Barrel River vs Pingus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Barrel River
Navigate a dangerous river in a barrel, dodging obstacles and collecting gold coins. Compete with friends for the highest score in this action-packed game.
- Navigate a barrel down a river
- Avoid rocks and jumping fish
- Collect gold coins
- Compete for high scores
- Action-packed gameplay
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Flow down the brutal water of the mighty barrel river with nothing but your wits and a rickety old barrel to guide you! Barrel river is a fun filled action game where you must flow down the river avoiding rocks and deadly jumping fish. As an added bonus, King Midas has touched the river with his magical golden touch, and his gold coins can be found on the river as well. Collect coins and try to stay alive on this deadly river. Your score is determined by how far you make it and how many coins you have collected. Compete with friends for the top score! **Special Credit** The music for Barrel River came from Kevin MacLeod at incompetech. Search for him online, he's got some awesome tracks!
Pingus
Experience a challenging 2D platformer with endless hours of fun. Master levels and then test your skills in Arcade Mode to achieve high scores. This game offers a quick, engaging, and rewarding platforming adventure.
- 2D platformer gameplay
- Challenging levels
- Arcade Mode
- High score tracking
- Endless fun
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In Konig Games' first release to the app store, we are excited to show you Pingus, the worlds best 2D platformer for iOS. Its a quick, fun, and punishing game with endless hours of fun. Once you've mastered the levels, try out Arcade Mode and see how high you can get your score!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Barrel River at 5.0 against Pingus's 4.5. Barrel River also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 89%). Pingus's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On price 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
Both are free to download. Barrel River sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Pingus asks for nothing beyond the download.
Barrel River holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pingus has 26 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Barrel River's written reviews are positive against 89% of Pingus's.
Barrel River ships an update every 15 months, Pingus every 9 days. Both last shipped on October 13, 2026.
| Parameter | Barrel River | Pingus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.5 (26 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 88.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 26 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 15 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brandon Stecklein | Adam Konig |
Customer experience
Barrel River
Pingus
In-app purchases
Barrel River
- Advertising Removal$1.99
Pingus
No in-app purchases
