Smart Marbles vs Starchess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Smart Marbles
A classic marble solitaire puzzle game where the goal is to remove all marbles except one. Jump marbles over each other to clear the board. Offers a simple reset function to restart the game.
- Marble jumping mechanics
- Clear marbles to solve puzzles
- Single-player gameplay
- Reset game function
- Simple grid-based puzzles
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Smart Marbles is an iPhone6 app for marble solitaire. The game is simple: select a marble and then select an empty space in the grid that is two spaces over. Another marble must be placed between the selected marble and the destination space. Once the marble has jumped over the middle marble, the middle marble will be taken off the board. The object of the game is to remove all marbles except the last. Use the reset button to return the game to the original marble positions.
Starchess
Experience chess with a unique twist on a three-dimensional board. Pieces gain new movement capabilities, allowing for strategic plays in up, down, and diagonal directions. Enjoy a fresh challenge to your chess skills.
- Three-dimensional chess board
- Traditional chess rules
- Expanded piece movement (up, down, diagonal)
- Unique strategic gameplay
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Starchess has all of the same rules as traditional chess but now on a three-dimensional board. Pieces can move up, down and diagonally.
Screenshots
Verdict
Smart Marbles and Starchess both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Starchess's written reviews are positive against 83% of Smart Marbles's. Starchess also leads on device support (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Smart Marbles against 5.0 for Starchess. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Smart Marbles's written reviews are positive against 100% of Starchess's.
Smart Marbles ships an update every 3 months, Starchess every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Smart Marbles | Starchess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | David Johnson | Nathan Lane |
Customer experience
Smart Marbles
Starchess
In-app purchases
Smart Marbles
No in-app purchases
Starchess
No in-app purchases
