — from beginner to a strong club player • A daily puzzle that takes about twenty seconds, with a streak. 1,048 of them are in the app, which is a new one every day for nearly three years • Add a complication and today's puzzle is one tap from the watch face • It all runs on the watch alone — no phone nearby, no signal, no account ON YOUR IPHONE • The same engine and the same daily puzzle, with direct taps on a larger board • Take a move back, replay it, and step through the game move by move • Pass and play: hand the phone to someone else and the board turns itself around between moves AN OPPONENT THAT PLAYS LIKE A PERSON The four levels are not one engine with the brakes on. A weaker level chooses among moves the search already approved, so it plays inaccurately rather than absurdly — it will punish a blunder but it will not hand you a queen for nothing. It also takes a moment to answer, because an opponent that replies instantly to a move you thought about is not an opponent, it is a machine. BUILT FOR THE WATCH FIRST Every number in this app came off a wrist rather than a monitor. The board fills the screen, the haptics are tuned so one pulse means one step of the crosshair, and the puzzles were filtered for lines short enough to solve while your arm is up. ACCESSIBILITY The board is fully navigable with VoiceOver on both platforms: every square announces where it is, what stands on it and what is happening to it, and can be played directly. NO ACCOUNTS, NO ADS, NO TRACKING There is nothing to sign into and nothing to switch off. The engine, the puzzles and your games live on your device. No analytics, no advertising, no data leaves the app — it works the same in Airplane Mode. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO There is no online play and no matchmaking with strangers. This is a game against the engine, a daily puzzle, and a board you can hand to the person next to you. The watch and the phone each keep their own games and their own streak — nothing syncs between them yet. One purchase. No subscription, no in-app purchases. Questions: hey@scrollchess.com

Screenshots

Gambit4 screens
ScrollChess4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Gambit at Free against ScrollChess's $6.99. On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Gambit is free to download; ScrollChess costs $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Gambit versus ScrollChess: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGambitScrollChess
PriceFree — better$6.99
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJoseph MaloneANDRII BONDAR

In-app purchases

None

Gambit

No in-app purchases

None

ScrollChess

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Gambit free?
Gambit is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ScrollChess free?
ScrollChess costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Gambit or ScrollChess have ads?
Neither Gambit nor ScrollChess shows ads.

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