Comparison

Star Realms vs Tabletop Gaming

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

Head to head
About

Star Realms

Engage in thrilling space combat with this popular deckbuilding game. Build your deck, outmaneuver opponents, and conquer the galaxy. Offers both single-player campaigns and multiplayer battles.

Highlights
  • Deckbuilding gameplay
  • Player vs Player combat
  • AI battles
  • Campaign mode
  • Online multiplayer
  • Pass and Play mode
Features
Read full description

Star Realms is a hugely popular space combat deckbuilding game. Download and play today to find out why Star Realms is the winner of SXSW 2014 Board Game of the Year, 7 Golden Geek Awards from BoardGameGeek, including Best Mobile Game, and 2 Dice Tower awards! Reviews: "My readers are going to have a seizure about how good Star Realms is." -Owen Faraday, pockettactics.com “Good on all levels, thumbs up!” -Tom Vasel, The Dice Tower “This game is superb! I think it’s a brilliant game. Beautiful artwork, second to none.” -Tim Norris, Grey Elephant Gaming “What can I say? Star Realms is excellent.” - Lenny, ISlaytheDragon.com “I desperately wanted to play again and again. It's just consistently fun every time.” -The Critical Boardgamer Star Realms combines addictive deck building game play with exciting Trading Card Game (TCG) style combat! Designed by Magic the Gathering Hall of Famers Darwin Kastle and Rob Dougherty (of the Ascension Deckbuilding Game), Star Realms provides tons of playability for free, and a one-time upgrade to be able play with your friends and more on any device. Free Version •Universal Application: Play on iPhone, iPod, iPad, iPad Mini, and Ipad Air. •Addictive Deckbuilding Game with Player VS Player Combat. •Tutorial teaches you to play in minutes. •Stunning visuals. •Play VS the AI. •6 mission campaign mode. Full Game Additional Features •Play the AI on 3 different difficulty settings. •9 additional campaign missions. •Battle friends face to face with Pass and Play. •Online play with global rankings. •Challenge a friend online.

About

Tabletop Gaming

This app delivers a monthly digital magazine focused on board games, card games, RPGs, and wargames. It features news, reviews, interviews, and guides, with exclusive digital content and a mobile-optimized reading experience.

Highlights
  • Monthly magazine content
  • News and reviews
  • Interviews with designers
  • Miniatures painting guide
  • Mobile-optimized reading
  • Night reading mode
  • Adjustable text size
Features
Read full description

Tabletop Gaming is the UK’s only monthly magazine dedicated to all types of gaming on your tabletop. From board games, card games, roleplaying games and miniatures we have you covered every month in 100 pages. Extra digital content is available only with the digital edition including exclusive images, videos, podcasts and more! PLUS, with a specially designed mobile edition, wave goodbye to zooming and say hello to night reading mode, adjustable text size and accessing all things gaming at the touch of your fingertips. 
With tons of reviews of new releases each month you’ll never be in the dark about what you should play next.

 Each issue: 
• Latest news and reviews to discover new favourite games
 • Dive deep into how games are made in interviews with world famous designers
 • In-depth features
 • Ten of the Best games lists
 • Tabletop Gaming Live Event news
 • How we made and have you played articles
 • Learn new tricks with our miniatures painting guide 
• Get to grips with the classics that have passed you by 
• The indie shelf, showcasing unknown gems 
• Event reports from the world of tabletop gaming 
• Shop spotlights to find your new gaming café ---------------------------------------------- This is a free app download. Within the app users can purchase the current issue and back issues. Subscriptions are also available within the application. A subscription will start from the latest issue. -The subscription will renew automatically unless cancelled more than 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will be charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period, for the same duration and at the current subscription rate for the product. -You may turn off the auto-renewal of subscriptions through your Account Settings, however you are not able to cancel the current subscription during its active period. -Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when a subscription to that publication is purchased. -If a subscription offers a free trial, at the end of the trial period, you will be charged the full price of the subscription. You may cancel a subscription during its free trial period via the subscription settings on your iTunes account. This must be done 24 hours before the end of the subscription period to avoid being charged. Users can register for/ login to a pocketmags account in-app. This will protect their issues in the case of a lost device and allow browsing of purchases on multiple platforms. Existing pocketmags users can retrieve their purchases by logging into their account. We recommend loading the app for the first time in a wi-fi area so that all issue data is retrieved. If your app will not load past the splash page after a first install or an update, please delete and reinstall the app from the App Store Help and frequently asked questions can be accessed in-app and on pocketmags. If you have any problems at all please do not hesitate to contact us: help@pocketmags.com -------------------- You can find our privacy policy here: http://www.pocketmags.com/privacy.aspx You can find our terms and conditions here: http://www.pocketmags.com/terms.aspx

