For parents
The Family Arcade is a small collection of browser games one family made together. It also helps other families make and play their own games. It runs at familyarcade.eu on a server in Germany. It is free, has no ads and is not a business.
This page covers what you will want to know before your child uses it.
Data stored about your child
Section titled “Data stored about your child”A player name and scores, on your device only. When your child makes a player, the browser on that phone, tablet or computer saves the name, tickets, wins and recent games. Nothing is sent to us. There is no account, email address, birthday or photo. Clearing the site’s data in the browser erases it.
Nothing on our server. The server only hands out the arcade’s files. It keeps no log of who visited. There are no ads and no tracking.
Because players live on each device, the same child on two devices is two separate players. Syncing players across a family’s devices needs accounts. Those accounts may come one day. A parent would run them, never a child.
Playing with others
Section titled “Playing with others”Only people who have your code. To play together, one device shows four letters. The other devices type those letters in. There is no public list of games, no search for players and no chat. Someone your child has never met cannot find them.
Directly, device to device. Once connected, game moves travel straight between the devices, not through a server. Video or voice also travels this way if you turn it on. To find each other, devices use a free matchmaking service called PeerJS and public helpers from Google and Twilio. Those services see the devices’ internet addresses for a moment, not names or games.
Calls are off until tapped. Voice and video calls work between two devices. The camera and microphone stay off until someone taps them. The browser asks for permission first. Nothing is recorded.
Games made by other families
Section titled “Games made by other families”Families can make their own games. They can add each other’s games to the arcade by link. Those games live on the other family’s own website, not on ours. Most use GitHub Pages, GitHub’s free web hosting.
- Opening one hands the game your child’s player name and colour inside the link. That part of a link stays in the browser. It is never sent to a server.
- The website that hosts the game sees the visit, like any website.
- What the game does is up to the family who made it. Games made from our starter follow rules: no ads, no trackers, nothing loaded from other websites and no chat. The AI helper is told to keep these rules. Nobody checks other families’ games.
Only add games from people you know.
Age limits and accounts
Section titled “Age limits and accounts”Playing in the arcade needs no account at any age.
Making a game needs two accounts. Both have age limits:
| Account | What it is for | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub (free) | keeps the game’s code and puts it on the web | 13 |
| Claude, Pro plan or higher | the AI helper that writes the code | 18 |
For younger children, the accounts are yours and you build together. Your child has the ideas and plays. You type and press the buttons. That is also the best way to do it.
Teenagers can use a free GitHub account. Instead of Claude, they can use one of these AI helpers:
| AI helper | Minimum age |
|---|---|
| Codex in ChatGPT | 13, with a parent’s permission if under 18 |
| GitHub Copilot Free | 13 |
Codex in ChatGPT is in the free plan for now.
| What | Cost |
|---|---|
| Playing the arcade | free |
| GitHub and its web hosting | free |
| Claude with Claude Code | a paid plan (Pro or higher), monthly |
| Codex in ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot Free | free, with limits |
A long building session can hit the AI plan’s usage limit. It resets after a few hours. That is a natural break.
Helping your child make a game
Section titled “Helping your child make a game”- Let them decide. Let your child choose what the game is about, what to change next and whether it is fun. You type, read Claude’s answers aloud if needed and press merge, which means accepting the change.
- Play after every change. Small steps, played straight away, beat big plans. “What should we change next?” is the whole loop.
- Words, not code. Your child says how it should feel. “Make it bouncier” is enough. Claude works out the code.
- First names only. Nothing else about your child belongs in a game.
- Stop while it is fun. An hour is plenty for a first session.
Start with Make a game.
Not built yet
Section titled “Not built yet”We say what is true today and mark what is not:
- a grown-up lock on video calls;
- a play-time limit;
- accounts for parents, to keep a family’s players in sync across devices;
- a gallery of games from families you do not know, with checks before anything is listed.
Contact
Section titled “Contact”If something here is unclear or you think something is wrong, write to mario@knyflores.com. We will fix it.