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Game Licensing & Embed Policy

Last updated: July 2025

1. Overview

CalcBot is a discovery layer for browser games. We help players find games that are already freely available on the web, and we present those games in a clean, fast, mobile-friendly environment with original editorial content — descriptions, controls, troubleshooting tips, FAQs, and content notes — written by our team.

The games themselves are embedded via <iframe> from their original publishers. We do not host game files on our servers. We do not copy game files to our CDN. We do not proxy, cache, or modify game traffic. When a visitor plays a game on CalcBot, their browser makes a direct connection to the publisher's infrastructure — we are not in the data path.

This model has clear legal and ethical benefits: the publisher keeps full control of their game, traffic and (if any) ad impressions go to the publisher's infrastructure, and when the publisher updates or removes the game, the embedded version updates or disappears automatically. The trade-off is that we depend on the publisher's continued willingness to allow embedding, and we have to be thoughtful about which games we list.

2. How We Select Games

Before a third-party game is added to CalcBot, it must pass all four of these checks:

1. Free. The game must be freely playable on the web. We do not embed games that require a paid subscription, a one-time purchase, or a login wall.
2. Embeddable. The publisher must allow iframe embedding — i.e., the game's HTTP response must not include X-Frame-Options: DENY or a Content-Security-Policy frame-ancestors directive that blocks third-party embedding. We test this by attempting to embed the game in a sandbox page before adding it to the catalog.
3. Reliable. The game must load reliably — every time, on a normal residential connection, within 8 seconds. Games that flake in and out are not added.
4. No exotic plugins. The game must run on standard browser technology (HTML5, JavaScript, WebGL, WebAssembly). We do not embed games that require Flash, Java, Unity Web Player, or any other deprecated or non-standard plugin.

Games that pass all four checks are then assigned an IP risk classification (Section 5) before being added to the catalog.

3. What "Official Embed" Means

When we say a game is embedded "from the official source", we mean:

• The src attribute of the <iframe> points to a URL on the publisher's own domain (or a CDN the publisher controls).
• The game runs on the publisher's infrastructure — the same version a visitor would see if they navigated to the publisher's site directly.
• We do not proxy the request through our servers, cache the game files, or modify the response in any way.
• If the publisher updates the game, the embedded version updates automatically. If the publisher takes the game offline, the embedded version disappears.

This is the same embedding model used by major game-aggregator sites. It is the most publisher-respectful model available: the publisher retains full technical and editorial control of their game at all times.

4. Sourcing

Games on CalcBot are sourced from:

• Public GitHub Pages repositories — many open-source game developers publish their games via GitHub Pages. These repos typically include an open-source license (MIT, Apache 2.0, CC0, etc.) that explicitly permits embedding and reuse.
• Public game CDNs — publishers who host their games on their own domains and permit third-party embedding.

Each game page's "Game Details" table includes a Source field that credits the origin — typically the publisher's domain or the GitHub repository URL. Visitors can click through to verify provenance and review the publisher's own licensing terms.

If a source is unknown or contested, the game is not added. If a source becomes unknown after the fact (e.g., the publisher's repo is deleted and we can no longer verify origin), the game is removed.

5. IP Risk Assessment

Every game on CalcBot is classified into one of four IP risk categories:

Category	Risk	Description
Original	Low	Self-made by CalcBot. No third-party IP. Fully owned code, art, and audio. These are the primary indexable games for AdSense.
Licensed	Low	Publisher grants explicit embed permission (open-source license, public statement, or direct agreement). Credited on the game page.
Public Domain	Low	Game is in the public domain or released under CC0. No copyright restrictions apply.
Third-Party Embed	Medium	Publisher has not explicitly granted permission, but the game is publicly embeddable (no X-Frame-Options block) and freely available. Credited on the game page. Subject to DMCA takedown.
High-Risk Trademark	High	Game reproduces a well-known trademark (Mario, Pac-Man, Doom, FNAF, Among Us, Sonic, Pokémon, etc.). Page is accessible but marked noindex and excluded from sitemap during AdSense review.

