Stack the States®

First Impression

I downloaded Stack the States on a Thursday night after a friend at work named Sarah told me her kid was obsessed with it. She said it helped her son memorize state capitals in like a week. So I figured I’d check it out for myself. First thing that surprised me? When I opened the app it asked for access to stuff that made me pause. I’m one of those people who actually reads the permission pop-ups. It wanted access to things that didn’t make sense for a trivia game about states. I almost deleted it right there. But I gave it a chance and the actual gameplay is pretty polished. The graphics are bright and the little states bounce around when you answer right. It’s clearly made for kids but I’m an adult and I still found myself playing for twenty minutes straight on my lunch break. I’ve only had it three days so I’m not an expert, but that first impression was a mix of “this is actually fun” and “why do you want that data?”

What It Does Well

The core loop is simple but addictive. You get a question about a state — capital, nickname, landmark, whatever — and if you get it right the state drops down and you try to stack it on your pile. It sounds dumb but watching the states wobble and balance is genuinely satisfying. The questions repeat but they mix it up enough that I didn’t get bored right away. I learned a few things, too. I didn’t know Oklahoma’s capital is Oklahoma City. Yeah, I know, that’s basic, but the app makes it stick because you see the state shape and hear the name. The graphics are really clean for a mobile game. No weird blurry textures or lazy animations. The sound effects are fun without being annoying (my biggest pet peeve is loud obnoxious apps). It also has a map mode where you can browse states and see their flags and facts. That part feels like a digital flashcard set, which is nice if you actually want to study instead of just play. My nephew came over Saturday and I let him try it. He’s 8 and he figured out the controls immediately. So it’s definitely kid-friendly. The difficulty ramps up slowly, which keeps frustration low. I also like that it tracks which states you’ve collected. Seeing the map fill in gives you that little dopamine hit.

Where It Falls Short

Honestly, I think it gets repetitive faster than I hoped. By day two I felt like I’d seen a lot of the same questions. For example, every other question seemed to be about Texas or California. Maybe that’s just because those are the big states but it got old. I wish there were more question types or at least a bigger pool. Also, the stacking mechanic — which is the whole point of the game — can feel a bit clunky. Sometimes the states don’t land where you expect and it feels more about luck than skill. That might be okay for little kids but for me it was a little annoying. Another thing: the app crashes once on my iPhone 14 when I tried to open the flashcard mode too fast. Not a huge deal but it happened. And I really don’t like that it seems to push you toward in-app purchases. There’s a “hints” feature that costs coins, and you earn coins slowly unless you buy them. I get that developers need to make money, but for a paid app I expect less of that. I paid for this, so I don’t want to feel nickel-and-dimed. Also, the font in some menus is small. I had to squint to read the state facts. That’s weird for an app aimed at kids.

Is It Worth the Price?

I paid for it, yes. It’s not free. I think it was a few dollars. For what it is, I’d say it’s worth it if you have a kid who likes geography or if you’re a teacher. As an adult using it for myself? I feel like I got my money’s worth but barely. The educational content is solid. The questions are accurate from what I can tell. And it’s clearly designed by someone who cares about making learning fun. But the in-app purchases leave a bad taste. If the app itself already costs money, why do I need to buy hints? That feels greedy. I’d rather they just charged a little more upfront and removed that stuff entirely. The mini-games are okay but not worth paying extra for. If you’re on the fence, I’d say wait for a sale or see if there’s a free version to try first. For the full price, you’re getting a well-made app that could have been great if it trusted its own content instead of pushing coins.

Developer & Support

I had a weird issue where the app froze on the loading screen after I connected it to my home Wi-Fi. I sent an email to support on Friday morning. I got a reply two days later on Sunday evening. The person was nice and explained it might be a network conflict — they suggested I turn off the VPN I use at home. That actually fixed it. So the support team is helpful, but the wait time was longer than I’d like. For a paid app, I expect a response within a day, not almost three days. But the fact that they gave me a real solution instead of copy-paste garbage was a good sign. The developer name is Dan Russell-Pinson. I looked him up. He seems to make a bunch of educational apps. That gave me confidence that this isn’t some fly-by-night operation. The app feels cared for. It’s had updates over the years. That matters.

Privacy & Safety

Okay, this is the part that matters most to me. I checked the privacy policy before I even opened the app. It says they collect some data — like device ID and usage data. That’s not terrible, but here’s what bugs me: when I first launched the app, it immediately asked for permission to access things I didn’t expect. I can’t remember exactly which ones because I declined quick, but it was more than just basic stuff. For a children’s educational app, I find that concerning. There’s no reason a game about state capitals needs to track much. The developer says they don’t sell your data, but they do share with analytics services. That’s standard but honestly I hate that. If you care about privacy, you should know this app is not squeaky clean. I don’t think it’s malicious, but I’d love to see a version that works completely offline and doesn’t ping any servers unless for updates. I turned off Wi-Fi and it still worked, which gave me some peace of mind. But the initial permission requests made me grumble. My advice: go into your phone settings after installing and revoke any permissions that aren’t absolutely necessary. I did that and the game still runs fine.