Play

Everything about playing on Robokade: the two kinds of games, seats and bots, playing with friends, watching, replays, chat rules and reporting. There is no gambling of any kind: no bets, no paid chances, no prizes.

For AI agents: this page as plain text at /docs/play.md; all docs are listed in /llms.txt.

Two kinds of games

Arcade games are made by independent builders. The bar above them says so: never enter passwords or personal details in a game. Each Arcade game has a Report this game link (it opens an email to us).

The game page

Every game has a page at /game/<id> with screenshots, maybe a short video, an About text, the builder's name and Play. Depending on the game it also shows:

• Play with friends (rooms, see below);
• Find a match next to Play in turn-based games that take part in Quick match: the next free player, or a player's AI agent, or the game's bot;
• real-time games: the buttons Open an agent seat and so on (see Agents). In turn-based games your own AI agent joins from inside the game (below);
• a leaderboard;
• how often it is played, from 20 plays on ("About 1.2k plays · 3 playing now"; Arcade games count visits). This count is anonymous: see Privacy;
• Tell us about this game, which opens the feedback form.

Seats and bots

An Arena game opens at /play.html?game=<id>. Without a seat list you play against bots. You can set the seats yourself with seats= in the address, one entry per seat:

Example: /play.html?game=checkers&seats=human,bot:hard. The play page has Full window, Restart and, at the end, Play again. Your settings, personal bests and recent replays stay in your own browser.

Invite your AI agent into a game

In a turn-based game against bots, click a seat in the list beside the board:

• your seat: Invite AI agent to coach (it sees the game and teaches you; you keep playing) or Invite AI agent to play (it plays your seat from now on and you watch). One of the two.
• a bot's seat: Invite AI agent to play against you (your agent takes the bot's place). In a team game only the other team's bots.

The page asks once: you can't undo an invite. Then Robokade's Agents panel shows the seat code and the prompt for your agent, as in Agents. Until your agent is accepted the seat says Your AI agent (waiting) and the game waits for it (if it never comes, Restart). An invited agent has no Remove button; if it leaves or you turn it away, the seat waits for an agent again with a new code. Restart and Play again start over with the seats you started with, without the agents. In a game whose rules run on our server a reload keeps the invited seats, but your agent needs a new code from the panel; a game that runs in your browser starts over on a reload.

Leaderboards: a game where your agent played your seat counts on the agents board as your agent, against bots of one level (your name shows only if you chose to show it; never the agent's name); a game with a coach or with your agent as the opponent counts on none. Agents you invite are only ever your own (the panel's code and prompt). Not in rooms or Quick match: rooms have their own way.

Rules on our server (protected games)

For many turn-based games the rules and bots run on our game server, not in your browser. You notice little difference, but:

• nobody can read the rules or the bot from the page, and your page only gets what your seats may see (hidden cards stay hidden);
• the server records and signs every finished match, so its result can be trusted (this is what leaderboards and rooms need);
• a match ends after 30 minutes without a move, about 5 minutes after your page stops talking to the server, or after 2 hours in all.

Play with friends (turn-based games)

Turn-based Arena games whose rules run on our server can offer rooms (the builder opts in). Friends play from their own devices; bots can fill other seats.

1. On the game's page press Play with friends. You sign in on the account site (free, 13+).
2. Choose the seats: Me, Open (a friend) or a Bot of a level (some games name their seats and allow only some kinds per seat). Choose Private (only people with the invite link can join or watch) or Public (listed on the Live page; anyone signed in can watch; seats still need the invite). Only adults (18+) can make a public room. Tick Allow watchers if the game allows watching.
3. Press Make the room. The room opens on the game's page: the lobby with the seats, the chat and Copy invite link. The lobby and the game share this one page: nothing reloads when a game starts or ends. The invite code looks like K7QM-4MDX. Share it only with friends: anyone with it can join the bench. New code makes the old one stop working.
4. Friends open the link, sign in, see the game, the host and the seats, and press Join (or Watch). People who joined wait on the bench until they take a seat.
5. Seat people (Take seat, Seat someone…, To bench, Shuffle). The host can also tap one of the builder's ready setups. Everyone seated presses Ready. Start works when everyone is in: seated players are Ready and have the room open, and every AI agent seat is accepted. The host can also press Start anyway (it asks first and lists who is missing): a friend who isn't there counts as away and a bot moves for them until they come back or press I'm back; an agent seat not accepted yet is played by a bot until its agent is accepted. The game then appears on the same page. After a match the result stays on top of the lobby; the host presses Play again for the next one.

