Comparison

Puzzle Day vs Merge Maestro

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Puzzle Day

Discover a growing collection of unique, bite-sized puzzles added weekly. Enjoy daily challenges, quick gameplay, and no account required. Support the developer by watching ads.

Highlights
  • Unique daily and weekly puzzles
  • Multiple puzzle types (Numby, Pathwords, Burbs, Hoots)
  • Daily challenge mode
  • No account or login required
  • Quick and satisfying gameplay
  • New puzzles added regularly
Features
Read full description

Puzzle Day is a growing collection of bite-sized puzzles—fun, weird, and refreshingly different. Every week, a new one is added. Every day, a fresh challenge awaits. Hi, I’m Kurt. I’m a game designer and a dad. A few months ago, I lost my job. Instead of panicking (okay, I panicked a little), I decided to make you the best puzzle game on the planet! Puzzle Day is my way of turning that gamble into something real—one puzzle at a time. It’s a home for all the quirky little puzzle ideas I’ve had over the years but never got to share. Some are clever. Some are silly. Some are surprisingly tricky. All of them are built with care. Here’s what you’ll find inside: • Numby – The first of many! A clever little number-matching game with daily and random modes • Pathwords – Each words last letter is the next words first letter ... it's ... forget it, just try it • Burbs – Stranger Things meets Sudoku in this simple game of logic and deduction • Hoots – The smallest possible match 3 game you've ever played. It's fast, it's cute, and it's a hoot • New puzzle (almost) every week – I’m building and releasing new games right inside the app • Daily mode – Play once a day, share your score, and try to beat your friends • No accounts or logins – Just open and play • Quick and satisfying – Most puzzles take just a few minutes, but you’ll want to replay • Fun for your brain, not your wallet – You can support the app by watching ads (thank you!) and enjoy it for free Why I'm Doing This This app isn’t backed by a big company. It’s just me, in my home, designing, coding, testing, and sharing games. I’m also sharing the journey of trying to make $100K in 100 days by building indie games and posting about it on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube (@kurtiswow). Every ad you watch, puzzle you share, or kind comment you leave helps me get a little closer to that goal—and helps me support my family doing what I love. Coming Soon: More puzzle types (word, logic, grid-based, memory, timing) Achievements, streaks, and unlockables Special limited-time puzzles and events Your feedback! I’m reading everything and building features based on what players ask for Thanks for checking out Puzzle Day. I hope these little puzzles brighten your day the way building them brightens mine. — Kurt Follow the journey: @kurtiswow on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube

About

Merge Maestro

Combine hundreds of unique emoji tokens in a puzzle-like, rogue-like experience. Discover creative combinations of tokens and powers to fuse unique strategies and overcome increasingly challenging levels. Enjoy a twist on puzzle, rogue-like, and arcade gameplay.

Highlights
  • Hundreds of unique emoji tokens
  • Combo-driven gameplay
  • Puzzle-like rogue-like mechanics
  • Discover creative token combinations
  • Fuse unique strategies
  • Challenging levels
Features
Read full description

Combine 100's of unique emoji based tokens in this combo-driven puzzle-like rogue-like! Find ever more creative combinations of Tokens and Powers to fuse unique strategies and beat this ever more challenging twist on rogue-likes, puzzlers and arcadey games!

Screenshots

Puzzle Day4 screens
Merge Maestro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Puzzle Day at none against Merge Maestro's 1. Merge Maestro's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and ratings volume (138 vs 11). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Merge Maestro sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Puzzle Day asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Merge Maestro holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Merge Maestro has 138 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 89% of Puzzle Day's written reviews are positive against 91% of Merge Maestro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Puzzle Day ships an update weekly, Merge Maestro every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Puzzle Day versus Merge Maestro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPuzzle DayMerge Maestro
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (11 ratings)4.8 (138 ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.9% of reviews91.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11138 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size147 MB94 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSimple Machine, LLCDAVID HS TING

Customer experience

Puzzle Day

All ratings11 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral9.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive88.9%
Neutral11.1%
Negative0.0%

Merge Maestro

All ratings138 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral1.4%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews70 reviews
Positive91.4%
Neutral1.4%
Negative7.1%

Bugs and requests

Puzzle Day

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Merge Maestro

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashes on startup
  • Medal tracking issues

Requested features

2 requests
  • Endless mode
  • UI/text scale options

In-app purchases

None

Puzzle Day

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Merge Maestro

One-time1
  • Full Access$2.99

Questions

Is Puzzle Day free?
Puzzle Day is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Merge Maestro free?
Merge Maestro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Puzzle Day or Merge Maestro?
Merge Maestro is rated higher. Puzzle Day averages 4.6 out of 5 from 11 ratings, while Merge Maestro averages 4.8 from 138 ratings.
Do Puzzle Day or Merge Maestro have ads?
Neither Puzzle Day nor Merge Maestro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Puzzle Day or Merge Maestro?
Puzzle Day ships an update weekly, and Merge Maestro every 9 days. Most recently, Puzzle Day was updated on October 6, 2026 and Merge Maestro on October 9, 2026.

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