Comparison

Hamle vs Merels

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

Head to head
About

Hamle

Explore 15 classic strategy board games, including Chess, Go, and Checkers, with options to play offline against a friend or computer, or compete online in real-time. Features include selectable themes, detailed rulebooks, and customizable profiles.

Highlights
  • 15 classic strategy board games
  • Offline 2-player mode
  • Play against AI
  • Online multiplayer
  • Detailed rulebooks
  • Customizable themes and profiles
Features
Read full description

Hamle brings 15 timeless strategy board games together in one beautifully crafted app. Play offline with a friend, challenge the built-in computer or compete online in real time. ◆ 15 CLASSIC STRATEGY GAMES MILL GAMES • Nine Men's Morris — align and capture pieces in this ancient mill game, with flying enabled at three pieces. • Three Men's Morris — quick tactical duels on a 3x3 board. DRAUGHTS & CAPTURE GAMES • Draughts (Checkers) — play Turkish Draughts (Dama), featuring orthogonal movement and flying kings, or International Draughts, with diagonal movement and forced capture chains. • Alquerque — the medieval ancestor of checkers. • Fanorona — Madagascar's classic game of capture by approach and withdrawal. • Lau Kata Kati — a traditional Indian strategy game full of tactical captures. THE CHESS FAMILY • Chess — complete rules including castling, en passant, promotion and draw detection. • Xiangqi — Chinese chess with its river, palace and cannons. Choose symbols, Chinese script or letters. • Shogi — Japanese chess where captured pieces return as your own. Choose symbol, kanji or letter notation. TERRITORY • Go (Baduk, Weiqi) — play on a 19x19 board with Chinese or Japanese scoring, komi and dead-stone marking. HUNT GAMES • Hnefatafl — Viking chess in which one side defends the king while the other hunts him. Includes an optional 3D board. • Bagh-Chal — Nepal's tigers-and-goats duel, with warnings when a tiger can pounce. SOWING • Mangala — Turkish mancala using official TMOF tournament rules: 12 pits and 48 stones. BOARD CONTROL • Disc Flip — flip opposing discs and fight to control the corners. • Surakarta — the Indonesian classic where captures travel around looping corner arcs. ◆ PLAY YOUR WAY • LOCAL 2-PLAYER — pass and play on one device with no internet required. Ideal for family game nights, travel and classrooms. • VS COMPUTER — choose Easy, Medium or Hard difficulty and tap Hint when you need help. • ONLINE MULTIPLAYER — invite a friend to a private room with a short code or use random matchmaking to meet players worldwide. ◆ SMOOTH ONLINE PLAY • Instant room codes for quick invitations • Reliable reconnection after connection drops • One-tap rematches with automatic side swapping • Quick-message chat with a safety filter ◆ DESIGNED FOR STRATEGY LOVERS • Selectable board themes for each game • Distraction-free fullscreen mode • Profiles, custom avatars and match statistics • 102 interface languages with full right-to-left support for Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Urdu • Faithful rules covering forced captures, mill detection, threefold repetition, superko and more • Clean, fast and lightweight, with no paywalls, energy systems or waiting timers ◆ WHY HAMLE? Every game includes a built-in rulebook explaining setup, movement, captures, winning conditions and history. Learn the rules, practise against the computer and then take your skills online. Instead of offering just one game, Hamle provides a curated library with consistent design and accurate rules. These classics have crossed cultures and centuries; now the whole collection fits in your pocket. Hamle is completely free. Every game and every online or offline mode is available without subscriptions, locked content or hidden fees.

About

Merels

Features
Read full description

Place your men where the lines meet, line up three, and take one of your opponent's. The rules take five minutes. Everything after that is the game. ■ On your own Eight opponents, each with its own temperament. The first only just learned the rules; not many people reach the last. Beat one to unlock the next. ■ Daily puzzle One position a day: find the win in a few moves. Difficulty follows the day of the week, and solved days count as a streak. Two years of them ship inside the app, so it works offline, and past days stay open. ■ Two players Pass one device back and forth. No network needed. ■ Online Tap Quick match and you are paired with whoever chose the same time control. Playing a friend instead? Make a private room and send them the six digits. Afterwards, play again and the colours swap for the second game. ■ Learn the rules Five short lessons. Your opponent never replies, so take your time. ■ Two looks Minimal and Wood. Switch in Settings whenever you like. ■ What is not in it No ads, no tracking, no chat. None of it. Linking an account sits in Settings, is optional, and changes nothing you can play. ■ Accessibility VoiceOver reads the whole board. Honours Reduce Motion and Dynamic Type. Drawn so meaning survives without colour, in dark mode, and at readable contrast.

Screenshots

Hamle4 screens
Merels4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Merels at none against Hamle's shown. Hamle's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 10 days) and device support (3 vs 1). On price 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hamle ships an update every 4 days, Merels every 10 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Hamle versus Merels: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHamleMerels
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 10 days
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIBRAHIM ERDOGANYungUi Lee

In-app purchases

None

Hamle

No in-app purchases

None

Merels

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hamle free?
Hamle is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Merels free?
Merels is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hamle or Merels have ads?
Hamle shows ads; Merels does not.
Which is updated more often, Hamle or Merels?
Hamle ships an update every 4 days, and Merels every 10 days. Most recently, Hamle was updated on October 31, 2026 and Merels on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons