MiniCity vs Edo Trade
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
MiniCity
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MiniCity is a pixel-art city builder with one question at its heart: how big a city can you grow in 50 years? Place zones, run power, let time move. The city grows on its own. But factory smoke stops houses from growing, and crowded roads pull land value down. In the same 50 years, one player ends with 10,000 people and another with 100,000. The difference is where they built. โ 50 years. How far? Choose 50, 100 or 200 years when you start. When the last year ends, time stops and a report card shows population, funds, top building level and achievements. Your population goes to the Game Center leaderboard, so you can see where you stand in the world. The report card becomes a single picture with a bird's-eye view of your whole city, ready to post. Prefer no pressure? "No limit" is there too. โ Start small Roads, avenues, rail, stations, power lines, parks, big parks, residential, commercial and industrial zones, power plants, police and fire stations. Decide where they go, then watch the city move. As the city grows, hospitals, ports, landmarks, an airport and more unlock. โ What happens inside the city โข If houses never get bigger, there is usually smoke nearby. Pollution drags land value down, and big buildings won't rise on cheap land โข Parks absorb smoke, police stations cut crime, and value comes back โข Zones grow through ten levels. Each level stands taller, ending in high-rise towers with blinking lights โข Residents follow roads to work. Busy roads fill with cars, and land next to them loses value โข Link stations by rail and residents commute by train. The roads in between empty out, and land around stations gains value โข Avenues raise the value of land along them, but cost more to build and to maintain every year โข Power plants have limited capacity. As the city spreads, you will run short โ Read the numbers on the map Tap a tile with Inspect to see its land value, pollution, crime, fire risk, traffic, population and activity. Tap a row and that value is painted across the whole city. You see at a glance where it hurts. โ Collect achievements 100 of them. Not just population and money goals, but ones that ask how you built: "3,000 people with peak pollution under 40", for example. Sign in to Game Center and they are kept there too. โ Terrain Rivers, lakes and forests are generated for every city. Look at a few candidates before you start and pick the one you like. Water and forest raise land value, so where you put the city is your first real decision. โ About the art There are no image assets. Every pixel is drawn from code. The moment a zone grows a level, that spot flashes. โ Controls โข Everything works with one finger: panning, drawing roads, zooming โข Roads are not final until you confirm. Went too far? Trace back without lifting your finger โข Autosave. Close the app and pick up where you left off โ Price and ads The game is free. No sign-up, no login. Ads appear in menus like achievements and budget, in a banner under the tools on the city view, and between play sessions. A one-time "Remove Ads" purchase turns them off for good. Fifty years. How big will your city be?
Edo Trade
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Stack the gold. Buy the town. Become the young heir of a merchant house in old Japan and buy out the shops of the town, one by one. Face each shop owner, stack chests of gold against theirs, and when you push them over the edge, their noren curtain changes to your colors. HOW TO PLAY 1. Pick a shop in town and launch a takeover 2. Each day, you and the owner stack gold chests. The balance shifts with every stack 3. Push the balance all the way to their side, and the shop is yours Your shops earn money every month to fund the next takeover. CALL YOUR ALLIES AND CRUSH THEM - Open a guild meeting and every allied shop puts up its gold at once - Win by dozens of times the market price, and a "รN the market" seal stamps the screen - Turn the tide with 13 bargaining tactics and by hitting the weak spots between shops CHOOSE YOUR HOME TOWN Start in Edo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kanazawa, Nagasaki or Sendai. Each town has its own shop names, guilds and calls. Take all 8 shops in one town, then move on. 56 shops across Japan are waiting. A RIVAL AND A STORY - Nueya, a rival with three head stores, will try to take your shops - An alliance with a friend, a secret society of black tags, and a story told in parts from prologue to finale - Grow your fortune and climb the millionaires' ranking KAWARABAN TO SHARE Become a 10,000-ryo merchant, conquer a town, topple a head store. At each milestone you get a "kawaraban" broadsheet image of your business, ready to send to friends. EASY TO START Your head clerk points at the real buttons and teaches you one step at a time. ALSO - Play in 21 languages - The only purchase is a one-time "Remove Ads". No gacha
Screenshots
Verdict
MiniCity and Edo Trade 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
Both are free to download. MiniCity sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Edo Trade sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
MiniCity ships an update daily, Edo Trade every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MiniCity | Edo Trade |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Daily โ better | Every 2 days |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | shuya fukai | Kyosuke Takahashi |
In-app purchases
MiniCity
- ๅบๅใๆถใ$1.99
Edo Trade
- Remove Ads$2.99









