How to

You can play straight away as a guest. A guest can play every game, pick a name, dress a Chikin, keep favourites and add friends. But the arcade keeps no progress for a guest: no scores, Credits, XP, streak, missions, stickers, trophies or road steps. A guest is not on the boards or in the cups, and has no free goes on the daily machines.

Sign in with Google, or with a link or code sent to your email, to keep your Credits, trophies and games on every device. Players 16 or over can also set a password on their profile.

When you sign in on a device where you played as a guest, the arcade asks if you want to move what you did here. If you say yes, your friends and favourites join your account. Your guest name, Chikin and friend code move only to an account you are making right now. An account you already had keeps its own. A game you played as a guest on this device carries on in your account, but only if your account has never saved that game.

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. Every game and friends work without it.

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

• The bar above the game has its own buttons, such as Hint, Undo, New run and Give up. Each game names them in its own words, so the card games say Deal again. The cog beside them opens the settings, with that game's own settings while it is open.
• Fullscreen makes the game fill the screen. Escape or Exit fullscreen brings you back.
• The heart adds the game to your favourites, the row of games under the top bar on every page. Drag a game in the row to move it. The dashed space at the end opens every game, to add or take away favourites.
• Games with a score have a medal button that opens their leaderboard.
• Under the game you find your record in it, your friends' best runs, its achievements, how to play it, today's missions and cup for it, and three more games to try.
• Each day one game is the game of the day. It leads the home page, and its badge sits under its name.

The Settings button at the foot of every page opens the settings, and so does the cog beside a game while you play. They hold dark mode, sound and music, language, and game settings such as effects, animation speed and higher contrast. Where your browser allows it, they also let you install the arcade as an app, with its own icon.

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.

The BETA sign on the logo means the arcade is still being built. Every game is open to play, but we are still working on some parts of the arcade, and we fix things as soon as we find them.

While we build, some numbers will change: what games and missions pay, what things cost, and how cups and leaderboards are scored. A game or a page can change or move too.

Before the arcade leaves beta, we might reset scores, leaderboards and Credits. The Beta Tester title stays yours for good.

If something does not work, or you have an idea, tell us.

Credits are the arcade's currency. You earn them by playing and spend them on things for your Chikin, your coop and your album.

• A won game pays 8 Credits, a finished game 6 and a game you give up 2. A score adds 1 more Credit for every 300 points, up to 4 more, unless you gave up.
• A game that is not won counts only if it lasted at least 30 seconds and you made at least 3 moves.
• From your 13th game in a day, each game pays 1 Credit. From your 101st game, games pay no more Credits or XP that day. The day starts again at 00:00 UTC.
• Other things pay Credits too: daily missions (up to 60 a day), the game of the day (10), the daily machines, the coop tour (up to 6 a day), cleaning up your coop (up to 6 a day), weekly cups (50), squadrons (30), achievements and events.
• Every time you buy something, the arcade asks first and shows how many Credits you will have left.
• The arcade is in beta, so what things pay and cost may still change.

There are three missions every day, on the home page and on Dailies. They start again at 00:00 UTC.

• Play any game: 10 Credits.
• Finish 3 games: 20 Credits.
• Reach a score in the game named that day: 30 Credits.
• When that game takes a long time to play, a quicker game is named beside it with its own score, and reaching either one finishes the mission.
• Finish all three in one day for the Mission Master trophy.

The Dailies page gathers everything that starts again each day at 00:00 UTC: the game of the day, the capsule machine, the claw machine, the daily wheel, the daily missions, the coop tour, the event road and each game's daily challenge. Each machine has its own page.

The capsule machine gives one free turn a day. Turn the handle and a capsule drops out with a sticker, a Chikin part or some Credits. Nothing goes in, and it never gives you something you already have. Once you have every sticker and part, it gives Credits.

The claw machine gives one free grab a day. Its tank holds three mystery bags, and each bag holds one of the twelve plushies. Pick a bag and the claw brings it out: it always holds on. A plushie you do not have yet goes into your album, and one you already have turns into 10 Credits. The page shows the chances before you grab.

The daily wheel gives one free spin a day, and it stops on a slice of Credits: 5 Credits 30 spins in 100, 8 Credits 30 in 100, 10 Credits 20 in 100, 15 Credits 12 in 100, 20 Credits 6 in 100 and 40 Credits 2 in 100. The bigger the slice, the more often it stops there. Nothing goes in, and nobody can buy another spin.

While an event is on, each machine also has one of that event's stickers. Until you have it, 25 goes in 100 give it, and the machine's own chances above share the other 75. Once you have it, the machine goes back to its own prizes. The three leave the machines when the event ends, and they have their own page in your album.

• A sticker you do not have yet: 40 turns in 100.
• A Chikin part you do not have yet: 20 turns in 100.
• 5 Credits: 20 in 100. 10 Credits: 15 in 100. 25 Credits: 5 in 100.
• Each game's challenge is the same board for every player that day. A tick shows the ones you have played.
• The game of the day is one game, the same for every player. Your first run in it that day gives 10 bonus Credits. A new one starts at 00:00 UTC.
• On Dailies you can turn on reminders: a short note on this device on a day you have not played yet. It comes in the afternoon, never at night, and at most once a day. Players under 16 can turn them on only after a parent or carer allows them in the parent corner. On an iPhone or iPad, add the arcade to the Home Screen first.

