Comparison

Pulsar Chess Engine vs Chess Game

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

Head to head
About

Pulsar Chess Engine

Play chess and six popular variants with adjustable AI difficulty levels. Review logged games, access master game collections, and utilize Crafty engine analysis for standard chess and Chess960. Offers accessibility features for blind users.

Highlights
  • Plays 7 chess variants
  • Adjustable AI difficulty levels
  • Game logging and review
  • Master game collections
  • Crafty engine analysis
  • VoiceOver accessibility
Features
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The Pulsar Chess Engine plays Chess and six variants all with multiple levels. The variants are Chess960, Crazyhouse, Loser's, Atomic, Three Checks and Giveaway. Rules included in-app. In addition, there is also a review mode to look at the user's log file with analysis available for non variants. 10 game collections of classic and modern master games are included to look at including Kasparov, Fischer, Carlsen, Capablanca and Morphy 1858 collections. These collections and the log file are searchable. Pulsar values mobility and active positions. In app there is an article with more on its playing style and how to train against it. With the variants, each has its own style. Chess960, Three Checks and Crazyhouse are the more chess like variants and adoptable to learn to play for anyone with interest. The rules of all games are in app. Pulsar has levels of play from beginner too advanced. Games with a time control are the hardest though Pulsar doesn't call the player's time. The time is more to handicap Pulsar's strength, but users will have a clock and can see if it's gone negative if they want to play the time control. The game button - configure game menu item, lets the user control the variant and difficulty. It defaults to Chess at Easy(lowest level) but remembers the current settings when the App restarts. There are choices of pieces and board color schemes. The Pulsar program was originally developed by me for computers starting in 1998 and came to mobile for the first time in 2014. Pulsar's board is accessible to the blind using Voice Over, a screen reader. Tap on a square and it will say whats on it and double tap to move or choose from three move methods. A screen reader can normally read anything with text like a button, but a board is a collection of images. To make it accessible, text must be returned to Voice Over when a tap is in the area of a square. Pulsar began as a chess program and later learned variants. It ran extensively on two servers for many years both at chess and variants. The ratings on the board reflect strength I saw in rated play on handicapped bots. They are not 100% exact but generalizations I made from the various bots I ran at different settings. If in the new game selector, Play vs. Computer is unchecked the user can move for both sides. This is to allow two people at same location to use the App as a board for a game and have the app enforce move legality and results for whatever variant is selected.

About

Chess Game

Features
Read full description

Chess is one of the oldest strategy games in the world. Free offline chess game for especially for beginners. Features: * No need of internet * Timer * Switch between manual and computer * Change the colour of board * Will be open from last paused state

Screenshots

Pulsar Chess Engine4 screens
Chess Game3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess Game at Free against Pulsar Chess Engine's $1.99. Pulsar Chess Engine's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On update cadence, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Chess Game is free to download; Pulsar Chess Engine costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Pulsar Chess Engine versus Chess Game: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPulsar Chess EngineChess Game
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.3 (12 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.6
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael AdamsNandha Kumar Ravi

In-app purchases

None

Pulsar Chess Engine

No in-app purchases

None

Chess Game

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pulsar Chess Engine free?
Pulsar Chess Engine costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Game free?
Chess Game is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Game have ads?
Chess Game shows ads; Pulsar Chess Engine does not.
Which is updated more often, Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Game?
Pulsar Chess Engine ships an update every 2 months, and Chess Game every 2 months. Most recently, Pulsar Chess Engine was updated on September 22, 2026 and Chess Game on September 17, 2026.

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