Comparison

Tsumego Pro (Go problems) vs Piccolo

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

Head to head
About

Tsumego Pro (Go problems)

Enhance your Go skills with a vast library of tsumego puzzles. Learn from detailed solutions and explore variations to understand mistakes. Features daily problems, adaptive difficulty, and customizable game settings.

Highlights
  • Daily tsumego problems
  • Adaptive difficulty modes
  • Detailed solutions and bad variations
  • Color selection (black, white, random)
  • Hint system
  • Book theme
Features
Read full description

Improve your Go game (weiqi, baduk) with Tsumego Pro and its large collection of tsumego problems! Each problem contains all valid answers and a lot of bad variations, to help you know why you are wrong. Features: - 6 daily problems - A simple mode: try to solve all problems in each package - A progress mode: the difficulty increases or decreases depending on your level - Choose your color (black, white, random) - Browse the solution, or just get a hint - A book theme (black and white)

About

Piccolo

Experience the classic strategy board game with a powerful AI and a polished interface. Customize your game with beautiful themes, play online with friends or strangers, and enjoy a seamless experience across devices. Includes fun iMessage stickers.

Highlights
  • Strong, customizable AI engine
  • Polished native user interface
  • Variety of beautiful themes
  • Local and online multiplayer
  • Automatic game saves and move undo
  • iMessage stickers
Features
Read full description

• #1 Most Downloaded Game (April, May, June, July 2021) — Japan Mac App Store! • Featured in Apple's "What We're Playing", "Games We Love" and "Best Games Made in France"! • "Beautiful, minimalistic and highly addictive." — TouchArcade • "A simple but captivating game." — Mac4Ever • "From us, this small but fine application therefore receives an absolute recommendation." — Appgefahren • "Whether you're a fan of the game or not, Piccolo will make you love Othello." — MaxiApple Piccolo® is the best Othello app for iPhone®, iPad® and Mac®. It features a strong, fast AI on top of a polished user interface, with beautiful themes, advanced features, online play and more. Piccolo is available in 20 languages and comes with no ads or tracking. It's an Othello app made for Othello players by Othello lovers. • Strong AI: Piccolo features a custom Othello AI engine written in the Rust programming language, designed to be fast, challenging and customizable. The AI's default Level 1 difficulty can be beaten by beginners, while its Level 8 difficulty is likely to challenge even top Othello masters around the world. Designed from scratch, the Piccolo AI engine is sure to give seasoned Othello players a new type of opponent to play against, with often surprising and creative strategies. • User Experience: Piccolo features a native user experience designed for iOS and macOS. A modern design lets you focus on the game, with helpful move indicators, the ability to undo moves, and automatic game saves between every move in case you close the app by mistake or your phone's battery runs out. Multiplayer play is supported both locally and online. • Themes: Piccolo features a variety of beautiful themes to customize and breathe fresh life into your Othello experience. Othello veterans might enjoy sticking to the Classic theme, while others might prefer the handsome Seasoned Wood theme, the adorable Sailor Moon theme or even the Persian Spray theme, inspired by traditional Iranian ceramics. Additional themes designed by guest artist Aline Corrêa are also available, giving you access to an Othello game on top of an alligator lake, inside an ancient castle, next to Egyptian pyramids, and more! • Play Online: Piccolo Online is a free online service that lets you connect with friends via easily exchangeable Game Codes to play friendly Othello games wherever you are around the world. Piccolo Online also supports automatic matchmaking so that you can quickly play games with random opponents worldwide. Piccolo Online features quick, stable connections, and benefits from a strong privacy policy. • Cute iMessage Stickers: Send cute “chibi”-style iMessage stickers to your friends with Piccolo's bundled iMessage Sticker Pack! Featuring 36 custom illustrations drawn by anime artist Erica Li, the stickers feature Piccolo's adorable mascot in different relatable situations. • No Ads, No Tracking: Unlike a majority of games on the App Store today, Piccolo has no terms you need to accept before playing. Piccolo will never show you a single ad, and will never track you. The app is entirely a labor of love for the game of Othello, made by players for players. • Available in 20 Languages: Thanks to contributions from players around the world, Piccolo has been translated from English into Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese. No matter where you are, Piccolo's interface will be easy to understand. Othello® is a registered trademark of MegaHouse Corporation. Piccolo: Othello is an independent implementation of the underlying game, which is placed in the public domain.