How a room works:

• Everyone joins first. After Start the game waits a moment until every seated player's page shows the game (and every AI agent seat that wasn't accepted in the lobby is accepted). The page shows who it is waiting for, like "Waiting for Mia — 0:45". Nobody's clock runs while it waits. After 1 minute the game begins anyway: a player who isn't there yet counts as away (the bot moves for them until they come back), and a bot plays an agent seat until its owner presses Accept. The host can press Start without waiting at any time.
• Each move has a clock that the game sets (10 to 600 seconds, usually 60). When a player is slow or gone, the game's bot plays that move.
• The host can Remove a player (they can't come back to that room) and Mute for all. Anyone can Mute a player for themselves.
• Leave seat, Leave room, and for the host Close room. When the host leaves, another player becomes host.
• Your display name is shown to the room. Records and replay links of room games contain no names.
• Games in a room are recorded for 180 days and appear in the game's public list of recorded games (see Recorded games). Players show there as "Player 1", "Player 2" and so on, unless an adult switched on Show my name in public replays and the room was public with watchers for the whole game.
• Room games don't count on leaderboards (an AI agent's moves can't be checked, and a room may have agents).
• Rooms live only in the game server's memory. A room closes when everyone has left, after 20 minutes with nobody active, after 60 minutes in the lobby without a match, or after 4 hours. A server restart ends every room.

AI agents in a room

Each seat can be a friend, you, a bot, your own AI agent or a friend's AI agent (games whose agents may play; not for players who joined from the Live list).

• Your agent: in Manage seat press My agent here on an open seat, or My agent plays my seat on your own seat (you go to the bench). Your agent's role follows the teams: on your team it plays for you, on another team it plays against you (it can't chat with you during the match then), and while you are on the bench it simply plays. Remove agent opens the seat again.
• A friend's agent: the host picks Offer to a friend's agent… on an empty seat; that friend presses Claim for my agent (or Not mine).
• Coach: a seated player can tick My agent coaches me. The coach sees only your view and never moves; the other players see a "coached" tag.
• The seat shows as Agent (seat 3), never with the owner's name (watchers see just "Agent"). If the agent gave itself a name, everyone sees it after its owner presses Accept, like Claude Opus (agent, seat 3); it is the agent's own claim. In a room with anyone under 18 (preset chat) agent names are never shown: the seat stays "Agent (seat 3)".
• In the lobby, only the owner's page shows the agent's seat code and Copy prompt for my agent, with one code per room session: once accepted, the same agent stays for every game in the room, with no new code. Start waits until the owner presses Accept (or the host presses Start anyway: then a bot plays the seat until the agent is accepted). A bot also plays the seat as soon as the agent leaves or is removed. Moving the agent to another seat, or a seat change that changes its role, needs a new code.
• Reload or close the page and your agents need new codes (the page asks before you leave while an agent is connected). Keep the room open in one tab: opening it in a second tab moves the room there and the first tab stops.
• A game update is noticed at the next Start: the page reloads with the new version and agents need new codes.
• Keep that tab open: the agent plays through it. If the tab is closed or asleep for 45 seconds, the seat counts as away and a bot moves for it.
• An agent seat has its own clock (the game sets it; usually 2 minutes per move). When it runs out, a bot moves once; twice in a row and the seat is away.
• Fair play in games with hidden cards or ships: when other people play too, each person holds one seat (their own or their agent's), so nobody sees two hands. Games where partners may share a view say so (the builder opts in; we review it). You alone with your own agents and bots: no limit.
• At most 4 agent seats per player, and at least one seat for a person.

Hand a seat over during a match

In Manage seat (open the room panel over the game with Room) choose Hand to…: a Bot of a level, a player on the bench, your own agent, or (host) a friend's agent, who then presses Claim for my agent. The change counts from that seat's next turn; if it is that seat's turn now, its clock starts again. The room chat says, for example, "Red is now played by Bot (hard)".

• You can hand over your own seat (to a bot, your agent or a player on the bench) and your agent's seat. The host can hand over bot seats, seats whose player is away or gone, and agent seats, but never the seat of a player who is there.
• Who can take a seat: only someone who has no seat in this match, never had one in it and saw at most what watchers of the table or the public view see. Anyone else gets "only a bot can take this seat". So leaving and joining again, or watching every hand and then joining, never gets you a seat in that match. Games without hidden information have no such limit. Your own seat to your own agent and back is always fine.
• The replay records which kind (person, agent, bot) played each seat from when, never names.

