Comparison

Minesweeper vs Sand Block

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

Head to head
About

Minesweeper

This classic logic puzzle game offers an ad-free Minesweeper experience on modern touch devices. It features original rules, intuitive gameplay, and advanced tools like hints and smart undo to enhance the challenge.

Highlights
  • Ad-free classic gameplay
  • Safe first tap
  • Hints and Smart Undo
  • Luck feature for guesses
  • 3D Touch and customizable controls
  • Custom difficulty levels
Features
Read full description

No ads. No distractions. Just classic Minesweeper, rebuilt for iPhone and iPad. Minesweeper brings the classic familiar logic puzzle to modern touch screens with intuitive controls, clean graphics, advanced algorithms, and the classic rules you expect: a safe first tap, flags, question marks, chording, and the original difficulty levels. Stuck? Use Hints that prioritize simple deductions so you can learn the logic instead of blindly guessing. Hit an unavoidable 50/50? Luck helps prevent forced guess losses when you choose one of the safest mathematically available squares. Made a mistake? Smart Undo lets you rewind a loss while shuffling hidden mines so the puzzle stays interesting. Features: • Classic Minesweeper rules and difficulty levels • Custom boards • Safe first tap • Flags, question marks, and chording • Hints that teach logical deductions • Luck for unavoidable guesses • Smart Undo after a loss • Statistics by difficulty • Winning streak, win rate, best time, and median time tracking • iPhone and iPad support • Mouse, trackpad, and Apple Pencil support • No ads or in app purchases. This is my gift to you :) How to play: Reveal every safe square without tapping a mine. Numbers show how many adjacent squares contain mines. Tap to reveal, press and hold to flag, and tap a completed number to open ("chord") nearby squares. Start a new board at any time with the smiley button. Built for classic Minesweeper players, speed solvers, logic puzzle fans, and anyone who wants a clean, fast puzzle game without ads. Having trouble or have a feature request? Contact me directly from the app.

About

Sand Block

Manipulate falling blocks that transform into sand to clear lines of the same color. Aim for high scores by strategically erasing sand and surviving as long as possible. Master block movement, rotation, and fast falling to achieve maximum points.

Highlights
  • Manipulate falling sand blocks
  • Clear lines of same-colored sand
  • Earn points for clearing lines
  • Achieve high scores
  • Strategic block movement
  • Block rotation
  • Fast falling blocks
Features
Read full description

\A puzzle game with a new style/ This is a novel style puzzle game in which you manipulate blocks that turn into sand when they fall, and erase lines of sand of the same color. 【Game Contents】 ■Outline■ ・ The game is a puzzle game in which the player manipulates blocks to erase lines of sand of the same color. ・ The player must connect sand of the same color from the right end to the left end to erase the sand and earn points. ・ Players must aim for a higher score! ■Game Over Condition■ The game is over when the sand piles up to the border line at the top of the screen and 3 seconds have elapsed. ■Strategic■ ・ The more sand lines you erase in a row, the more points you get. ・ The more you erase sand lines in a row, the more points you will get. This time bonus increases as time goes by. The key to a high score is to survive as long as possible and erase lines efficiently! ■Three operations■ ・ Move blocks ・ Rotate blocks ・ Fast falling blocks

Screenshots

Minesweeper4 screens
Sand Block4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Minesweeper at 96% against Sand Block's 27%. Minesweeper also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). Sand Block's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Sand Block sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Minesweeper asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Minesweeper holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Minesweeper has 962 ratings behind it against 36, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 96% of Minesweeper's written reviews are positive against 27% of Sand Block's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Minesweeper ships an update every 3 months, Sand Block daily. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Minesweeper versus Sand Block: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMinesweeperSand Block
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (962 ratings) — better4.7 (36 ratings)
Positive reviews96.0% of reviews — better26.9% of reviews
Number of ratings962 — better36
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsDaily — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB89 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperdevelopersBlissRikuto Hosaka

Customer experience

Minesweeper

All ratings962 ratings
Positive98.1%
Neutral0.7%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews200 reviews
Positive96.0%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.5%

Sand Block

All ratings36 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews26 reviews
Positive26.9%
Neutral11.5%
Negative61.5%

Bugs and requests

Minesweeper

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Inconsistent bomb placement logic
  • Game sometimes doesn't recognize cleared board

Requested features

4 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to change background
  • Leaderboard/stats tracking
  • Ability to toggle flag mode

Sand Block

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Minesweeper

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Sand Block

One-time1
  • Remove ads$0.99

Questions

Is Minesweeper free?
Minesweeper is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sand Block free?
Sand Block is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Minesweeper or Sand Block?
Minesweeper is rated higher. Minesweeper averages 4.9 out of 5 from 962 ratings, while Sand Block averages 4.7 from 36 ratings.
Do Minesweeper or Sand Block have ads?
Sand Block shows ads; Minesweeper does not.
Which is updated more often, Minesweeper or Sand Block?
Minesweeper ships an update every 3 months, and Sand Block daily. Most recently, Minesweeper was updated on October 18, 2026 and Sand Block on October 17, 2026.

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