Comparison

UpWord vs He Fen Mahjong

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

Head to head
About

UpWord

Features
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UpWord is a turn-based word game with a twist you won't find anywhere else: you can stack tiles on top of tiles. Play crossword-style across a glowing neon board, then go vertical โ€” build a new letter on top of an existing one, up to three layers high. Every layer multiplies that tile's value (ร—2 on the second, ร—3 on the third), so one clever stack can swing the whole game. Only the top letter counts towards words, and a three-high square locks for the rest of the match. FEATURES โ€ข Stack to score โ€” the tile-stacking twist turns familiar word play into fresh strategy โ€ข Practise anytime โ€” play offline against three bot difficulties, from warm-up to ruthless โ€ข Challenge friends online โ€” turn-based matches you pick up whenever; share a code to invite anyone โ€ข Learn in a minute โ€” a quick How to Play walks you through the rules and scoring โ€ข Clean neon interface, built-in dictionary, live scoring, swap and pass HOW STACKING WORKS 1. Someone plays a word โ€” say CAT. 2. You stack an R on the T to make CAR โ€” that R scores double. 3. An opponent stacks again to make FAD โ€” the new tile scores triple, then locks. Transform your own words, ladder your own stacks, set up multipliers โ€” building on your own tiles is fair play. Free to play, with an optional one-time Remove Ads purchase. Words, but with altitude. Download UpWord and start stacking.

About

He Fen Mahjong

Features
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At last โ€” mahjong that plays by YOUR house rules! Hรฉ Fฤ“n Mahjong is the scorekeeper your table has been arguing for: snap one photo of the winning hand and it's named, checked and scored in seconds โ€” by the exact rules you play. Then keep the night going against clever AI opponents, or deal your friends in online. One photo. One score. No arguments! YOUR RULES, DARLING โ€” EVERY LAST ONE Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Chinese Official, Riichi and American โ€” built in and ready to deal. Play something the rulebooks never met? Upload your house-rules PDF and Hรฉ Fฤ“n reads it, learns it, and scores it right alongside the classics. Grandma's scoring sheet just became a scoring engine. SNAP THE TILES โ€” SCORE THE WIN No score sheets. No mental arithmetic. No "are you sure about that?" Snap it โ€” one clear photo of the hand. Watch it โ€” every tile identified and every set named, live on screen. Settle it โ€” a point-by-point breakdown the whole table can see. Tap any line for the pattern, the points, and the exact tiles that earned them. A SCOREKEEPER WITH RECEIPTS 99%+ tile recognition, with every point counted against the active ruleset โ€” and it quietly learns YOUR tile set as you scan, so reads get sharper with every hand. Tile scanning requires an internet connection. Selected photos are securely processed by our scan service, with Google Cloud Vision helping read tile markings. Hand scoring and saved-table review run on your phone. Beg to differ with a score? Tell us in one tap โ€” our scorekeeper personally reviews every case. A SEAT IS ALWAYS OPEN Short a fourth? The house will gladly play you โ€” sharp AI opponents, any ruleset. Scattered across the map? Spin up a private table, slip your friends the code, and deal in seconds. Same tiles, same rules, same table feel, wherever everyone is. At last: the game you love, scored the way you play it. Download free and let the tiles do the talking! Terms of Use: https://www.hefenmahjong.com/terms

Screenshots

UpWord4 screens
He Fen Mahjong4 screens

Verdict

The call

UpWord and He Fen Mahjong are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters โ€” price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them โ€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. UpWord sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and He Fen Mahjong sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

UpWord ships an update every 3 days, He Fen Mahjong every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
UpWord versus He Fen Mahjong: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUpWordHe Fen Mahjong
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 days โ€” betterEvery 4 days
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.016.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size63 MB189 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperOlaf Andreas OvrumTim Kroemer

In-app purchases

1 purchases

UpWord

One-time1
  • Remove ads$3.99
2 purchases

He Fen Mahjong

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Ad Free$0.991 Month
  • Yearly Ad Free$9.991 Year

Questions

Is UpWord free?
UpWord is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is He Fen Mahjong free?
He Fen Mahjong is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do UpWord or He Fen Mahjong have ads?
Both UpWord and He Fen Mahjong show ads.
Which is updated more often, UpWord or He Fen Mahjong?
UpWord ships an update every 3 days, and He Fen Mahjong every 4 days. Most recently, UpWord was updated on October 29, 2026 and He Fen Mahjong on November 6, 2026.

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