Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 08:29 pm
Pocket Tanks Deluxe – Family Game Review
Pocket Tanks Deluxe is a Family/Strategy/Entertainment game from Blitwise Productions, LLC, first launched in 15th April 2009.
It’s rated 9+ and currently has 326+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Pocket Tanks Deluxe Stand Out
"The Ultimate One-on-One Artillery Game" – Now with cross-platform WiFi and Online Play!
Pocket Tanks is the fast-paced artillery game that is simple to learn, and fun to master. The perfect quick game for friends and family, you'll find yourself hooked for hours of play! Bury your opponent in a mound of dirt, or assail him with a barrage of bullets. Visit the Weapon Shop before battle to arm yourself for the struggle, or try the Target Practice mode to learn all the weapons and the best tactics to win.
Experience the thrill of launching volley after volley of powerful and fun weapons across the battlefield, using very simple controls. Select your angle, power, and FIRE! Your arsenal of unique and useful weapons includes: Napalm, Firecracker, Skipper, Cruiser, Dirt Mover, and dozens more! This is the light-hearted game of heavy artillery for everyone.
Features:
- Large scrolling battlefields
- Universal app; looks great on iPhone or iPad
- WiFi, real-time matches on a local network
- Online, turn based play. Battle your friends around the world at your own pace.
Deluxe Adds:
-100 exciting new weapons (145 total with all free packs)
- Jump Jets for moving your tank around
- Bouncy Dirt for creating reflective terrain
- Digger for tunneling your tank underground
- Support for weapon expansion packs, both paid and FREE!
Plus…
Mud Pie
Cannon Ball
Fission Bomb
Popcorn
Mega Cruiser
Pillow Fight
Hot Foot
Volcano
Pedestal
Lightning Strike
Gravity Well
Funnel
Snowballs
Collide-o-scope
Side Kick
Nanobots
Warp Gate
And a whole lot more!
Note from the author:
I have been writing artillery games since 1993. I created Pocket Tanks in 2001, and thanks to the many loyal fans, it is still in active development to this very day. Please join me in my quest to make Pocket Tanks a classic artillery game that stands the test of time. Thanks to all who have supported BlitWise over the years.
-Michael P. Welch
Author of DX-Ball & Scorched Tanks
Millions of downloads, over a decade of fun!
For the PC/Mac versions visit:
www.blitwise.com
This Family game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Pocket Tanks Deluxe is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 25th August 2025
Recent improvements include:
• 5 weapons – Danger Pack
The Danger Pack shakes things up with huge earthquakes, spiraling terrain effects, and fun new ways to fling tanks. This release brings Pocket Tanks up to a total of 400 weapons! Thanks for supporting our efforts, and watch for new game features coming soon.
Download & Availability
Pocket Tanks Deluxe is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Pocket Tanks Deluxe on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
It would be a good idea to put new colors in. Camo colored tanks would be so fitting and add gray, black and maybe white. Maybe even maroon and dark green. Anyways hope you see this. We enjoy the game.
We've been playing this game since back when it first came out ; it's always a blast (sometimes literally) the game is amazing doesn't even require WiFi to play just enjoy we will say however there is so many weapons now we can't remember what half of them do (not a bad thing) we're just happy the game we've played for years now is still getting love Note to devs : thanks for making a game that's awesome and still playable we've been playing since the mountain mover was the best way to demolish the map.
Set difficulty at 1 and you get a direct hit from computer every time on there first try it seems like developers didnt even try the updates.
This game is so fun but now you cant get past the loading screen, the game is now unplayable, hopefully this is fixed.
We had Pocket Tanks on a CD ROM waaay back in the early 2000s, we love this game and will always be a fan.
Theirs a weird glitch that doesnt allow us to load the game at all, cant even get to the title screen, Im assuming its an error and if possible, it should be fixed, please and thank you.
Simple, fun, and great for the whole family. We even play with our parents.
This is one of the very first games we had on our first iPod Touch as a kid(more than a decade ago) and as an adult now we still play this game weekly. Its very relaxing and in all honesty, Ive played at 10 forever now and curious if you all will ever add like 5 more notches to make a lil more challenging for veteran players! :) Solid game and universal for all ages to enjoy.
