69
BU Score
Solid
Really Bad Chess
✍️ bumetric analysis
“
Really Bad Chess is an Android app from Noodlecake in the Board category, currently rated 4.1★ across 44,368 ratings. Initial signal reads as largely positive sentiment, users highlighting consistency and feature depth.
Our BU Score puts it at 69: Solid (established niche player). For a Board app, that means established niche player.
Track changes month-over-month in the Performance section below: live snapshot history and revenue forecast included.
📊 Performance Tracking LIVE
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Rating
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Reviews
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Forecast Revenue / mo
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Snapshots tracked
0
since first record
Range:
💰 Forecast Revenue / mo
MODELRevenue forecast computed from BU's 234 trigger model on each snapshot. Calibrated against ground-truth from 58 verified-revenue apps.
🔬Forecast Breakdown — Why This Estimate?Top 4 of 4 triggers
Our ML model uses 200+ signals from public data. These are the most influential for this app:
| Mid install base (44,368 ratings)METRIC | +$5,500 | |
| Mature app (9y old)METRIC | +$1,500 | |
| Good rating (4.1★)METRIC | +$800 | |
| Ad-supported / freemiumMETRIC | +$600 |
METRIC = structural app data · REVIEW = mined from user reviews · ✓ VERIFIED = Stripe-verified anchor (TrustMRR)
📈 Reviews Growth
LIVECumulative review count from first BU snapshot. Each point = a tracked update.
⭐ Rating Trend
LIVEAverage rating evolution. Updates with each new review batch.
🗓️ Snapshot Timeline
HISTORYEach bar shows a tracked update and the metric delta from the previous snapshot.
App Specs
🔐 Own this app? Claim & verify MRR →🔖 v1.4.18🔄 updated 5mo ago📂 Board💰 Free📺 Ad-supported💎 IAP $0.99 - $99.99 per item🚀 Launched 2017 (9y old)
📝 About this app
Really Bad Chess is just like chess, but with totally random pieces. Try 8 Knights, 4 Bishops, and 3 pawns — why not?
As heard on NPR's Weekend Edition
5 out of 5 Stars "An essential puzzle experience for anyone even remotely interested in strategy games" - TouchArcade
Whether you play chess daily, or quit just after learning the rules, this small twist will open the door to an entire new world of chess.
------WHATS IN THE “BOX”?
The free version of Really Bad Chess lets you compete vs. an AI in Ranked, Daily, or Weekly Challenges. Improve your skills using the included Freeplay mode. A single in-app purchase unlocks Versus Mode so you can compete against your friends locally! It also removes ads, displays captured pieces, and adds soothing alternate color-palettes to choose from.
------REALLY BAD PRESS
"Makes chess fun even if you’re really bad" - The Verge
"Feels more modern than chess has ever felt" - Applenapps
"Really Bad Chess takes a really bad idea and somehow manages to make it a lot of fun." - Pocket Gamer
------A WORD FROM THE DEVELOPER
Chess is one of those games I always wished I enjoyed, but its commitment to beauty, elegance, and perfect balance always turned me away. Really Bad Chess removes these boring restrictions and flips chess on its head.
As much as random pieces change the game in some ways, I was really surprised to notice how much the game remains the same, and how powerful some pieces are — you've never truly struggled against a pawn until you've struggled against a pawn in the back row.
For chess pros, Really Bad Chess will give you a new type of challenge — the pieces & the moves are the same, but you'll have to throw out your openings and your understanding of normal patterns of play.
For novice chess players (like most of us), Really Bad Chess greatly opens up the game. Instead of starting by studying openings, in your first games you'll get to discover the joy (and challenge!) of learning how to checkmate.
I hope you have as much fun with Really Bad Chess as much as I did making it.
-zach
As heard on NPR's Weekend Edition
5 out of 5 Stars "An essential puzzle experience for anyone even remotely interested in strategy games" - TouchArcade
Whether you play chess daily, or quit just after learning the rules, this small twist will open the door to an entire new world of chess.
------WHATS IN THE “BOX”?
The free version of Really Bad Chess lets you compete vs. an AI in Ranked, Daily, or Weekly Challenges. Improve your skills using the included Freeplay mode. A single in-app purchase unlocks Versus Mode so you can compete against your friends locally! It also removes ads, displays captured pieces, and adds soothing alternate color-palettes to choose from.
------REALLY BAD PRESS
"Makes chess fun even if you’re really bad" - The Verge
"Feels more modern than chess has ever felt" - Applenapps
"Really Bad Chess takes a really bad idea and somehow manages to make it a lot of fun." - Pocket Gamer
------A WORD FROM THE DEVELOPER
Chess is one of those games I always wished I enjoyed, but its commitment to beauty, elegance, and perfect balance always turned me away. Really Bad Chess removes these boring restrictions and flips chess on its head.
As much as random pieces change the game in some ways, I was really surprised to notice how much the game remains the same, and how powerful some pieces are — you've never truly struggled against a pawn until you've struggled against a pawn in the back row.
For chess pros, Really Bad Chess will give you a new type of challenge — the pieces & the moves are the same, but you'll have to throw out your openings and your understanding of normal patterns of play.
For novice chess players (like most of us), Really Bad Chess greatly opens up the game. Instead of starting by studying openings, in your first games you'll get to discover the joy (and challenge!) of learning how to checkmate.
I hope you have as much fun with Really Bad Chess as much as I did making it.
-zach
Profile & Insights
Everything we know — and don't — about this app and its company.
Identification
- App name
- Really Bad Chess
- Developer
- Noodlecake
- Bundle ID
- com.noodlecake.reallybadchess
- App Store URL
- Open in App Store
- Category
- Board
- Content rating
- Not found
- Languages
- Not found
Company
- Website
- www.noodlecake.com
- Tagline
- Not found
- Description
- Not found
- Founded
- Not found
- HQ / Address
- Not found
- Employees
- Not found
- Logo
- Not found
Revenue
- Verified revenue / mo
- Not found
- AI revenue estimate / mo
- Not found
- AI annual estimate
- Not found
- ML model estimate / mo
- $1.8K/mo
- Top-grossing rank
- Not found
- All-time revenue
- Not found
- Pricing
- $0.99 - $99.99 per item
Founder
- Name
- Not found
- X / Twitter
- Not found
- Not found
- GitHub
- Not found
- X followers
- Not found
- Public statements
- Not found
Funding
- Total raised
- Not found
- Last round
- Not found
- Investors
- Not found
- Crunchbase
- Not found
- AngelList
- Not found
Press & Links
- Articles found
- Not found
- Listed on
- Not found
- Blog
- Not found
- Press / News
- Not found
Contacts & Socials
- Socials
- Not found
- Not found
- Phone
- Not found
- Contact page
- Not found
- About page
- Not found
📈Ratings growth44,368 ratings+9% lifetimeShow 3-year history estimate ▾
Tracked (1 weeks) Pre-tracking estimate (37 weeks) · model-based, ±5% noise · anchored to release date and current value
Profile is built from iTunes Lookup + developer site scrape + ML revenue model. Empty fields show "Not found" — additional sources (Crunchbase, X, IndieHackers, Acquire.com) coming.
Full revenue analysis
Read the article-style breakdown for Really Bad Chess: category rank, percentile, growth signal, comparable apps, and how the forecast is calibrated against verified-MRR anchors in this niche.