Minesweeper vs Sand Block
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Ad-free classic gameplay
- Safe first tap
- Hints and Smart Undo
- Luck feature for guesses
- 3D Touch and customizable controls
- Custom difficulty levels
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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.
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.
- 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
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\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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Sand Block sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Minesweeper asks for nothing beyond the download.
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.
Minesweeper ships an update every 3 months, Sand Block daily. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Minesweeper | Sand Block |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (962 ratings) — better | 4.7 (36 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 96.0% of reviews — better | 26.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 962 — better | 36 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Daily — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 89 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | developersBliss | Rikuto Hosaka |
Customer experience
Minesweeper
Sand Block
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
Minesweeper
No in-app purchases
Sand Block
- Remove ads$0.99
Questions
Is Minesweeper free?
Is Sand Block free?
Which has better reviews, Minesweeper or Sand Block?
Do Minesweeper or Sand Block have ads?
Which is updated more often, Minesweeper or Sand Block?
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