Comparison

Qwirkle vs Ubongo

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

Head to head
About

Qwirkle

Experience the award-winning board game Qwirkle on your mobile device. Strategize by matching tiles based on color and shape to score points. Enjoy solo play, online multiplayer, and pass-and-play modes with customizable options and engaging animations.

Highlights
  • Solo, Online, and Pass and Play modes
  • Up to 4 players
  • 4 difficulty levels
  • Achievements and Leaderboards
  • Customizable backgrounds and tile colors
  • Tutorial and Help sections
Currently charting
Read full description

Challenging and thoroughly addictive! Now you can play the original award winning board game Qwirkle on your iPad and iPhone! Qwirkle is MindWare's best-selling board game, with over 7 million copies sold worldwide. Through the years, Qwirkle has received numerous awards including Mensa, Parents' Choice, Major Fun and the Spiel des Jahres, Germany's coveted Game of the Year award. FEATURES: - Solo, Online, and Pass and Play modes all support up to 4 players. - 4 levels of difficulty, from easy to expert. - Includes Achievements and Leaderboards through Game Center. - Customize your experience - choose your favorite background to play on. - Play with classic Qwirkle colors or personalize your tiles with custom colors. - Exciting animations and playful music enhance the Qwirkle experience! - Tutorial and Help sections get you playing fast and easy! WHO WILL YOU PLAY? - Play solo against 4 levels of robot, from easy to expert. - For family game night, use Pass and Play mode to play together on a single device. - Challenge your friends to play online through Game Center. - Find new online opponents through auto-match in Game Center. Find out more about Qwirkle on the MindWare website: https://www.mindware.orientaltrading.com/qwirkle-a2-32016.fltr Want to share your thoughts on the digital version of Qwirkle directly with the developers? Email us at mindware@mindware.com with your comments! We'd love to have your input about what you like and ideas for improvements. We look forward to your feedback! Happy Qwirkling!

About

Ubongo

Engage your brain with this fast-paced puzzle game. Solve interlocking shape puzzles quickly to earn jewels and improve visual thinking. Compete against others online or enjoy various single-player modes with increasing difficulty.

Highlights
  • Fast-paced puzzle solving
  • Jewel rewards for speed
  • Visual thinking improvement
  • Single-player modes (Levels, Free, Time-Attack)
  • Cross-platform multiplayer
  • Original and new shapes
Features
Read full description

Fast-paced, addictive, and easy to learn – this puzzle game will challenge your brain! Sprint to solve a puzzle of interlocking shapes. The faster you solve the puzzle, the more jewels you will get. Improve your visual thinking in 3 different single-player modes. Race against other players online and play against Ubongo fans worldwide! - Easy to learn - The original puzzle game by Thames & Kosmos - Contains the original board game shapes as well as additional new shapes - More than 3 million board games sold - Levels mode, with increasing difficulty and tips for beginners - Free mode, with more than 6,000 random levels - Time-Attack mode, for long-term gaming fun - Cross-platform multiplayer - Ages 8 and up - Languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Korean, Japanese ***** Questions or suggestions for improvements: Mail to ios@usm.de We are looking forward to your feedback! For more information on news and updates: www.usmgames.com or visit us on www.facebook.com/UnitedSoftMedia and twitter.com/USM_News *****

Screenshots

Qwirkle4 screens
Ubongo4 screens

Verdict

The call

Qwirkle and Ubongo both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 69% of Ubongo's written reviews are positive against 36% of Qwirkle's. Ubongo also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 14.0). Qwirkle's advantage is ratings volume (1.9K vs 126) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 7 months). On rating, ads, in-app purchases 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

Qwirkle costs $2.99 and Ubongo $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Qwirkle against 4.6 for Ubongo. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Qwirkle has 1.9K ratings behind it against 126, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 36% of Qwirkle's written reviews are positive against 69% of Ubongo's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Qwirkle ships an update every 3 months, Ubongo every 7 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Qwirkle versus Ubongo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQwirkleUbongo
Price$2.99 — better$3.99
Rating4.5 (1.9K ratings)4.6 (126 ratings) — better
Positive reviews35.9% of reviews68.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.9K — better126
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#26 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size179 MB90 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMindWareUnited Soft Media Verlag GmbH

Customer experience

Qwirkle

All ratings1,806 ratings
Positive87.9%
Neutral3.5%
Negative8.6%
Written reviews555 reviews
Positive35.9%
Neutral17.8%
Negative46.3%

Ubongo

All ratings126 ratings
Positive88.1%
Neutral7.1%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews83 reviews
Positive68.7%
Neutral7.2%
Negative24.1%

Bugs and requests

Qwirkle

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Games disappearing or not loading properly
  • Inability to start new games with friends
  • Tiles/bag not functioning correctly
  • Moves not registering properly
  • Crashes and freezes

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add chat/messaging feature
  • Improve online game invitations and management
  • Add notifications for turns
  • Improve scoring display and accuracy
  • Add more customization options
Show 1 more
  • Improve robot/AI difficulty balancing

Ubongo

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Qwirkle

No in-app purchases

None

Ubongo

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Qwirkle free?
Qwirkle costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ubongo free?
Ubongo costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Qwirkle or Ubongo?
Ubongo is rated higher. Qwirkle averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.9K ratings, while Ubongo averages 4.6 from 126 ratings.
Do Qwirkle or Ubongo have ads?
Neither Qwirkle nor Ubongo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Qwirkle or Ubongo?
Qwirkle ships an update every 3 months, and Ubongo every 7 months. Most recently, Qwirkle was updated on November 1, 2026 and Ubongo on November 1, 2026.

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