Ace of Spades: 3 Open Source Clones Compared
BetterSpades is built to run on very old hardware, targeting compatibility down to OpenGL 1.1 (with OpenGL ES support) and even embedded systems, and downloads a separate community-made asset pack at build time since the copyright status of the original 0.75-era assets is unknown. OpenSpades instead uses OpenGL/AL specifically for a better graphical and audio experience and can connect to vanilla, pyspades, or pysnip servers. Iceball is positioned differently again, describing itself as a highly-extensible engine and game built on the Ace of Spades experience rather than strictly a compatible client, with its non-code assets released separately under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Comparison table
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Windows, OSX
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Halted
- Last updated
- 2y ago
- Stars
- 1,245
- Contributors
- 69
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Engine
- SDL2
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- NoCan connect to vanilla/pyspades/pysnip servers; no original assets required.
- Multiplayer
- Online
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Linux, Windows
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Halted
- Last updated
- 1y ago
- Stars
- 281
- Contributors
- 20
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Engine
- —
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- NoFree of Jagex code; custom assets are downloaded automatically by CMake.
- Multiplayer
- Online
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Windows, Linux, OSX
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Halted
- Last updated
- 5y ago
- Stars
- 118
- Contributors
- 20
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Engine
- —
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- —
- Multiplayer
- Multiplayer
| Title | OpenSpades | BetterSpades | Iceball |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Playable | Playable | Playable |
| Platforms | Windows, OSX | Linux, Windows | Windows, Linux, OSX |
| Play in browser | No | No | No |
| Mobile | No | No | No |
| Project health | |||
| Development status | Halted | Halted | Halted |
| Last updated | 2y ago | 1y ago | 5y ago |
| Stars | 1,245 | 281 | 118 |
| Contributors | 69 | 20 | 20 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Engine | SDL2 | — | — |
| Compatibility | |||
| Requires original assets | NoCan connect to vanilla/pyspades/pysnip servers; no original assets required. | NoFree of Jagex code; custom assets are downloaded automatically by CMake. | — |
| Multiplayer | Online | Online | Multiplayer |
| Preview | | | |
Frequently asked questions
Are the Ace of Spades clones on this page open source?
Yes — every clone catalogued here is an open-source project. Availability, license, and development-status details for each one are listed in the comparison table above.
What license do these Ace of Spades clones use?
OpenSpades, BetterSpades, and Iceball (GPL-3.0).
Do I need to own the original Ace of Spades to play these clones?
OpenSpades and BetterSpades run standalone, no original files needed.
See the full write-up for each clone, or go back to Ace of Spades.