Comparison

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.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Intergalactic pinball adventure
  • Mars Expedition table
  • Award-winning design
  • Realistic physics
  • Gorgeous graphics
  • Hours of entertainment
Features
Read full description

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

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

Red Planet Explorer Pinball4 screens
Visual Pinball3 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Red Planet Explorer Pinball sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Visual Pinball asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Red Planet Explorer Pinball versus Visual Pinball: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRed Planet Explorer PinballVisual Pinball
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (322 ratings)4.3 (74 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.1% of reviews78.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings322 — better74
Update frequencyEvery 16 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better26.6
Further details — not scored
Size95 MB134 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperBrainVault Games, LLCJason Millard

Customer experience

Red Planet Explorer Pinball

All ratings322 ratings
Positive64.9%
Neutral20.8%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews72 reviews
Positive61.1%
Neutral13.9%
Negative25.0%

Visual Pinball

All ratings74 ratings
Positive81.1%
Neutral6.8%
Negative12.2%
Written reviews56 reviews
Positive78.6%
Neutral12.5%
Negative8.9%

User reviews

Red Planet Explorer Pinball

From 322 App Store ratings

What 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 ratings

What 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
Show 1 more
  • 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
Show 2 more
  • 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
Show 1 more
  • iPad version with more screen space

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Red Planet Explorer Pinball

One-time4
  • Ball Saver x15$0.99
  • Extra Ball x10$0.99
  • Multiball x15$0.99
Show 1 more
  • Cheats Pack$1.99
None

Visual Pinball

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Red Planet Explorer Pinball free?
Red Planet Explorer Pinball is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Visual Pinball free?
Visual Pinball is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Red Planet Explorer Pinball or Visual Pinball?
Visual Pinball is rated higher. Red Planet Explorer Pinball averages 3.8 out of 5 from 322 ratings, while Visual Pinball averages 4.3 from 74 ratings.
Do Red Planet Explorer Pinball or Visual Pinball have ads?
Red Planet Explorer Pinball shows ads; Visual Pinball does not.
Which is updated more often, Red Planet Explorer Pinball or Visual Pinball?
Red Planet Explorer Pinball ships an update every 16 months, and Visual Pinball fortnightly. Most recently, Red Planet Explorer Pinball was updated on October 29, 2026 and Visual Pinball on October 30, 2026.

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