9 Kings is out on iPhone and Android (since October 12) as a free download. The free version is a trial. A one-time $8.99 purchase unlocks all the kings, the extra quests and multiplayer. This 9 Kings mobile guide covers what you get for the money, which king to start with, and the habits that get a beginner past the year-33 Final Battle.
The game is Sad Socket’s roguelike kingdom builder, which has been in Early Access on Steam since May 2025. Playdigious, the publisher behind the mobile ports of Loop Hero and Chants of Sennaar, brought it to phones. This week it’s in the US iPhone top free games chart and on Google Play’s top new free list. Prices and store details below were checked on October 17, 2026 (UTC).
Table of Contents
Quick answer
- Price: free to try, with a one-time “Unlock full game” in-app purchase of $8.99 on both the App Store and Google Play. There are no other in-app purchases listed, and Google Play shows no ads.
- What the unlock adds: all kings, new quests, multiplayer “and more”, according to the store listing.
- Best first king: the King of Nothing. It’s the starter deck, and the community wiki calls it the easiest for newcomers.
- Core loop: place cards on a grid of plots, the battle plays out by itself, then loot cards from the rival king you beat. Survive to the Final Battle in year 33.
- Steam saves: no transfer from the Steam version has been announced.
A year-31 kingdom on iPad: support buildings sit beside troop plots so their yearly buffs land. Image: Playdigious / Sad Socket
9 Kings mobile price: free trial vs full game
The App Store description sums up the model: “Try 9 Kings for free and buy the full game to unlock all Kings, new quests, multiplayer and more.” Neither store page says exactly which kings or how many runs the free version includes. Treat it as a demo for learning the basics, not a free-to-play game with a cash shop. Pocket Gamer reported a 10% launch-week discount. Both stores showed the regular $8.99 when we checked.
| iPhone / iPad | Android | PC (Steam) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, $8.99 full unlock | Free, $8.99 full unlock | $19.99 |
| Released | Oct 12, 2026 | Oct 12, 2026 | Early Access May 23, 2025; 1.0 on Nov 12, 2026 |
| Rating | 4.8 stars (App Store) | 4.6 stars, 2,400+ ratings, 100K+ downloads | Very Positive (92% of 23,600 reviews) |
| Saves and extras | Cloud save across iOS devices, Game Center achievements | Google Play Games achievements and cloud save | Steam |
| Requirements | iOS 15.0 or later, about 476 MB, rated 9+ | Not listed | Windows, macOS |
On Android, iXBT Games reports that progress syncs with the PC version that runs through Google Play Games. That’s a different PC build from the Steam one. The mobile interface was rebuilt for touch, with its own menus.
How 9 Kings works (the 60-second version)
Each run starts with your base on a small grid of plots. Every in-game year, you get cards and play them onto plots: troops, buildings, towers, enchantments and tomes. Then a rival king’s army attacks and the fight runs automatically. Win, and you pick a card from that king’s deck, so your kingdom slowly turns into a mix of several kings’ cards. The game’s own pitch is that you can “break the game” with absurd combos, and that’s the long-term goal.
Card types, as the community wiki describes them:
- Troops: units that march out and fight. Most stack up to level 3.
- Buildings: support plots that buff adjacent troops and towers, either instantly or every year.
- Towers: they attack like troops but can’t be attacked or destroyed.
- Enchantments: stackable buffs for troops, with no limit on stacks.
- Tomes: instant effects, such as leveling up a plot, unlocking a new one or sacrificing one.
- Base: your king’s unique castle card, with its own attack.
Key years in a run
The run follows a fixed calendar. These are the first appearances listed on the wiki’s events page, which is based on the PC version:
| Year | Event | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Royal Council | Pick a decree, a run-long rule change (for example +30% attack, or doubled troop HP) |
| 6 | Prophet | Shows a blessing that arrives at the start of year 16 |
| 8 | Diplomat | Declare war or make peace, which changes which kings you fight and so which cards you can loot |
| 12 | Merchant | Spend gold on extra cards (30 gold for the first, then 15 more for each one after) |
| Once per run | Rainbow Army | Beat it to choose one of the powerful rainbow cards |
| 33 | Final Battle | A boss army. You can play every card in your hand, but losing costs all your remaining lives |
After year 33 the run keeps going against tougher waves, and you can buy extra plots for 30 gold each.
Best king to start with in 9 Kings mobile
There are nine playable kings, each with a nine-card deck. On PC, you start with only the King of Nothing and unlock the others by finishing challenges. The table lists those challenges as recorded on the wiki’s kings page. The mobile store pages don’t say whether the $8.99 purchase skips them or simply opens them up for you to earn.