We want to give this game a five star despite its flaws because we love this game so much we love everything about it we love that it never feels like the same game because the huge variety of awesome creative weapons to use also The details the particles the explosions the sounds The graphics the music are absolutely 100/spot on PERFECT we think its very creative and very fun there needs to be more games like this and we know that there are a lot of games that imitate this but it really is a cheap knock off this game is truly its own thing its own type of game its own feeling. Subject 2 problems. Please get a custom color changer for tanks we mean for goodness sake this game is a Classic and has been made and updated since 2001 and only has eight colors we mean would it kill the creator to make more colors available or a color customize changer would be even better we mean for goodness sake the game has over 300 different weapons that do different unique stuff AND ONLY HAS 8 color variety for tanks wth we mean tanks is the name of the game BRA!! It gets boring after a while for that reason, on the other hand it would be nice of there was a two versus two multiplayer team, something very important to know about the single player mode IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU PLAY SINGLE PLAYER at the beginning of the game The first shot by THE CPU WILL ALWAYS SHOOT A 100/DIRECT PERFECT HIT regardless of what way the wind is blowing or not regardless of the landscape extremely rarely this will not happen for the first shot by cpu; and will always have a 99/ almost always perfect aiming and power in very shoot throughout the game If not Direct hit almost. CPU PLAYS TO WELL regardless what level you put the cpu on,regardless if you mess up the power and aiming of The CPU by shooting it with a certain weapon,It is completely UNFAIR . On the bright side through single player you could still perfect your aiming and practice regardless how perfect the CPU aiming is, it would also be nice if there was a setting if the CPU could shoot first im tired of always shooting first.
(1/9/23) Most people might look at the seemingly older art style n simplistic UI/controls and shrug this game off..but theres so much history behind it. So many nights as a kid staying up quietly passing the phone to your best friend in 2P battling trying to not wake anyone in the house. The excitement of a new weapon pack dropping n testing new projectiles over and over again. Pocket Tanks is the perfect example of being able to have the most fun in a (PC but admittedly more phone based) game without mind boggling complicated game mechanics, stories, etc. We recently recalled this game from our past and we were beyond excited to see the developers still continuing to update the game after (if memory stands correct) over two decades!! We are excited to see this games future. Nothing more exciting than seeing new weapons to test, but the ability to play with more people would be a game changer (maybe up to four at a time {teams..?}). As well as new terrain styles and increased map sizing for longer range battles would be incredibly. Props and a chefs kiss to the developers of one of our favorite childhood games that we will forever come back to that we recommend to ANYONE who likes playing phone games . TL;DR you got a tank on one side, you got a tank on the other. V A S T and incredibly fun weapon selection of different varieties to shoot at your adversary. Randomized terrain and wind variables to increase skill based artillery. Unreasonably fun and easy to learn, fun to master mechanics and gameplay. Developers that actually care. Highly recommend.
Our five stars says it all! Love this game, especially online and two players. Our whole family plays this game. Ive been playing ever since in came out for iPad years ago.
Ive been playing this game since 5th grade, Im in the Marines now and we still play this game. Its seriously just the best phone game ever created. We just wish more people knew about it.
Pocket tanks is our favorite game and we have a lot of fun playing online and with friends. But we have to take away a star because it is pay to win. You can buy weapon packs in the game and its not like theyre at least balanced. They are very overpowered weapons. Every time we go against someone that owns them we forfeit because we dont even stand a chance because their score will be over 1,000 while ours is 300. Theres this one guy named bigvally who we hate playing against the most. We hate this guy with a passion just because of his stupid weapons its Just unfair. How is this gam even fun for you if youre guaranteed the win.
This game is great to pick up and put down at anytime for people who dont like games that take a lot of time investment. The rounds are short (about 5 minutes) once you start getting familiar with the game. The game needs some quality of life improvements such as finding weapons by search in weapons selector (if you have a lot of weapon packs) and a different background so that we can actually see obstructions on the field that dont contrast well with black. Knocking 1 star off for that.
We love this game a lot, we have most of the dlc weapon packs, we just havent played in a while. Wanted to play it today but it doesnt load. The green bar nearly fills up but freezes and doesnt move. Ive tried relaunching it several times.
Our brother and we downloaded this game on the family computer back in ~2002 our biggest complaint is the ai never misses Also there should be a mode with more than 10 volleys Overall its true to the original game, but youd think after 20 years of existence, there would be some sort of additions besides microtransaction weapon packs.
How do you mess up a game this simple. They keep adding more purchases instead of more accessible features. Another paywalled pay to win. For this simple game. Wow.
We grew up playing this game around 2004 on the pc version . What we like about this mobile version are the updates on new weapons and a few other things . It still has the same feel as it did back then . Amazing simple game over all.
We love this game and have played it daily for probably over a decade! However, one feature we think we'd all really benefit from is having a "nudge" option to remind people when it is their turn after a day or so goes by. AND we wish the game didnt force-stop music that we are playing when we open the app.
For those of us who played the original Scorched Earth in 1991, Pocket Tanks Deluxe is a heart-felt and (mostly) faithful tribute to that classic, and there are some genuinely clever weapons and gadgets included. There are, however, some design decisions or technical limitations that prevent this game from taking the title of "Mother of All Games": namely, the restriction of only ever having one opponent available. Gone are the days of wild 10-player carnage, and impromptu alliances and betrayals and while it may have been difficult to implement additional players when Pocket Tanks was first developed, in the 20 years since, other more recent "Scorch-likes" have upped the player counts as technology improved. Even if multiple opponents were added to the Vs AI or Local Play modes only, this game would remain on our device for years to come. As it stands, it's a nice but fleeting reminder of those days of DOS, long gone by.
