Red Planet Explorer Pinball vs Visual Pinball
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Red Planet Explorer Pinball
Experience an intergalactic pinball adventure set on Mars. This award-winning game offers hours of entertainment with realistic physics and stunning graphics, bringing the pinball experience to your device.
- Intergalactic pinball adventure
- Mars Expedition table
- Award-winning design
- Realistic physics
- Gorgeous graphics
- Hours of entertainment
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Your journey to the Red Planet awaits, in this intergalactic pinball adventure. - Listed by Apple in "Best 10 iPad Apps in 2010" - Apple Design Awards 2010 winner - 1st place in US top paid apps during the first sales day "The experience of holding a pinball table in your hand is great, and with [the] amazing tables included, you'll have hours of entertainment lined up." -- Tim Rattray, SlideToPlay.com "With [the] tables, reliable physics and controls, and gorgeous graphics, it is a pleasure to recommend." -- Levi Buchanan, IGN.com
Visual Pinball
Experience the full virtual pinball simulator with realistic physics, lighting, and sound. This open-source app offers a redesigned interface, enhanced table management, and the complete desktop experience for mobile devices. Enjoy a vast library of tables without ads or in-app purchases.
- Realistic physics, lighting, and sound
- Redesigned interface with Liquid Glass
- Full in-game menu for graphics and controls
- Support for various backglass and display types
- Easy table import and management
- Optimized memory usage
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The official Visual Pinball app. Built by volunteers since 2000 and open source since 2010, Visual Pinball is the simulator the virtual pinball community has been playing for over two decades. More than 70 people have contributed to it, and this app runs the same engine as the desktop version, so every table plays with the physics, lighting and sound its creator intended. No ads. No in-app purchases. No tracking. Made by volunteers. Two years of work from the Visual Pinball volunteers, in one update. Thank you for your patience, and for playing! A FRESH NEW LOOK • Redesigned for iOS 26 with Liquid Glass • Favorites and recently played tables at the top of your list • Search, sorting and three tile sizes • Light, Dark or System appearance • New loading screen that shows progress THE FULL DESKTOP EXPERIENCE • The complete Visual Pinball in-game menu for graphics, sound, controls and table options • Remap every button on keyboards and game controllers • Save settings for every table, or just the one you're playing MORE TABLES, LOOKING BETTER • Show the backglass and score display (DMD, alphanumeric or reels) on screen, right where you want them • Support for PUP packs, FlexDMD, B2S backglasses, video playback and VNI colorizations • All the latest physics and rendering improvements from the desktop version • Much lower memory use: textures are compressed on first load, then cached EASIER TABLE MANAGEMENT • Import .zip files, along with .vpx and .vpxz • Share any table as a single .vpxz file • The web file manager can now upload whole folders, extract archives, edit scripts and settings, and show the log live AND MORE • Many stability and memory fixes This version requires iOS 26.6 or later.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Visual Pinball at none against Red Planet Explorer Pinball's 4. Visual Pinball also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.3 vs 3.8). Red Planet Explorer Pinball's advantage is ratings volume (322 vs 74) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.6). 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. Red Planet Explorer Pinball sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Visual Pinball asks for nothing beyond the download.
Visual Pinball holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 322 and 74 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of Red Planet Explorer Pinball's written reviews are positive against 79% of Visual Pinball's.
Red Planet Explorer Pinball ships an update every 16 months, Visual Pinball fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Red Planet Explorer Pinball | Visual Pinball |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (322 ratings) | 4.3 (74 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 61.1% of reviews | 78.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 322 — better | 74 |
| Update frequency | Every 16 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 26.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 95 MB | 134 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | BrainVault Games, LLC | Jason Millard |
Customer experience
Red Planet Explorer Pinball
Visual Pinball
User reviews
Red Planet Explorer Pinball
From 322 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎨 Great graphics and visual design
- 👍 Fun and enjoyable gameplay
- ⚡ Smooth performance and no glitches
- 🎮 Good pinball mechanics and flipper control
- 📱 Works well on iPad/mobile devices
Room to improve
- 📺 Excessive ads interrupting gameplay
- ⚠️ Only one ball in free version
- 💔 Missing full version from app store
- 🛒 In-app purchase system broken/unavailable
- 😤 Ads appear mid-game causing ball loss
Visual Pinball
From 74 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Awesome way to play virtual pinball on the go
- 👍 Super easy to set up with minimal file prep time
- 👍 Insane that I can play favorite pins on just my phone
- 👍 Fantastic portable implementation of VPX
- 👍 Fun and exciting to archive the history of pinball
Room to improve
- 🔧 More ability to adjust table settings needed
- 🔧 Struggling to manage camera angle
- 🔧 No fullscreen on iPad, plunger and outlanes cropped
- 🔧 Some tables don't work or have issues
Bugs and requests
Red Planet Explorer Pinball
Reported bugs
6 issues- In-app purchases not found in store
- Ad removal purchase unavailable
- Ball goes straight between flippers
- App not available in Canada
- Ads interrupt mid-game causing ball drain
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- Full version collection loads but purchases fail
Requested features
7 requests- More free balls per game
- Remove or reduce ad frequency
- Restore full version to app store
- Fix in-app purchase functionality
- Basic tutorial for new players
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- Better incentive system for monetization
- Restore HD Collection
Visual Pinball
Reported bugs
2 issues- Tables don't load for some users
- Certain complex/intensive tables error out or run at low FPS
Requested features
6 requests- List of most played tables
- Ability to reposition DMD
- Option to skip startup checks for some tables
- Ability to edit table scripts on the app
- Direct link to table depository
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- iPad version with more screen space
In-app purchases
Red Planet Explorer Pinball
- Ball Saver x15$0.99
- Extra Ball x10$0.99
- Multiball x15$0.99
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- Cheats Pack$1.99
Visual Pinball
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Red Planet Explorer Pinball free?
Is Visual Pinball free?
Which has better reviews, Red Planet Explorer Pinball or Visual Pinball?
Do Red Planet Explorer Pinball or Visual Pinball have ads?
Which is updated more often, Red Planet Explorer Pinball or Visual Pinball?
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