Comparison

Deep Shaft vs Tether Arcade

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

Head to head
About

Deep Shaft

Features
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Sink the shaft. Strike it rich. Deep Shaft is a satisfying idle mining tycoon. Work the rock face by hand, then hire Foremen to automate every level while you dig deeper and deeper โ€” from the dirt at 100m, down past the Core, into endless procedurally-generated depths. DIG, AUTOMATE, GET RICH - Tap to mine by hand, or buy a Foreman to run each level automatically - The elevator rides the shaft, collecting full ore carts and hauling them up to the Refinery to cash in - Level up each seam for faster mining, richer ore, and bigger loads GO DEEPER โ€” FOREVER - Breach sealed bulkheads to open the next 100m: dirt, stone, iron, silver, gold, gems, diamond, mythrilโ€ฆ and keep going past the Core DEEP RESET & THE FOUNDRY - Deep Reset to mint prestige Bedrock Cores, then spend them in The Foundry on permanent upgrades that boost every run - Boost the Hoist to carry more and the Refinery to sell for more - Crack open crates for permanent gear, and keep earning with offline income COMPETE EACH WEEK - Climb the weekly Game Center leaderboard โ€” the week's Top Earners win Geodes CLEAN, HANDCRAFTED PIXELS - Cohesive 16-bit pixel art, from the headframe to the deepest void rock - New to mining? A short guided first dig shows you the ropes (replay it anytime) - Cloud backup: reinstall on the same iPhone and your mine comes back automatically - Plays fully offline โ€” no account, no sign-up How deep can you dig?

About

Tether Arcade

Features
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Tether is a one-touch arcade game. No account, no sign-in, no in-app purchases and no ads. It works fully offline. HOW TO PLAY Hold anywhere to hook the nearest anchor and swing around it. Release to fly off along the tangent, then hold again to catch the next one. There is no brake and no undo - just how far you get before the wipeout. SKIM THE SAWS Saws sit between the anchors. Cutting close to one without touching it stacks your multiplier, so the tighter your line, the faster the score climbs. Play it safe and you score slowly. Play it greedy and you score fast. DAY STREAK Come back on consecutive days and your streak raises the score floor you start every run from. SKINS New looks unlock as your best score climbs, from the first at 60 all the way to 1500. SHARE Every run ends with a card of your score, ready to share. LANGUAGES The game reads the device language at launch and shows its text in whichever of its thirteen supported languages matches: English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, French, Bengali, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Korean, Italian and Thai. Any other language falls back to English.

Screenshots

Deep Shaft4 screens
Tether Arcade4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Deep Shaft at none against Tether Arcade's 1. Tether Arcade's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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. Tether Arcade sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Deep Shaft asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Deep Shaft ships an update every 2 weeks, Tether Arcade every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Deep Shaft versus Tether Arcade: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeep ShaftTether Arcade
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 4 days โ€” better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS15.114.0.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size53 MB41 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperLuke GarbettAdolfo Orlandini

In-app purchases

None

Deep Shaft

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Tether Arcade

One-time1
  • Tether Pro$2.99

Questions

Is Deep Shaft free?
Deep Shaft is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tether Arcade free?
Tether Arcade is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Deep Shaft or Tether Arcade have ads?
Both Deep Shaft and Tether Arcade show ads.
Which is updated more often, Deep Shaft or Tether Arcade?
Deep Shaft ships an update every 2 weeks, and Tether Arcade every 4 days. Most recently, Deep Shaft was updated on October 29, 2026 and Tether Arcade on October 24, 2026.

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