Its a decent game but how the computer is so accurate even at level 1 we dont know. They are alway dead on or just off from dead on every shot, even if you move, doesnt help. Playing level 1 is like level 10. No difference.
One of the first games we ever got on the App Store, back when we had an iPod touch. Still love it. Great nostalgia. Huge selection of weapons with the deluxe pack and even more for a bit of cash.
Had this game on PC since early 2000s. On iOS and Android since release. Love it.
Online needs to implement a timer. Completely unplayable as it is.
Its a great game. For having simple graphics its a really entertaining game. Us and some buddies of ours love playing against each other and well be going at it for an hour or two. The only thing we wish would be put into the game is the ability to create a custom game. For example, you could add that your tank could move 10 times instead of 4. Or you could make it so that there are 20 volleys instead of 10. Kinda like how you can add wind or change the size of the explosion. Thanks for the great game.
We have been playing this for years and it doesn't get old. Seeing other plays tactics is fun. Many play and stick with you for a long time. Best tanks game out there. Suggestion to developer: add in game chat somehow. It would be neat to chat with some of these guys we have been playing with.
Love pocket tanks but can we please get super dx ball on the iPhone? Ive been wanting that since our first itouch.
Im not sure about the other platforms, but on iOS the terrain in online matches are all set to hills. It really invalidates a lot of the weapons that are built for line-of-sight. Could use more options for match settings in online matches.
This is a great and polished put game, but the newer weapons are lacking, the recent few release were a disappointment. The latest release cost 4 dollars, we dont remember the other releases being that expensive, we remember them being 99 cents. Be nice if we can try them out before buying, of course theres a sandbox type but how am we supposed to know which weapon is new and which is old. WiFi or Bluetooth games lag.
All of a sudden this app wont load!!!! We even uninstalled it, and had to repurchase it for $4.99 again and it still wont load. Fix the game ASAP or we want a refund! No one pay for this until an update is released.
We remember playing this on our old iMac g3 nearly 20 years ago! Its amazing that it is still being worked on by the developer! Kudos to you.
Have played this game (the original) pretty much every day going on 20 years. Super fun. Also, your move Eric.
Ive been playing this game for many years….one of the best 2D games out there.
We found this game in 2011. We played it originally with our friend in class. It was so much fun. We miss those days. However we started playing again and we cant believe only a couple packs have come out after we stopped playing. We really was hoping for something more. Anyway super fun game play this.
Been playing this game since It first came out love love love it simple yet complex so fun thank you for keeping your servers up to this day.
Ive been playing this game for such a long time and always enjoy it! Id love to see some new tank colors like black and white or even a make your own color option. Also some time type of stats so you can see how many games youve won and lost against CPUs. That would be sweet.
Im so happy this game is still getting updates and is not forgotten. We can remember playing this game as a very young kid, and it makes us so happy to be able to still play it to this day so thank you.
Our father and we have played this game together since it first came out. Im glad to see theyre still making weapon packs.Keep them coming please.we love Barbed wire and Puzzle Box.
We have been playing since we were 5, and to this day we find it amusing to open the game once a week, its especially great that Michael Welch still gives the game attention even after all these years and keeps developing items for it. We always appreciated a blitwise game in leisure time :).
Playing on an iPhone 7, iOS 13.6. Wont load the game, loading screen stuck for (so far) two hours.
We have the deluxe version and it freezes on the iPad.
We love this game! Reminds us of sitting around with a group of people and doing challenges and little tournament battles! Thanks for the continued app support.
One of the first games we downloaded on our very first iPhone! Love it.
More features as simple as even tank colors would be a refreshing addition. Heres our main ideas for what can be added: -Obviously more tank colors -A terrain editor to allow for custom terrain maps -Custom weapon selection in private matches as an option -Health custom mode where you try to drain the opponent of their life bar Minor improvements: -Tank movement is either moving too far or not at all, a fuel tank system for it would be nice -Power bar can be a bit weird with distancing shots -Make custom private games where we get to choose weapons and who starts As someone who has bought everything we really do love the game and will continue supporting the game but these minor improvements and new features would be amazing for the player base :).
The best artillery strategy game we have ever played love it to death will keep playing this forever its amazing.
Ive been playing this game since 2012 and this is the best ever! We love the variety this game has in its artillery. The graphics and mechanics in this game are done very well! All and all this is just a fantastic game.
We love this game and we play it everyday . But there needs to be more weapons coming out frequently . When the next update comes , we expect more packs to get new and good weapons.
Ive been playing this game ever since it was on PC way back when during our computer classes in middle school. Always a blast and we love the crazy weapons.
Hoping they will add some options for more moves and even the option to move at the end of a turn instead.
- Please bring in more/new Weapon Packs, we have them all but wish there were more available, its been years since any new packs have come out. 2. Allow the players to change their usernames for online play. Awesome game overall.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 3.0.0
- Size: 97.54 MB
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Developer: Blitwise Productions, LLC
Last updated: 25th August 2025 | Genre: Family, Strategy | Developer: Blitwise Productions, LLC