Screenshots

Tsumego Pro (Go problems)4 screens
Piccolo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Piccolo at none against Tsumego Pro (Go problems)'s shown. Piccolo also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). Tsumego Pro (Go problems)'s advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Tsumego Pro (Go problems) sells 12 one-off in-app purchases and Piccolo sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Piccolo holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.8K and 603 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of Tsumego Pro (Go problems)'s written reviews are positive against 77% of Piccolo's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tsumego Pro (Go problems) ships an update every 3 weeks, Piccolo every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Tsumego Pro (Go problems) versus Piccolo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTsumego Pro (Go problems)Piccolo
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.8K ratings)4.7 (603 ratings) — better
Positive reviews74.1% of reviews76.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.8K — better603
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.6 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEmmanuel MathisSymbolic Software

Customer experience

Tsumego Pro (Go problems)

All ratings1,780 ratings
Positive89.9%
Neutral4.0%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews255 reviews
Positive74.1%
Neutral9.4%
Negative16.5%

Piccolo

All ratings603 ratings
Positive92.2%
Neutral4.1%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews175 reviews
Positive76.6%
Neutral8.6%
Negative14.9%

User reviews

Tsumego Pro (Go problems)

From 1.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Stimulate thinking
  • 👍 Minimalistic, Gets the Job Done
  • 👍 Great app for learning Go on the move!
  • 👍 Great app
  • 👍 Amazing Go app

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Do Not Buy All-Access Pack
  • 🐛 Sometimes it says resolved when black loses
  • 🐛 Not for beginners, not helpful at all
  • 🐛 Decent - room for improvement
  • 🐛 Lacking feedback, errors, & lack of control

Piccolo

From 603 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Addictive gameplay
  • 👍 Beautiful and simple UI
  • 🚀 Smooth and responsive
  • 🔒 No ads or in-app purchases
  • 👍 Challenging AI opponents

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔍 Difficulty balancing issues (too easy or too hard)
  • 🤔 Lack of online multiplayer
  • 🤔 No option to undo moves
  • 🤔 Unclear win/loss indication at the end of games

Bugs and requests

Tsumego Pro (Go problems)

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Purchases do not work
  • Incorrect problems
  • Issues with the progress mode and problem selection

Requested features

6 requests
  • Explanation when a move is correct or incorrect
  • More explanations and instructions for beginners
  • Ability to play out variations and see different outcomes
  • Consistent difficulty ratings for problems
  • Ability to bookmark and revisit problems
Show 1 more
  • More content and problem sets

Piccolo

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • AI getting extra moves in certain situations
  • Settings button not functioning properly
  • Game freezing or crashing on some devices
  • Inconsistent piece size on different screen sizes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add online multiplayer mode
  • Implement an undo move feature
  • Add a tutorial or tips section for new players
  • Introduce a 'watch AI vs AI' mode
  • Allow customization of game board and piece themes

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Tsumego Pro (Go problems)

One-time12
  • +150 Basic Problems$0.99
  • +150 Intermediate problems$0.99
  • +150 Easy problems$0.99
Show 9 more
  • Beginner problems$1.99
  • Elementary problems$1.99
  • Intermediate problems$1.99
  • Advanced problems$1.99
  • Advanced problems #2$1.99
  • Basic tesuji$1.99
  • Daily problems - Easy$1.99
  • Daily problems - Hard$1.99
  • All-Access Pass$9.99
2 purchases

Piccolo

One-time2
  • Theme Pack: Around the World$2.99
  • Theme Pack: Great Painters$2.99

Questions

Is Tsumego Pro (Go problems) free?
Tsumego Pro (Go problems) is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Piccolo free?
Piccolo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Tsumego Pro (Go problems) or Piccolo?
Piccolo is rated higher. Tsumego Pro (Go problems) averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.8K ratings, while Piccolo averages 4.7 from 603 ratings.
Do Tsumego Pro (Go problems) or Piccolo have ads?
Tsumego Pro (Go problems) shows ads; Piccolo does not.
Which is updated more often, Tsumego Pro (Go problems) or Piccolo?
Tsumego Pro (Go problems) ships an update every 3 weeks, and Piccolo every 4 days. Most recently, Tsumego Pro (Go problems) was updated on September 26, 2026 and Piccolo on September 25, 2026.

Other comparisons