Comparison

Chessdoku vs must be one

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

Head to head
About

Chessdoku

This logic puzzle game combines Sudoku-style placement with chess piece attack rules. Solve over 1,500 unique puzzles across five distinct game modes, with a daily challenge for all players. Enjoy a pure, offline experience with no ads or tracking.

Highlights
  • Sudoku-style piece placement
  • Chess piece attack logic
  • Five unique game modes
  • 1,500 puzzles
  • Daily challenge
  • Offline play
  • Hint system with deductions
Features
Read full description

Place the given chess pieces so every row and column holds exactly one piece — and no piece threatens another. That's Chessdoku: the discipline of Sudoku, the geometry of chess. NO GUESSING, EVER Every puzzle is generated by a built-in deduction engine and verified solvable by pure logic. Stuck? The hint doesn't just drop a piece — it explains the deduction you could have made. FIVE WAYS TO PLAY - Classic — open square boards, from a gentle 4×4 to the deep end - Panorama — wide boards that bend your instincts - Fortress — frozen pawn walls cut the lines, so extra pieces fit - Command — you place the pawns, and your pieces need them - Torus — borderless boards where attacks wrap around the edges 300 levels in each mode — 1,500 puzzles in all. EVERY DAY, ONE PUZZLE A daily challenge seeded from the date, identical for every player on Earth. Keep your streak alive and share your result, spoiler-free. THINK WITH YOUR HANDS Cross off dead squares with the X tool, pencil-mark individual piece options Sudoku-style, long-press any piece to see exactly what it attacks, and let the app prove it the moment a position becomes unwinnable. FREE TO PLAY The daily challenge, the tutorial, and a generous run of free levels — including the first 100 in Classic — are free to everyone. One optional purchase unlocks all 1,500 levels and every Quick Play preset — no subscription, ever. YOURS, OFFLINE No account. No ads. No tracking. Puzzles are generated on your device and your progress never leaves it. Seventeen handcrafted board themes, including a colorblind-friendly high-contrast set.

About

must be one

Read full description

must be one is a number puzzle built on a single rule — the one in its name. A grid of numbers. Four operators. Combine neighboring tiles with arithmetic and collapse the whole board down to a single 1. That's the entire game: all becomes one. It reads as obvious for about three moves. Then it doesn't. - One rule, no filler — no twenty-minute tutorial, no menus to dig through. You understand it in seconds and spend the rest of your time actually thinking. - Always solvable — every stage is generated so that a solution is guaranteed to exist before you ever see it. If you're stuck, that's on you, not the board. - A climb that keeps widening — early stages stay in single digits; later ones open the range up and the arithmetic gets meaner. - Free, and quick to pick up. One stage on the train; look up an hour later. From office-canard — a one-person studio making small, system-first games. If this one gets its hooks in, there are more small games where it came from.

Screenshots

Chessdoku4 screens
must be one4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: must be one at none against Chessdoku's 1. Chessdoku's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, 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

Both are free to download. Chessdoku sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. must be one asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Chessdoku versus must be one: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessdokumust be one
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 5 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.415.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMatt Falkoffice-canard games

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Chessdoku

One-time1
  • Unlock Everything$4.99
None

must be one

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chessdoku free?
Chessdoku is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is must be one free?
must be one is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Chessdoku or must be one have ads?
must be one shows ads; Chessdoku does not.
Which is updated more often, Chessdoku or must be one?
Chessdoku ships an update every 5 weeks, and must be one every 5 weeks. Most recently, Chessdoku was updated on October 8, 2026 and must be one on October 6, 2026.

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