How to

You can play straight away as a guest. A guest can play every game, but nothing is saved: no scores, pips, missions, stickers or trophies, and a guest is not on the boards or in the cups.

Sign in with Google or with a link sent to your email to keep your pips, trophies and games on every device.

The arcade asks for your birth month and year once, and keeps only whether you are under 16. Players under 16 need a parent's yes before they can sign in, add friends or show their name. Every game can be played without it.

Press Play on any game. The game opens in its own cabinet, with its name at the top.

• The question mark shows the game's rules.
• The cog opens the settings. While a game is open, it also has that game's buttons, such as Deal again and Give up.
• Fullscreen makes the game fill the screen. Escape or Exit fullscreen brings you back.
• The heart saves the game to Your favourites on the home page.
• Under the game you find your record in it, today's missions for it and three more games to try.

Pips are the arcade's stars. You earn them by playing and spend them on things for your Chikin, your coop and your album. Pips never cost real money.

• A won game pays 8 pips, a finished game 6 and a game you give up 2. A high score adds up to 4 more.
• A game that is not won counts only if it lasted at least 30 seconds and you made at least 3 moves.
• From your 21st game in a day, each game pays 1 pip. The day starts again at midnight UTC.
• Missions, cups, flocks, achievements and events pay pips too.
• Every time you buy something, the arcade asks first and shows how many pips you will have left.

There are three missions every day, on the home page. They start again at midnight UTC.

• Play any game: 10 pips.
• Finish 3 games: 25 pips.
• Reach a score in one game: 35 pips.
• Finish all three in one day for the Mission Master trophy.

Your streak counts the days in a row you have played. Play one game a day to keep it growing.

Miss one or two days and your streak waits for you: it stays where it was but does not grow. Miss more than two days and it starts again at 1. Your best streak, pips and trophies are never taken away.

Your flame grows with your streak, from a spark at 1 day to a phoenix at 100 days. Tap the flame at the top of the page to see it.

Every game you finish gives XP, and missions and trophies give more. Enough XP takes you up a level. Your level shows at the top of the page and on your profile.

A title shows under your name. You earn titles on event roads, by filling album pages, by growing your flame and by reaching levels. Every title you earn is kept. Tap your title on your profile to pick which one to wear.

Every game has a cup each week, from Monday to Sunday (UTC). You do not need to sign up: every game you finish counts.

In games with a score, your best score counts. In games with no score, your wins that week count. The top player of each cup gets 100 pips, paid the next time they play after the cup ends. The winner also gets the Weekly Champ title.

Every game with a score has a leaderboard. Today shows the last 24 hours, This week the last 7 days and All time every score ever.

The top three stand on the podium. Players who have not shared their name show as A player.

Trophies are for big moments: your first game, a streak, all daily missions, a level, a podium place, and each event. They sit in the trophy cabinet on your profile.

Each game also has its own achievements, such as a first win. Each one pays pips once. You can see them under the game and on your profile.

Events are seasons with their own look, missions, trophy, stickers and road. The calendar shows what is on now and what is coming.

• An event has four weeks. Each week has four missions, and a new week opens every 7 days.
• Week missions add up over the whole week, so you can finish them on any day that week.
• Finish a week's missions for a week trophy and bonus pips. Finish all four weeks for the event trophy.

Each event has a road of 32 steps. You move along it by playing: finished games, daily missions, event missions and the event's stickers all give road points.

Every step has a gift: a sticker, a Chikin part, a title or something for your coop. The last step is a whole room for your coop. Press Claim to collect a gift. The road is free, and nothing on it is for sale.

Steps open week by week with the event, so you cannot rush ahead of it.

If you forget to claim a gift, it is given to you on your next visit, even after the event has ended.

The album has a page for the arcade, for each game and for each event. Each sticker says what earns it, and it arrives by itself when you do it. Finish a page to earn its title.

The shelf has stickers you can buy with pips. Some are only on sale for a short time.

Friends can swap shelf stickers, one for one. An offer waits in your friend's inbox for 7 days. Earned stickers cannot be swapped.

Your Chikin stands beside your name everywhere in the arcade. Dress it on your profile: pick a hatchling, eyes, a hat, something to hold and a background, then press Wear this.

Some parts are free. Others cost pips, come with a trophy or are gifts from an event road.

Poke your Chikin and it hops and clucks.

The coop is your Chikin's room. Put furniture on the floor, stickers on the wall and trophies on show. Tap a thing and then tap a spot, or drag it. Press Save your coop when you are done.

Buy furniture and new rooms with pips, or win them on an event road.

• Friends can visit your coop and leave a heart.
• Open your door to put your coop on the coop tour. Visitors on the tour see only your name, your Chikin and your room.
• On the tour, each new coop you stay in for 5 seconds pays 2 pips, up to 10 pips a day.
• A visiting friend can leave a little mess. Tap it to clean it up for 2 pips, for up to 15 cleans a day.

You add a friend by swapping friend codes, and both of you must say yes. Only swap codes with people you know. There is no chat.

You can see when friends are online or playing, join them in their game, and send a cheer, one per friend a day. You can remove a friend at any time.

Flocks are four colour teams. Pick one, and every game you finish helps your flock that week. Everyone who played for the winning flock gets 50 pips. You can change flock once a season.

The inbox holds letters from the arcade: friend requests, trophies, cup results, cheers, swap offers and new games. Nobody can write to you in their own words. Letters are kept for 30 days.

The arcade has secrets. Finding one gives you a sticker or a Chikin part to keep. Where they are is for you to find out.

The cog at the top of the page opens the settings: dark mode, sounds and music, language, and game settings such as effects and animation speed.

Your player name is two words you pick from lists on your profile. It is never your real name.

Dr. Stella Glass stands at the side of the page with a tip for it. Tap her for another tip. You can hide her, and the settings bring her back.

Chikin Club helps pay for the arcade. It costs 2.99 euros a month or 24.99 euros a year. Only a grown-up can buy it: a player of 16 or over, or a parent in the parent corner.

Members see no ads and get a golden frame around their Chikin and a golden feather by their name. The Club never gives pips or help in games.

Ads help keep the arcade free. There are never ads in the middle of a game. A short break can come between games, never in the first minute and never more than three in a visit.

An ad never pays pips. Chikin Club members see no ads, and a parent can turn ads off in the parent corner.

Parents open the parent corner with a link sent to their email. There they can see time played, turn friends, cheers, swaps, coop visits and ads on or off, download their child's data or delete the account.