Blackbox vs sugar (game)
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Blackbox
This puzzle game challenges you to solve intricate problems without touching the screen. It utilizes minimalistic visual cues, sonic interfaces, and haptic feedback to guide you through unique challenges that require thinking outside the box. Discover a new way to interact with your device and prove your cleverness.
- Touchless gameplay
- Minimalistic visual clues
- Sonic interfaces
- Haptic feedback
- External puzzle solving
- Easter eggs
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So you think you understand this thing you’re holding? Think again. Stop tapping. Stop swiping. In fact, stop touching the screen at all. To crack Blackbox’s puzzles you’ll need to find solitude and stillness, climb mountains, call on friends, get in tune with the cosmos, and think outside the box. Minimalistic visual clues make for incredibly satisfying “Aha!” moments, while sonic interfaces provide an extra level of guidance and nuance that makes Blackbox accessible with or without vision. Thoughtful haptic feedback, Easter eggs on Easter eggs, and solutions that can’t be found beneath the glass of your screen redefine what a puzzle can be. You’ll never see your device the same way again. Think you’re clever? Prove it. (Blackbox is a living game under active development by Ryan McLeod. When not eating burritos or drinking coffee, he’s busy designing and developing new Blackbox challenges.) ■
sugar (game)
Draw lines on your screen to guide falling sugar into cups. Enjoy a calming puzzle experience with visually satisfying sugar particles. This game offers a fresh, free puzzle challenge.
- Draw to direct sugar
- Soothing particle physics
- Relaxing puzzle gameplay
- Free puzzle experience
- Creator of color puzzle series
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Draw on the screen to direct sugar into the cups. Experience the soothing puzzling with sugar particles trickling across the screen. A relaxing puzzle game from the creator of the color puzzle series and the "sugar, sugar" games. It was time for a brand new free sugar puzzle experience so I hope you'll enjoy this! @BartBonte
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Blackbox at 4.8 against sugar (game)'s 4.3. Blackbox also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (109K vs 410). sugar (game)'s advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.6). 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. Blackbox sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and sugar (game) sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Blackbox holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Blackbox has 109K ratings behind it against 410, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of Blackbox's written reviews are positive against 82% of sugar (game)'s.
Blackbox ships an update every 9 days, sugar (game) monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Blackbox | sugar (game) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (109K ratings) — better | 4.3 (410 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 92.6% of reviews — better | 81.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 109K — better | 410 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #36 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 209 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Shapes and Stories LLC | Bart BONTE |
Customer experience
Blackbox
sugar (game)
User reviews
Blackbox
From 109K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Unique and creative gameplay
- 🤔 Challenges users to think outside the box
- 😄 Humorous and witty comments
- 🔑 Utilizes phone features in innovative ways
Room to improve
- 🤯 Extremely challenging puzzles
- 💰 Expensive for additional content
- 🤖 Concerns about app accessing device permissions
- 🚗 Puzzles requiring travel/location are inaccessible for some
sugar (game)
From 410 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Challenging but not frustrating
- 🚀 Satisfying and well thought out
- 🚀 Addictive and fun
- 🚀 Simple yet clever
- 🚀 Nostalgic and classic
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional glitches or bugs
- 🔍 Difficult levels without ability to skip
- 📺 Frequent unskippable ads
- 🎨 Lack of colorblind accessibility
- 🎨 Unsatisfying visuals or art style
Bugs and requests
Blackbox
Reported bugs
2 issues- Hints not working as expected
- Progress reset after app update
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to earn hint credits through watching ads
- Include more free puzzles
- Improve accessibility for users with limited mobility
- Provide better guidance and instructions for puzzles
sugar (game)
Reported bugs
3 issues- Levels not progressing after completion
- Sugar disappearing or not registering correctly
- Restart button accidentally pressed instead of gravity switch
Requested features
6 requests- Undo/reset option per level
- Ability to skip difficult levels
- Colorblind mode or options
- More levels and content updates
- Landscape mode support on tablets
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- Customization options
In-app purchases
Blackbox
- Tiny Hint Pack$1.19
- Small Hint Pack$2.39
- Erudite Pack$2.99
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- Push Pack$2.99
- Coffee for Ryan$4.49
- Basic Pack$4.99
- Medium Hint Pack$5.00
- All Knowing Pack$7.99
- Large Hint Pack$10.00
- Extra Large Hint Pack$20.00
sugar (game)
- premium unlock$2.99
