Five Elements Chess vs Blocknado
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Five Elements Chess
Engage in strategic spell-duels with this match-three game inspired by Five Elements theory. Enjoy a calm, Zen-like visual style with a blend of strategy and luck. Compete locally or online against other players.
- Five Elements theory integration
- Match-three gameplay
- Deep strategy
- Zen-inspired visuals
- Local and online PvP
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Five Elements Chess is a spell-duel game that combines the Five Elements theory and match-three gameplay. Features • Simple rules, deep strategy • Calm, Zen-inspired visual style • A balance of strategy and luck that anyone can enjoy • Local and online PvP
Blocknado
A retro falling block puzzle game where the floor rotates, challenging you to fill rings instead of rows. Enjoy vibrant visuals, satisfying animations, and an offline experience with multiple game modes.
- Rotating floor mechanic
- Ring-based block clearing
- Endless marathon mode
- Authored level challenges
- Offline gameplay
- Replay functionality
- Retro pixel art and sound
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Blocknado is a retro falling block puzzle with a twist, literally! The floor rotates and you fill in rings instead of rows. It has vibrant retro colours, satisfying animations and really rewarding payoffs, and I would love for you to give it a go. WHAT YOU GET Blocknado is free. There is an endless marathon to get lost in, a run of authored levels to work through, and your best games are saved so you can sit back and watch them again. The whole game runs on your own device, so it plays offline on the bus, on a plane, or anywhere the signal gives up. No wifi needed once it is installed. HOW IT PLAYS Blocks fall toward a small square core in the middle of the board. Drag them across, tap to rotate them, flick to send them down. Fill a whole ring and it collapses, everything outside it falls inward, and if that fills another ring the rest of the board comes tumbling in behind it. Flick a piece hard and it slams home and torques the floor a quarter turn, so the wall you built up one side arrives along the bottom. If you grew up with one of those little handheld brick games, the stacking will feel familiar right away. CLASSIC Endless, scored, and faster every few minutes. The world's top ten sit on the home screen, and you can watch the runs that got them there. PUZZLE Authored levels in four difficulty bands: Easy, Medium, Hard and Wild. If you fill all the goal blocks you get one or two stars, and three stars for an identical match. SIGHT AND SOUND Pixel art icons, a chunky pixel display font, and light and dark themes that follow whichever one your phone is set to. The originally 8bit soundtrack adds another layer as your board fills up, and collapses land on the beat. NEW TO IT A short tutorial shows you the ropes: drag, tap to rotate, flick to drop. It takes a couple of minutes and then the board is yours. ABOUT THE ADS Blocknado is free, and it shows ads. One purchase removes them permanently, and that is the only thing on sale in the whole app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Five Elements Chess at 100% against Blocknado's 50%. Five Elements Chess also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.3) and ads (none vs shown). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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. Five Elements Chess sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Blocknado sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Five Elements Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Five Elements Chess has 74 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Five Elements Chess's written reviews are positive against 50% of Blocknado's.
Five Elements Chess ships an update daily, Blocknado every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Five Elements Chess | Blocknado |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (74 ratings) — better | 3.3 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 74 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Daily — better | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 280 MB | 61 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ming Gao | Reto CA |
Customer experience
Five Elements Chess
Blocknado
In-app purchases
Five Elements Chess
- Time Skin Pack$1.99
- Five Elements Chess full game$3.99
- Seasons Skin Pack$3.99
Blocknado
- Remove ads$2.99








