Pulsar Chess Engine vs Chess Game
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Plays 7 chess variants
- Adjustable AI difficulty levels
- Game logging and review
- Master game collections
- Crafty engine analysis
- VoiceOver accessibility
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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.
Chess Game
Engage in classic chess matches with a powerful engine and adjustable difficulty. Solve over 2500 tactical puzzles across five categories to hone your skills. Enjoy offline play, including a two-player mode on a single device, and save your progress automatically.
- Strong chess engine
- 20 difficulty levels
- 2500+ chess puzzles
- Unlimited and timed game modes
- Offline two-player mode
- Custom board setup
- Automatic match saving
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Chess Game - Chess Puzzle is a free Chess game you will love. This Chess game uses a strong chess engine to let you play and learn chess. This game has many time modes to let you play chess: - Unlimited time to let you and the computer play without worrying about time. - Time game to challenge yourself with a time limited match. This game has 20 levels of difficult which is suitable for chess players of all skill. There are 2500 chess puzzles to help you learn chess tactics. Those puzzles are grouped in to 5 categories: - Mate In 1 puzzles: Puzzles that you just play one move to checkmate. Mate in 2, 3, 4, and 5 are the same puzzles. This game automatically saves the chess matches you are playing. Just continue playing chess when you have free time. Two player mode lets you play with other person on the same device. Keep in mind that this is a offline feature only. This app lets you set up pieces on the board to play or create your own puzzle, learn chess endgame, etc. This game is free. There is no payment feature at all. It also have beautiful chess board, relaxing sound effects. Let play and have fun with Chess Game - Chess Puzzle!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Chess Game at Free against Pulsar Chess Engine's $1.99. Chess Game also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and rating (4.5 vs 4.3). Pulsar Chess Engine's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (67% vs 50%). On 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
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.
Chess Game holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pulsar Chess Engine has 12 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Pulsar Chess Engine's written reviews are positive against 50% of Chess Game's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Pulsar Chess Engine ships an update every 2 months, Chess Game weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and June 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pulsar Chess Engine | Chess Game |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (12 ratings) | 4.5 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Michael Adams | Du Duong |
Customer experience
Pulsar Chess Engine
Chess Game
In-app purchases
Pulsar Chess Engine
No in-app purchases
Chess Game
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Pulsar Chess Engine free?
Is Chess Game free?
Which has better reviews, Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Game?
Do Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Game have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pulsar Chess Engine or Chess Game?
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