| King | Playstyle | Signature cards | Unlock challenge (PC, per wiki) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing | Balanced, simple; best for beginners | Paladin, Farm, Blacksmith, Steel Coat | Unlocked from the start |
| Spells | Enchantments and tomes for a few super-soldiers | Library, Spire, Combustion, Static | Use 9 enchantments |
| Greed | Gold engine: earn, hoard and spend; strong late, weak early | Vault, Mercenary, Mortgage, Over-Invest | Spend 999 gold |
| Blood | Sacrifices and swarms of cheap summons | Pagoda, Cemetery, Sacrifice, Vampirism | Kill 9,999 units in battle |
| Nature | Support, healing and population growth | Treant base, Forest, Procreate, Clone | Win 9 games |
| Stone | Towers, walls and defense | Stronghold, Trebuchet, Quarry, Wallmaker | Build 99 buildings |
| Progress | Leveling plots for big late-game payoffs | Mothership, Concabulator, Converter, Overhaul | Level up 299 plots |
| Nomads | No castle; moving, occupying and destroying plots | Warlord, Raptor, Camp, Dragon’s Den | Use 99 troop cards |
| Time | Time-warping effects (the ninth king, added during Early Access) | Rewind, Orbiter, Bastion | Not listed |
Based on how the wiki describes each deck, here’s a sensible learning order:
- King of Nothing first. Every card does one clear job, so you learn adjacency and stacking without traps.
- Nature or Spells next. Both are built around buffing other plots, which teaches you to plan a kingdom around one or two strong carries.
- Greed, Blood and Progress once you know the calendar. They snowball hard, but each can collapse early if you overspend gold, sacrifice too much or level the wrong plots.
- Nomads and Time last. They bend the core rules: Nomads has no castle, and Time manipulates years and troop placement.
The merchant sells cards from any king for gold, with paid rerolls. Image: Playdigious / Sad Socket
9 Kings beginner tips that actually win runs
1. Build one carry plot, not five average ones
The wiki’s “Knight Haven” build for the King of Nothing is a good template. Pick one sturdy troop plot: the Paladin, which starts with 3 units (the wiki calls it the Knight). Feed it with a Farm that touches only that plot, and stack Steel Coat on it so it ignores the first hit every battle. Spread your cards across many melee plots and none of them scales.
2. Placement is half the game
Support buildings work on adjacent plots. The Blacksmith adds +2% attack damage and the Beacon +2% attack speed to neighbors every year, and those yearly buffs compound. Put your carry where the most support plots can touch it, usually near the middle of the grid, and keep buildings off the edges where they touch fewer plots.
3. Use the Diplomat to shop for cards
The kings you fight decide which cards you can loot. If your build needs Procreate or Clone, make war with Nature. If you need Library or Shaman, fight Spells. Make peace with kings whose cards don’t fit. The wiki recommends Spells, Nature and Greed as especially useful rivals for a King of Nothing run.
4. Respect your gold
You get 9 gold at the end of every year, win or lose. That gold pays for Merchant cards and rerolls, and reroll prices climb by 10 each time on the Diplomat and Merchant screens. Playing Greed? Mercenaries have one unit for every 15 gold you hold, so a shopping spree shrinks your army before the next battle.
5. Add a backline that can’t die
Towers can’t be attacked or destroyed, so a well-buffed tower or two behind your front line keeps dealing damage after your troops fall. Steal a strong ranged card from a rival king if your own deck lacks one.
6. Save something for year 33
In the Final Battle you can play every card in your hand, and losing costs all your remaining lives. Go in with a hand full of buffs and tomes rather than playing everything the year before.
A King of Blood run past year 70, with hundreds of units stacked per plot. Image: Playdigious / Sad Socket
What’s coming: 9 Kings 1.0
Sad Socket announced on Steam that 9 Kings leaves Early Access on November 12, 2026. Version 1.0 adds a custom “Joker” mode where you build your own 9-card deck and set the rules, plus 130+ cards, 140+ decrees (each king gets 9 unique ones), 110+ perks and 80+ quests. Playdigious hasn’t said when that content reaches the phone versions. Expect some card numbers in this guide to shift with balance patches. The latest PC patch, #31 on October 7, buffed Soldiers, Wizards, Elves and Mycelium, among others.
If you like this mix of planning and auto-battles, our Battle of Polytopia strategy guide and Kingdom Rush Vengeance towers guide cover two more mobile strategy staples. For a bigger kingdom to manage, see the Kingshot beginner guide or our list of the best tycoon games on mobile.
FAQ
Is 9 Kings free on mobile?
It’s free to download and try. The full game, with all kings, quests and multiplayer, is a one-time $8.99 purchase on iOS and Android (checked October 17, 2026). Neither store lists other purchases, and Google Play shows no ads.
Does 9 Kings mobile have multiplayer?
Yes. Multiplayer is asynchronous: you face the builds of eight rival players and climb a ranking to become “king of kings.” It’s part of the full-game unlock.
Can I transfer my Steam save to 9 Kings mobile?
No Steam transfer has been announced. iOS saves sync between iOS devices. On Android, Google Play Games cloud saves reportedly sync with the Google Play Games PC version, not with Steam.
Which 9 Kings king is best for beginners?
The King of Nothing. It’s the starter deck, its cards are straightforward, and the community wiki recommends it for new players. Move to Nature or Spells once you’re comfortable with adjacency buffs.
Sources: App Store listing, Google Play listing, Steam store page and Sad Socket’s 1.0 announcement, Pocket Gamer, iXBT Games, 9 Kings Wiki (Fandom). Store details checked October 17, 2026 (UTC).
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