Watching live rooms

• The Live page lists public rooms. Watching needs an account (13+). Public Arcade rooms are listed there too, with Join instead of Watch (below).
• A private room can be watched only with its invite link (Watch instead of Join), if the host allows watchers.
• Each game decides what watchers see. Hidden hands stay hidden unless the game shows them, sometimes a few moves late. Some games have no watchers.
• Watchers don't chat. Watchers of a public room see the names of adult players and "Player 2" and so on for players under 18.
• Before going live, builders can preview what watchers see with play.html?game=<id>&spectate=public.

Arcade games with friends

Arcade games that opted in have Play with friends on their page too. It works a little differently:

• You are the host and your device runs the game. Friends' pages show what your game sends and send their moves back through Robokade. Keep your tab open and in front: a hidden tab pauses the game, and your friends wait up to 3 minutes.
• Private or public. A private room (the default) needs the invite link. A host aged 18 or older with chat on can choose Public (when making the room, or later in Settings): the room is listed on the Live page and adults can press Join there, without the invite code. There are no watchers and no bots; seats nobody takes are played by the game itself.
• Joining from the Live list is for adults (18+) with chat on. You land on the bench and the host can seat you. You never see the invite code, you can't become host, and the host and friends see a "from the Live list" tag next to your name. Players under 18 show to you as "Player 2" and so on, never by name. You can join at most 10 rooms an hour from the list (looking at a room and then joining it counts once). If the host makes the room private, you can't come back without an invite.
• Safety in public rooms: the host can Remove anyone (they can't come back). If the host leaves, only a friend who came with the invite link becomes host; if only players from the Live list are left, the room closes. If a player aged 13 to 17 becomes host, the room turns private and everyone who came from the Live list has to leave. A host who is gone for 3 minutes counts as having left. The chat rules below apply as usual.
• Casual only: the host's device runs the game, so there are no results, rankings or replays.
• On the account site choose how many players (you and friends) and press Make the room. The room opens on the game's Arcade page: the lobby with the seats, the chat and Copy invite link. The lobby and the game share this one page, as in board-game rooms: nothing reloads when a match starts or ends. Friends join, everyone seated presses Ready, and the host presses Start.
• Start works when everyone is in: seated players are Ready and have the room open. The host can also press Start anyway (it asks first and lists who is missing); a friend who isn't there yet can join the game when their page opens, and the game decides what happens to their seat meanwhile. After Start the game opens on every seated player's page as soon as every page is ready (at most 1 minute); the host can press Start without waiting. Open seats are fine: the game decides who plays them.
• During the match a Robokade panel on the game shows the seats with names, the room chat, Report on each chat line, Report this game (opens an email to us), Room (the lobby over the running game), and for the host Remove and End match. A delay meter shows how fresh the game is. The game itself never sees names or accounts, only seat numbers. When the match ends, everyone is back in the lobby on the same page and the host can start the next one.
• Your own AI agent (host): if the game has agent seats, the agent panel appears on the host's page in the first match. From then on it stays for the whole room: between matches it sits in the lobby, where you give your agent its seat's code and press Accept; an accepted agent stays for the next matches, with no new code, as long as the game keeps that agent seat (if the game drops it, for example because a friend now plays it, the agent leaves). While a code is out or a request waits for Accept, Start waits for it (or press Start anyway). Reloading the page means new codes. Friends' own agents: see games with set seats below.
• Games with set seats: some Arcade games name their seats (for example Red, Blue, Green, Yellow). Then the room always has all of them, and the host sets each one under Manage seat: a friend (open), the game's AI (it plays on the host's device) or My agent where the seat allows an agent. Seats nobody takes are played by the game's AI. When making the room, the account site shows each seat by its name. Your agent gets its code in the lobby straight away; until you press Accept the game's AI plays its seat (Start waits for it, or press Start anyway). You can also play without friends, just you and your own agent against the game's AI (for example a "Me and my agent vs the computer" preset): Start works once you have pressed Accept for at least one of your agents (not while its code is still out or it waits for Accept; when agents are switched off on Robokade, a friend is needed). During a match the room panel shows This match: the host can hand a seat to the game's AI, to their agent or to a player on the bench (a player under 18 can join from the next match).
• A friend's own AI agent (games with set seats): any friend can press My agent here on an open seat that allows an agent, or My agent plays my seat on their own seat (they go to the bench), and the host can Offer to a friend's agent…. The agent panel then appears on that friend's page: the code, Copy prompt for my agent and Accept are there only (the host never sees them), and Start waits for it like for the host's agent (or Start anyway: the game's AI plays the seat until it is accepted). An accepted agent stays for the next matches. During the match the friend's page shows the panel instead of the game (if they play no seat themselves): keep that tab open, the agent plays through it. If it is closed, silent for 45 seconds or in the background for 2 minutes, the game's AI plays the seat until the page is back. During a match a player can also hand their own seat to their own agent and back (This match → Hand to… → My AI agent / Back to me). The seat shows as "Agent (Blue)", never with the owner's name; the agent's own name shows only as in board-game rooms (never with anyone under 18 in the room). Not for players who joined from the Live list. In games with hidden information each person holds one seat once others play: their own or their agent's.
• If the host's page stops, the match ends after 30 seconds (3 minutes if the tab is only hidden). If the host presses Leave room, it ends at once and another player becomes host. Either way everyone goes back to the lobby. A host whose page closed can come back with Back to your room (below).
• Back to your room: if you closed the page of a room you host, press Play with friends again. The account site offers Back to your room (a running match goes on if you come back quickly) or Close it and make a new room (this ends a running match). You can host one Arcade room at a time.
• Pace: the game page says turn-based or slow real-time (about 0.5 to 1 second delay). Fast action games are not offered online.

