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Game Testing Policy

Last updated: July 2025

Quick summary: iframe games break. Publishers update their CDN, change URLs, add paywalls, or break mobile compatibility — and the only way to catch it before our users do is to actually load the game and play it. This page documents our testing devices, what we check, how often we check it, and what we do when a game is broken. Short version: featured games are re-tested monthly, long-tail games quarterly, user-reported breakages within 48 hours, and unfixable games are removed within 14 days.

On this page

1. Why We Test

CalcBot embeds games via <iframe> from third-party publishers. This is the right architecture — it keeps the publisher in control of their game, lets them push updates automatically, and means we never host or redistribute game files. But it also means the game's reliability is out of our hands.

Publishers do all sorts of things that break iframe embeds without warning:

Our testing process catches these issues before they reach our visitors. When we find a broken game, we either fix the embed, mark the page noindex until the publisher fixes it, or remove the page entirely. See Section 7 for the removal process.

2. Testing Devices

Every game on CalcBot is tested on the following devices and browsers before publication, and re-tested on the same set during each review cycle:

Where a game is known to work only on a subset of these (e.g., keyboard-only games that don't support touch), that limitation is documented on the game page in the "Compatibility" section of the Game Details table.

3. What We Check

During each test pass, the editor works through the following checklist:

  1. Does the iframe load within 8 seconds? On a normal residential connection. If it spins longer, the embed may be broken or the publisher's CDN may be slow.
  2. Do controls work? Keyboard on desktop, touch on mobile. The editor actually plays the game for at least 60 seconds to confirm — not just loads the title screen.
  3. Does fullscreen work? The fullscreen button is part of every CalcBot game page. It should enter and exit cleanly on all tested devices.
  4. Are there console errors? The editor opens DevTools and notes any red errors in the console. (Yellow warnings are tolerated; red errors that block gameplay are not.)
  5. Does the game save progress? If the game has any form of progression (levels, score, unlocks), the editor reloads the page to confirm the save persists. LocalStorage or IndexedDB saves are expected to survive a reload.
  6. Are there inappropriate ads inside the game? Some publishers inject their own ads into the iframe. Pre-roll video ads are tolerated; pop-ups, redirects, adult ads, or scam ads are not. If we see any of the latter, the game is removed from the catalog.

4. Testing Frequency

Not every game gets the same attention. We prioritize by traffic and risk:

The "Last tested" date on each game page reflects the most recent test pass. If you see a date that's more than three months old on a long-tail game, that's expected — but if the game is actually broken, please report it and we'll bump it to the front of the queue.

5. Status Categories

After a test pass, each game is assigned one of three statuses:

Working

Loads within 8 seconds and plays correctly on all supported devices. Controls, audio, and fullscreen all functional.

Partial

Loads and is playable, but has minor issues — e.g., mobile touch controls missing on a desktop-only game, audio glitchy, or fullscreen misbehaving on one browser. The limitation is documented on the page; the page stays indexed.

Broken

Does not load at all, or loads but is unplayable (e.g., controls don't respond, the game crashes on launch, or it redirects to a paywall). Broken games are removed from the sitemap and marked noindex until fixed or removed entirely.

Pages marked noindex are not returned in search engines but remain accessible by direct URL — this lets us restore them quickly once the publisher fixes the underlying issue without having to rebuild the page from scratch.

6. Reporting a Broken Game

Every game page on CalcBot has a "Report Broken Game" form (in the troubleshooting section). When you submit a report, it enters our moderation queue and is reviewed within 48 hours. To make the report useful, please include:

You can also email contact@calcbot.net with the same information if you prefer. Either way, we'll confirm receipt and follow up once the issue has been investigated.

7. Removal Process

If a game cannot be fixed within 14 days of being marked Broken, it is removed from the CalcBot catalog. The removed URL does one of the following:

Removed games are also removed from the HTML sitemap, the /sitemap.xml file, the category pages, and the "All Games" page. The game data is retained in our internal database (with a removed flag) so we can restore it quickly if the publisher fixes the issue and asks us to re-list it.

8. Self-Made Games

CalcBot also produces original games in-house. As of July 2025, there are 22 self-made games — Snake Classic, Maze Runner, Color Match, Bubble Pop, Word Scramble, Tile Flip, Reaction Test, Math Rush, Block Stacker, Click Speed, Typing Speed, Memory Pairs, and others.

Unlike embedded third-party games, our self-made games are not iframes — they are React components rendered directly inside the CalcBot page. This means:

For more on the legal status of self-made games (which are 100% first-party IP with no copyright concerns), see our Game Licensing & Embed Policy.

9. Contact

Questions about this Game Testing Policy, or a broken game to report?

Email: contact@calcbot.net

Web form: Use the "Report Broken Game" form on any /play/* page

Response time: 48 hours for broken-game reports, 48–72 hours for policy questions

For related policies, see our Editorial Policy and Game Licensing & Embed Policy.