Comparison

Chain Link Words vs Slatework

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

Head to head
About

Chain Link Words

Features
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SUN · FLOWER · POT One word sits between two others and links them both. Sunflower. Flowerpot. Find it, and the chain grows. Chain Link Words is a word puzzle built on compound words and everyday phrases. Each answer becomes the anchor for the next, so a chain builds beneath you as you climb — and one wrong turn is the difference between a clean run and a scrappy one. FIVE WAYS TO PLAY DAILY — Five links, once a day. Everyone gets the same chain. Keep the streak alive. LADDER — The long climbs, up to eleven links. No clock. Just how far you can go. BLITZ — Ninety seconds. How much chain can you build before it runs out? RELAY — A finished chain with gaps in it, fillable in any order. Work backwards, sideways, whatever gets you there. HUB — One word in the middle. How many words can you hang off it? RECORDS — Every past daily, still playable. Nothing expires. BUILT PROPERLY Every link in the game is a real compound word or a phrase people actually say — checked against a corpus of billions of words, not a dictionary that treats "leaflove" and "lighthouse" as equals. Stuck? Spend a key to reveal a letter, or give up and move on. You collect keys every day and earn more for solving unaided. No ads. No account. No internet needed. Just words.

About

Slatework

Features
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Slatework is a collection of thirteen classic logic puzzles. It opens on a grid, works with no signal, and asks you for nothing: no account, no ads, no subscription. Every board is generated on your device the moment you ask for it, and checked by a solver before you see it. Each one has exactly one answer, reachable by logic alone — no guessing at any difficulty, and no pack of puzzles to run out of. Thirteen types • Killer Sudoku — sudoku with cages that have to add up • Kakuro (Cross Sums) — a crossword written in numbers • Hashi (Bridges, Hashiwokakero) — join the islands into one network • Slitherlink (Loop the Loop) — one closed loop, drawn from the clues • Futoshiki — a Latin square with greater-than signs across it • Binairo (Takuzu, binary puzzle) — zeros and ones, never three in a row • Nurikabe (Islands and Walls) — islands of the right size, in one sea • Shikaku (Rectangles) — cut the grid into rectangles that match a number • Akari (Light Up) — light every square, and no lamp in another lamp's line • Masyu (Pearls) — a loop that turns on black pearls and runs through white ones • Norinori — one domino in every room • Heyawake — shaded rooms, and no white line running through more than two • Yajilin — a loop and a shading, on the same board Every type has a walkthrough that teaches its rules on a real board, and a rules card to open mid-board. The board • Drag to draw a line, drag to paint a wall — never one tap per segment • Pencil marks, cleared from the row and column for you if you want them • Undo and redo as far back as you like; every move saved as you make it • Mistakes shown your way: off, on Check, or as you make them. Nothing ever ends a puzzle • Pinch to zoom on the big grids, and a left-handed layout for the keypad • A colour-blind palette in which nothing is carried by colour alone • Grids from 4×4 to 20×20, and tiers named for the reasoning they need Hints that explain themselves A hint is the next real deduction the solver would make, written out in a sentence with the squares it is about lit up. Look, then the reason, then the move — never a revealed answer, and never something you could not have worked out. A puzzle a day One daily puzzle in every type, every day, at every difficulty. Your streak is counted quietly and never nagged about. A reminder is there if you want one, and it is an alarm on this device: nothing leaves it to make that happen. Made to be looked at Six board palettes, from warm paper through to full-contrast black on white. Thirteen drawn marks, one per type. A finished board reports your time and your previous best, and then stops: no confetti, no coins, no levels. Your progress, and your file Statistics per type, per size and per difficulty, with charts that answer whether you are getting faster, and a month view of everything you have solved. One backup file holds every puzzle, game, statistic and setting and reads back on any device — there is no account and no cloud copy, because there is no server anywhere in this app. One purchase, not a subscription Every puzzle type, every daily puzzle at every difficulty, and unlimited puzzles are free, and always will be. The unlock adds the rest: every grid size up to 20×20, the Hard and Expert tiers on every type, unlimited hints, all six themes, the whole daily archive, and the charts behind your times. One payment, held by your Apple Account and restored with one button on any device you sign into, including every puzzle type added after it. What this app will never do No ads. Not on opening, not between boards, not in exchange for a hint. No subscription, no coins, no energy, no lives. No account and no sign-in. Nothing that needs a network — puzzles are made on this device and your progress never leaves it. And nothing that ships free is ever moved behind the price. For anyone who does the puzzle page first: cross sums, bridges, loop the loop, binary puzzles, and the Japanese pencil puzzles that never got a good app.

Screenshots

Chain Link Words4 screens
Slatework4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Slatework at Free against Chain Link Words's $0.99. Chain Link Words's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Slatework is free to download; Chain Link Words costs $0.99 up front. Slatework sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chain Link Words asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 2 level
Chain Link Words versus Slatework: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChain Link WordsSlatework
Price$0.99Free — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB53 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developeradam roganRehan Shaikh

In-app purchases

None

Chain Link Words

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Slatework

One-time1
  • Unlock Everything$4.99

Questions

Is Chain Link Words free?
Chain Link Words costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Slatework free?
Slatework is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Chain Link Words or Slatework have ads?
Neither Chain Link Words nor Slatework shows ads.

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