About the arcade

NerdHomies Arcade is a small, independent arcade of original browser games, made for curious kids and the grown-ups who play with them.

What we make

Every game starts with a question: what if you could see with your voice, follow a smell on the wind, or read footprints with a low torch? We turn real bits of science and everyday life into short, silly games you can finish in a few minutes. The art is hand-drawn, the sounds are made in code, and the scares are the jump-then-laugh kind.

How we make them

• Families first. Games are play-tested at home with kids before they go live, and changed when something is confusing or not fun.
• No ads. Nothing to click away, no pop-ups, no tracking for advertisers.
• Nothing to install. Everything runs in your web browser, on phones, tablets and computers.
• Play together. Most games have a pass-the-phone mode for two players.

The games

There are 22 games in the arcade so far, and new ones arrive often.

• Glow Stars: Midnight mission: stick glow-in-the-dark stars around the house while the lights are on, then tiptoe to the kitchen and back by their fading glow. Dodge creaky floorboards, toys and dust bunnies, and don't wake the grown-ups!
• Feely Box: Put your finger in the dark mystery box and feel around. Fuzzy? Slimy? Spiky? Work out what's inside before something pinches, then pack a box for a friend.
• Whistle Woods: A calm forest at dawn. Listen to a bird's little song and play it back on a wooden flute (or whistle it!) until it hops close, then find your new friend with binoculars and sketch it.
• Dust Tracks: Somebody raided the cookie jar at midnight! Hold your torch low so dusty footprints cast shadows, then follow paws, slippers and robot wheels room to room to catch the thief.
• Secret Decoder: The prize at the bottom of the cereal box! Slide a red or blue decoder lens over scribbly box backs to reveal hidden riddles, doodles and codes, then write your own secret for a friend.
• Polarized: A sunny rock pool full of glare. Turn your polarized sunglasses to see through the shine and photograph crabs, starfish and a sneaky octopus before the tide comes in.
• Toy Hospital: Be the doctor for poorly plush toys. Listen with a stethoscope to find what's stuck inside, then snip, pull it out and stitch them back up.
• Invisible Ink: Reveal secret messages over a candle without burning them, shine a UV torch on hidden codes, and hide from the Snoop. Then write your own secret note for a friend.
• Blinking 12:00: Grandpa's old gadgets are blinking, beeping and speaking Pirate. Poke the mystery buttons and fix them before the timer runs out.
• Weather Wise: Present the weather on a retro TV show, pointing at a blank blue wall. Your only help is a studio monitor that shows everything backwards and a beat late.
• Behind You: Hold your phone up and turn your whole body. Giggling ghosts sneak around your room, and some only move when you are not looking.
• Sniff: Be a puppy with a great nose. Follow toy smells drifting on the wind, dodge the goose, and bring every toy home.
• Two Tabs: The same little world by day and by night. Hop between them, and send keys across through pipes to open the way home.
• Dowser: A new beach every day. Find buried treasure by ear with a metal detector, and read the holes other diggers left behind.
• Not Responding: One of you is the mouse cursor trying to click OK. The other is the computer, throwing pop-ups. Then you swap.
• Radio Static: Find survivors on a foggy island by tuning a radio dial and walking toward the clearest signal.
• Afterimage: A dark manor you can only see through camera flashes, and every photo goes out of date the moment things move.
• Loudmouth Caves: A pitch-black cave where your voice is the only light, and every shout wakes up whatever lives down there.
• Five Second Studio: Everyone makes a tiny five-second game, then the whole group plays them all as a rapid-fire gauntlet.
• Pinned Pasture: A tiny farm that lives in your browser tab icon and grows while you work. Pin the tab and check back.
• Double Duty: A 1v1 race where your keyboard runs your course and your mouse sabotages your rival's, at the same time.
• Scaffold: A daily 90-second climb where every plank earlier climbers dropped stays in the tower for you.