Powder Toy vs Evolution
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Powder Toy
Explore a 2D physics sandbox where you can build, create, and interact with nearly 100 different elements. Simulate complex systems, from atomic power plants to custom CPUs, by combining various materials, liquids, gases, and electronic components.
- 2D physics simulation
- Nearly 100 elements
- Build complex machines
- Simulate air pressure and heat
- Create realistic terrains
- Electronic components
Read full descriptionHide full description
I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH CREATORS OF THE ORIGINAL THE POWDER TOY The game is based on The Powder Toy opensource project, which is available for free on your Mac or PC, complete GPL 3-covered source code of the port, as well as binaries are available for free on CannonballStudio@GitHub iPad port of the most popular 2D physics sandbox is out! Build, create, play, draw, interact with almost 100 different elements, and do whatever you want using your fingertips! Have you ever wanted to blow something up? Or maybe you always dreamt of operating an atomic power plant? Do you have a will to develop your own CPU? Powder Toy lets you to do all of these, and even more! Powder Toy is a physics sandbox game, which simulates air pressure and velocity, heat, gravity and a countless number of interactions between different substances! The game provides you with various building materials, liquids, gases and electronic components which can be used to construct complex machines, guns, bombs, realistic terrains and almost anything else.
Evolution
Design and build unique creatures using joints, bones, and muscles. Witness their learning and improvement through evolutionary algorithms and neural networks as they tackle tasks like running, jumping, and flying. Share your creations with friends.
- Creature design with joints, bones, muscles
- Neural network learning
- Evolutionary algorithm improvement
- Tasks: running, jumping, climbing, flying
- Share simulation saves and creature designs
- View source code
Read full descriptionHide full description
Use joints, bones and muscles to build creatures that are only limited by your imagination. Watch how the combination of neural networks and an evolutionary algorithm can enable your creatures to learn and improve at their given tasks all on their own. The tasks include running, jumping, climbing and flying. Can you design the ultimate creature that is good at all of the tasks? The latest update allows you to easily share your simulation saves and creature designs with your friends. Note that this is more of a simulation than a game. There are no real objectives. But there is a lot to learn if you are interested in the basics of machine learning and neural networks. You can even look at the source code if you want. There is also a Mac & PC version available for download and a browser version for you to try out on the main project website (keiwando.com/evolution).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Evolution at 84% against Powder Toy's 40%. Evolution also leads on rating (4.4 vs 3.1) and chart position (#119 vs unranked). Powder Toy's advantage is iOS requirement (5.1.1 vs 13.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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
Powder Toy costs $1.99 and Evolution $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Evolution holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 345 and 549 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Powder Toy's written reviews are positive against 84% of Evolution's.
Powder Toy ships an update every 6 weeks, Evolution every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 20, 2026.
| Parameter | Powder Toy | Evolution |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | $1.99 |
| Rating | 3.1 (345 ratings) | 4.4 (549 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.1% of reviews | 83.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 345 | 549 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #119 — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 5.1.1 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 67 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Marcin Chojnacki | Keiwan Donyagard |
Customer experience
Powder Toy
Evolution
Bugs and requests
Powder Toy
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Evolution
Reported bugs
4 issues- Creatures re-appear after being deleted
- Horizontal distance not recorded properly
- Simulation screen turns white
- Creatures get stuck in a looping state
Requested features
8 requests- Add swimming and flying modes
- Ability to customize creature body parts
- Option to speed up or pause evolution
- Save and load creature designs
- More task types (e.g. grabbing, throwing)
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Multiplayer or competition modes
- Improved camera controls
- Ability to create obstacles or terrain
In-app purchases
Powder Toy
No in-app purchases
Evolution
No in-app purchases