Screenshots

Star Realms3 screens
Tabletop Gaming4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Star Realms at every 10 days against Tabletop Gaming's every 5 months. Star Realms also leads on ratings volume (4.5K vs 29). Tabletop Gaming's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Star Realms sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Tabletop Gaming sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per 3 months. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Star Realms against 4.6 for Tabletop Gaming. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Star Realms has 4.5K ratings behind it against 29, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 57% of Star Realms's written reviews are positive against 54% of Tabletop Gaming's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Star Realms ships an update every 10 days, Tabletop Gaming every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Star Realms versus Tabletop Gaming: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStar RealmsTabletop Gaming
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (4.5K ratings)4.6 (29 ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.0% of reviews — better53.8% of reviews
Number of ratings4.5K — better29
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size509 MB38 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperWhite Wizard GamesWarners Group Publications PLC

Customer experience

Star Realms

All ratings4,453 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral2.1%
Negative6.6%
Written reviews405 reviews
Positive57.0%
Neutral10.9%
Negative32.1%

Tabletop Gaming

All ratings29 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.9%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive53.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative46.2%

Bugs and requests

Star Realms

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezes and crashes on launch
  • Online games getting stuck or timing out
  • Inability to scrap or play certain cards
  • Incorrect card behavior and interactions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add undo/rewind functionality
  • Improve offline/single-player experience
  • Implement better matchmaking and player communication
  • Provide more detailed game statistics and analytics

Tabletop Gaming

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Star Realms

One-time10
  • Crisis: Bases and Battleships Set$1.99
  • Crisis: Events Set$1.99
  • Crisis: Heroes Set$1.99
Show 7 more
  • Crisis: Fleets and Fortresses$1.99
  • Command$1.99
  • Gambit Set$3.99
  • Cosmic Gambit$3.99
  • Full Version$4.99
  • Colony Wars$4.99
  • Frontiers$4.99
10 purchases

Tabletop Gaming

Subscriptions2
  • Tabletop Gaming Auto Renewable Subscription$19.993 Months
  • Tabletop Gaming Auto Renewable Subscription1 Month trial$79.991 Year
One-time8
  • Issue One (id:799153)$6.99
  • Issue Two (id:799150)$6.99
  • Issue Three (id:799151)$6.99
Show 5 more
  • Issue Four (id:799152)$6.99
  • Issue Five (id:799677)$6.99
  • Issue Six (id:799681)$6.99
  • Issue Seven – D... (id:799685)$6.99
  • June 2018 (#19) (id:801344)$6.99

Questions

Is Star Realms free?
Star Realms is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tabletop Gaming free?
Tabletop Gaming is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Star Realms or Tabletop Gaming?
Tabletop Gaming is rated higher. Star Realms averages 4.6 out of 5 from 4.5K ratings, while Tabletop Gaming averages 4.6 from 29 ratings.
Do Star Realms or Tabletop Gaming have ads?
Neither Star Realms nor Tabletop Gaming shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Star Realms or Tabletop Gaming?
Star Realms ships an update every 10 days, and Tabletop Gaming every 5 months. Most recently, Star Realms was updated on November 4, 2026 and Tabletop Gaming on November 1, 2026.

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