Chess.com - Play and Learn vs Merchant of the Skies

How do Chess.com - Play and Learn and Merchant of the Skies compare on difficulty, ad pressure, in-app-purchase pressure and what real reviewers say? A side-by-side look, grounded in App Store data.

	Chess.com - Play and Learn	Merchant of the Skies
Genre	Strategy	Strategy
Price	Free	Paid
Difficulty	variable	medium
Ad intensity	high	none
In-app-purchase pressure	high	none
Typical session	variable	variable
Rating	4.8 / 5	4.6 / 5
Ratings count	810,779	114
Reviews say	What players like Learn chess with built-in lessons and coach features Huge online player base for real-time matches Extensive puzzle library with 500k+ problems Common complaints Aggressive pop-up ads and forced ads between games Heavy paywall on puzzles and lessons per day App crashes during game analysis features	What players like Peaceful, cozy trading and economy building No ads or in-app purchases Active developer support and rapid bug fixes Common complaints Game crashes on startup for many iOS users Lack of tutorial and unclear UI/mechanics Save bug causes progress loss after pausing/relaunching

Chess.com - Play and Learn — Master chess against millions online with puzzles, lessons, and real-time gameplay across all skill levels. (rated variable difficulty, high ad pressure) Merchant of the Skies — A cozy, strategic trading simulation where you build a sky empire across floating islands at your own pace, with no ads or pay-to-win mechanics. (rated medium difficulty, none ad pressure)

Data: Apple App Store, as of 2026-08-24. Last updated 2026-08-24.