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What's your opinion on the Minesweeper clones? Shouldn't they be allowed on the App Store? What about Scrabble? Or Tetris? Also - like the post says - the app

What's your opinion on the Minesweeper clones? Shouldn't they be allowed on the App Store? What about Scrabble? Or Tetris? Also - like the post says - the app is in Swedish with a Swedish dictionary. Wordle is unplayable for anyone who doesn't speak English. Point taken about the wording though, I've updated the blog post to say: "I figured I could make a Swedish Wordle-style game myself"

gjsman-1000 5y ago
Microsoft does not have an official Minesweeper application for iOS, never has, and probably never will, so clones are more acceptable in that case. Scrabble and Tetris are actually trademarked names and have official applications as far as I know. They can sue any competitor for trademark infringement. There are competitors like "Block Puzzle," but they may predate the official Tetris for presence, but I'm not certain on that. > "What’s even less surprising is how (little) Apple apply their Guidelines when it comes to their own apps" (from post) Actually, I think any resemblance is forced (particularly with the Translate app) and that the design decisions are more logically-based than copying. How else would you make a Translate app by Apple look?
- salamandersauce 5y ago
  Several of those are clearly ripping off assets from Windows minesweeper. Which is worse than mimicking gameplay. There's also no Wordle iOS app either, just a website. Apple also happily accepted 2048 which is pretty much a straight up clone of the earlier Threes.
- scarface74 5y ago
  I bought a Tetris game from EA back when I had an original iPod Touch when the App Store was first introduced. It was a one time purchase. It was never updated for larger screens and disappeared with the 32 bit to 64 bit transition. Of course EA released another version around the iPhone 5 with ads an in-app purchases (?)
viktorcode 5y ago
You are assuming that the original copyright owner is always against the clones. Sometimes they just don't care about it.
- franciscop 5y ago
  The original copyright owner has allegedly nothing to do here; this is Apple rejecting games based on Apple's copycats guidelines, not based on DMCAs as far as it's shown.
  - viktorcode 5y ago
    My experience begs to differ. Until the original copyright owner files the complain with Apple (as author was suggested to do when he mentioned other Wordle clones), Apple may do nothing. Especially, when copyright violation is not obvious.
eps 5y ago
If Minesweeper, Scrabble or Tetris were the whirlwind phenomenon similar to Wordle, of which you made a clone trying to ride their coattails and had it rejected, then your question would've been relevant. But they are not, so it's just a random question only tangentially related and an answer that has very little to do with your situation.
- dcow 5y ago
  The fact that Wordle is currently popular has nothing to do with the logic of the situation.

gjsman-1000 5y ago

Microsoft does not have an official Minesweeper application for iOS, never has, and probably never will, so clones are more acceptable in that case. Scrabble and Tetris are actually trademarked names and have official applications as far as I know. They can sue any competitor for trademark infringement. There are competitors like "Block Puzzle," but they may predate the official Tetris for presence, but I'm not certain on that. > "What’s even less surprising is how (little) Apple apply their Guidelines when it comes to their own apps" (from post) Actually, I think any resemblance is forced (particularly with the Translate app) and that the design decisions are more logically-based than copying. How else would you make a Translate app by Apple look?

salamandersauce 5y ago
Several of those are clearly ripping off assets from Windows minesweeper. Which is worse than mimicking gameplay. There's also no Wordle iOS app either, just a website. Apple also happily accepted 2048 which is pretty much a straight up clone of the earlier Threes.
scarface74 5y ago
I bought a Tetris game from EA back when I had an original iPod Touch when the App Store was first introduced. It was a one time purchase. It was never updated for larger screens and disappeared with the 32 bit to 64 bit transition. Of course EA released another version around the iPhone 5 with ads an in-app purchases (?)

viktorcode 5y ago

You are assuming that the original copyright owner is always against the clones. Sometimes they just don't care about it.

franciscop 5y ago
The original copyright owner has allegedly nothing to do here; this is Apple rejecting games based on Apple's copycats guidelines, not based on DMCAs as far as it's shown.
- viktorcode 5y ago
  My experience begs to differ. Until the original copyright owner files the complain with Apple (as author was suggested to do when he mentioned other Wordle clones), Apple may do nothing. Especially, when copyright violation is not obvious.

eps 5y ago

If Minesweeper, Scrabble or Tetris were the whirlwind phenomenon similar to Wordle, of which you made a clone trying to ride their coattails and had it rejected, then your question would've been relevant. But they are not, so it's just a random question only tangentially related and an answer that has very little to do with your situation.

dcow 5y ago
The fact that Wordle is currently popular has nothing to do with the logic of the situation.