During AdSense re-moderation (current state, July 2025): all high-risk trademark games are excluded from the sitemap and marked noindex. The pages remain accessible by direct URL so existing links don't break, but they are not surfaced in search engines or in CalcBot's own category, "All Games", or homepage listings. This list includes (but is not limited to): Moto X3M Winter, Cluster Rush, Snow Rider 3D, Eggy Car, Doom 1, Deepest Sword, Happy Wheels, Temple Run 2, Jetpack Joyride, Pac-Man, The Impossible Quiz, and Crazy Cars.

6. Self-Made Games

CalcBot creates original games in-house. As of July 2025, we have 22 self-made games, including:

• Math Quiz, Snake Classic, Maze Runner, Color Match, Memory Pairs
• Bubble Pop, Word Scramble, Tile Flip, Reaction Test, Math Rush
• Block Stacker, Click Speed, Typing Speed, and others

These games are 100% first-party IP: the code, art, audio, and game mechanics are all original to CalcBot. There are no copyright concerns, no licensing dependencies, and no third-party permissions required. They are the primary indexable content for AdSense and the safest games on the site.

Self-made games are rendered as React components inside the CalcBot page itself — not as iframes. They have no external runtime dependencies beyond React, are tested on every deploy via the build pipeline, and can be fixed in-source when issues arise. For more on the testing side, see our Game Testing Policy.

7. DMCA & Takedown

For the formal legal process around copyright takedown notices, see our DMCA / Copyright Policy. The short version: if you believe your copyrighted work is accessible through CalcBot without authorization, email a DMCA notice to contact@calcbot.net with the six elements required under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3). We respond to valid notices within 48–72 hours.

In practice, because we embed (rather than host), the most effective takedown is usually to disable embedding on your own CDN — set X-Frame-Options: DENY or a restrictive CSP frame-ancestors directive, and the game will stop loading on CalcBot automatically within hours. But we will also honor a direct request to remove the embedding page, no technical changes required on your end.

8. For Rights Holders

If you are a game developer or publisher and you find your game on CalcBot, we want to hear from you. We will honor any of the following requests, at your option:

• Removal. We remove the embedding page, return 410 Gone (or redirect to a related game), and exclude the URL from the sitemap. No questions asked.
• Credit change. If the "Source" field on the game page is missing, wrong, or you'd like it changed (different URL, different studio name, different attribution format), we'll update it within 48 hours.
• Official embed partnership. If you'd like to formalize the relationship — for example, to be listed as a "Featured Publisher", to receive traffic reports, or to coordinate on game launches — email us and we'll set it up.

For any of the above, email contact@calcbot.net with:

• Your name and your relationship to the game (developer, publisher, authorized agent, etc.).
• The game's title and its URL on CalcBot (e.g., /play/your-game).
• Proof of ownership (a link to your website, your GitHub repo, your publisher's CDN, or any other verifiable proof).
• What you'd like us to do (remove, re-credit, partner).

We treat all such requests confidentially and respond within 48–72 hours.

9. Monetization

CalcBot is funded by advertising. However, our ad placement is deliberately conservative and AdSense-policy compliant:

• Ads appear only on CalcBot's own editorial pages — the homepage, category pages, the "All Games" page, and the legal/about pages you're reading now.
• Game pages (/play/*) have ZERO ad units. This is a deliberate AdSense-policy compliance decision (P0-001): we do not monetize third-party game content directly. The only monetization on a game page is the editorial content we wrote ourselves (description, controls, troubleshooting, FAQ), not the embedded game.
• During AdSense re-moderation (current state, July 2025): all ads are disabled site-wide. No ad units render on any page until re-moderation completes successfully.
• We do not insert ads into embedded games. Any ads the visitor sees inside the game iframe are served by the publisher's own ad infrastructure, not by CalcBot. If you see an inappropriate ad inside an embedded game, please report it (see Reporting a Broken Game) and we will evaluate whether to keep the game in the catalog.

10. Contact

Questions, removal requests, credit changes, or partnership inquiries — all welcome:

For related policies, see our Editorial Policy, Game Testing Policy, and DMCA / Copyright Policy.