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, Credits 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.

On your profile your level is the rank stripe on your CGSF Academy cadet card, with one chevron for every five levels. Friends see the same card. A new level gets a moment of its own when the run ends.

A title shows under your name. You earn titles on event roads, by filling album pages, by growing your flame, by winning a weekly cup 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: your games that week count by themselves.

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 50 Credits, paid the next time they play after the cup ends. The winner also gets the Weekly Champ title. If players tie at the top, each of them gets it.

The Credits are paid only when 5 or more players took part in the cup, and for one cup a week. Only players who have been here at least a week and have 100 XP count toward the 5.

The arcade is in beta, so the cup rules may still change.

Every game with a score has a leaderboard. Today shows the last 24 hours, Last 7 days the seven days up to now and All time every score ever. Cups count differently, from Monday to Sunday.

The top three stand on the podium with their player name and Chikin.

The arcade is in beta, so how leaderboards work may still change.

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 Credits 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 the event on now and the ones that start in the next 45 days.

• Every event comes in two or four parts of seven days, counted from its first day. Any days left after the last part are Bonus days. Each part has four missions.
• Part missions add up over the whole part, so you can finish them on any day of that part.
• Finish a part's missions for a part trophy and bonus Credits. Finish every part for the event trophy.

Each event has a road with a step for every day of the event. You move along it by playing: finished games, daily missions, event missions and stickers from the event's album page all give road points.

A finished game gives 10 road points, a daily mission 15, an event mission 50 and a sticker from the event's album page 20.

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 Collect to take a gift, or Collect all for every gift waiting. Each gift opens on its own card. The road is free, and nothing on it is for sale.

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

If a gift is still waiting when the event ends, it is given to you on your next visit.

The album has pages for the arcade, for each game, for each event and for the daily machines. An event's pages appear on the event's first day. Each sticker says what earns it, and it arrives by itself when you do it. Finishing a game, arcade or event page earns its title.

Every sticker has a number. No. 1 is the first copy anyone got.

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

Friends can swap stickers, one for one. A spare copy goes first. If you have no spare, the sticker leaves your album and goes to your friend. An offer waits in your friend's inbox for 7 days.

The field guide has a page for each of the twelve hatchlings. A hatchling you have met shows its picture, its facts and the CGSF lab's note. One you have not met yet is a shadow, with the places to find it.

You meet a hatchling when you play a game it hosts, when its plush comes out of a mystery bag in the claw machine, or when you can pick it for your Chikin. Every Chikin can be a Sunny, so every player has met a Sunny.

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.

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 Credits, come with a trophy, come out of the capsule machine or are gifts on an event road.

Poke your Chikin and it hops.

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

Tap a bed or a seat and your Chikin goes and rests on it.

Buy furniture and new rooms with Credits, or get them as gifts on an event road.

Saving up for something? Press Save for it on anything you cannot buy yet, and your profile shows how close you are.

• Friends can visit your coop. Friends and players on the coop tour can leave a heart.
• Your coop is on the coop tour, where other players can look round. They see only your name, your Chikin and your room. A parent or carer can switch coop visits off.
• On the tour, each new coop you stay in for 5 seconds pays 2 Credits, up to 6 Credits a day.
• A visitor can leave a little mess in your coop, up to 3 pieces a day. Tap it to clean it up for 2 Credits, for up to 3 cleans a day.
• Each week one coop from the tour is the coop of the week, on the Friends page. A new one is picked every Monday.

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 wave from their card or their coop, one per friend a day. You can remove a friend at any time.

From January 2027 you can join one of the CGSF Academy's four squadrons. Every game you finish helps your squadron that week, and everyone who played for the winning squadron gets 30 Credits. You can change squadron once a season. Your runs count for your squadron once you have been here a week and have 100 XP.

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

The Tell us link at the foot of every page opens a form that sends us a message about a game, a page, your account or anything else. Please do not write your real name, where you live or a phone number.

Chikin Club helps pay for the arcade. It is paid for by a player of 18 or over, or by a parent or carer from the parent corner. A pass a parent pays for covers every child they said yes for.

Members see no ads. Their Chikin wears a gold frame, a golden feather sits by their name, and on a computer the mouse pointer can be a golden feather. The Club never gives Credits 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 Credits. Chikin Club members see no ads.

Some pages have a banner space with a small tab under it. The tab says Advertisements on an advert, and From Chikinverse Arcade when it shows the arcade's own games. There are no banner spaces on game pages, sign-in, your profile, the parent corner or the legal pages.

Parents and carers open the parent corner with a link sent to their email. There they can see time played, turn friends, waves, sticker swaps, coop visits and reminders on or off, remove friends, see shared pictures, get a weekly email, pay for the Chikin Club, download their child's data or delete the account.