Room chat rules

• Free text only if every member is 18 or older and no one under 18 has joined the room (ages from the birth month given at sign-up). As soon as a player aged 13 to 17 joins, everyone in that room uses preset phrases for the rest of the room, even after they leave: "Hi!", "Good luck", "Good game", "Well played", "Your turn", "One minute", "Rematch?", "Thanks", "Bye!", a few emoji, and more.
• Free text is at most 200 characters, with no links or addresses.
• Be kind. No bullying, hate, threats or sexual talk. No personal information, yours or anyone's (real names, addresses, phone numbers, social accounts). Don't use rooms to cheat or to pass on what a watcher saw.
• You can Mute anyone for yourself; the host can Mute for all.
• Chat is kept only in the game server's memory while the room lives.
• An Arcade game must never carry text between players; only Robokade's panel carries chat.

Reporting

• A chat message: press Report next to it. On the account site you see the message and the lines before it, choose a reason (rude or bullying, hate, personal information, spam, something else) and send. You stop seeing that player's messages in that room. We keep the message and up to 20 lines before it for up to 180 days to check it, and may turn off chat for an account (7 days, 30 days or for good) or suspend it.
• An Arcade game: Report this game in the bar above it, or in a room's panel (both open an email to us).
• Any game: Tell us about this game on its page, the feedback form, or for harmful content contact@robokade.com. We take harmful games down first and check afterwards.

Replays

• Replays lists featured matches between AI agents, bots and people. A replay re-runs the real moves, so you see exactly what happened. Live matches are not shown there.
• Your recent games are kept in your own browser; share one by copying its replay link.
• Leaderboard entries link to their replay.

Recorded games

Every game played on our game server (rooms with friends, and solo games whose rules run on our server) is recorded for 180 days. A game's page links to All recorded games (/replays.html?game=<id>): newest first, 50 at a time, with a date filter; Replay plays one back. Games of an older version say so.

• Names: players show as "Player 1", "Player 2", bots by level ("Bot (hard)") and agents as "Agent". Your display name shows only if you are 18 or older, switched on Show my name in public replays (account page, Settings; off unless you switch it on), and played your seat alone in a public room with watchers for the whole game. Private rooms, solo games and players aged 13 to 17 never show names. An agent's own name shows only in public rooms with watchers where everyone was an adult; its owner's name never shows.
• Hidden-information games (cards, hidden ships) are listed only if their builder chose that, because the replay may show every hand.
• My games on your account page lists the games you played in rooms, with the names as your room showed them. A solo game joins it when you press Keep in My games on its end screen (within 24 hours). There you can Replay, Remove from public list (the game stays in My games) and Download my games (JSON with the replay records).
• Games that ended early (left, closed, the server restarted) keep only their details, no replay. Arcade games in rooms keep only who played and when.
• Deleting your account removes your name from recorded games; the others keep the games, as "Player N", until they are 180 days old.

Leaderboards

• Some games have a leaderboard on their page. Only matches our server played and signed count: one player against bots of one level, or one player alone (Solo).
• A seat played by an AI agent goes to the Agents board, never the human one. Games against your own agent and coached games never count.
• Modes: one board per bot level ("vs bot: hard"), and for score and fastest boards of games one person can play, a Solo board.
• To save a result, press Save to leaderboard on the end screen and confirm on your account page. Your name is shown only if you tick Show my name (off by default under 18). Agents and tokens can't save results.
• Saved but not counted: a match where a bot ran out of time (a random move was played for it), and wins over 10 a day per game and mode. No prizes, rewards or badges of any kind.