Method

How a game gets a page on Lobby Meadow

On CrazyGames and Poki 9 games were opened on 10 November 2026: 5 passed all 4 checks and are listed, 2 passed and wait in reserve, 2 failed. A tenth, Yacht, was opened on 11 November and took the place of Board Game Arena. This page lists the checks, the sources that count and the wording used when something is not known.

Illustration: a notebook with a ticked checklist, a magnifying glass on the side of a game box and a laptop showing a board with pawns. — Illustration drawn for Lobby Meadow. Not a screenshot or official game artwork.

The four checks

1. It opens and takes a move. The page must load in a desktop browser and the game must start without an installer. On CrazyGames and Poki each listed game was then given 1 to 3 moves as a guest, and its page prints them.2. The money is read. Every menu reached is searched for a shop, coins or a price, and the host's purchases flag is noted. The advert slots on the host's page are counted. Where an app edition exists, as for Master Chess on Google Play, its listing is quoted on adverts and purchases.3. No casino mechanics. Games with paid random items, bets in any currency or prize wheels are excluded. So are games that their own terms restrict to people over 18.4. The age rule is quoted. The host's terms are searched for an age, and the rule is quoted with its source: 13 on CrazyGames, 16 in the Poki rules served outside the UK. An app-store rating is added when the game has a store edition.

Which candidates failed and which wait in reserve

English Checkers Free on CrazyGames failed the third check: its online matches carry a bet in gold. Domino on Poki failed it too, because its shop sells a random item for 45 coins.

Battleship War and Rummy, both on Poki, passed every check and were not listed. They come from the studio that already has two games on the list, and both play against computer players only.

Board Game Arena was on the list until 11 November 2026. It was replaced by Yacht so that every game link goes to CrazyGames or Poki; the table note on the sixth place explains the choice.

The quotations behind each decision are in the table note on the games left out.

Which sources count

A fact counts when it comes from the game's own screen, the host's page for the game, the host's terms or FAQ, or an app-store listing. Each game page ends with the list of pages read.

Dates, vote counts and flags such as “no in-game purchases” are read from the data the host publishes with each game page. They are the host's statements. Lobby Meadow has no way to audit a vote count, or the 678 players that Ludo Hero's counter showed.

A host's description can lag behind the game. CrazyGames says the computer in Master Chess has “three difficulty settings”; the game showed 4. Where the two disagree, the page says so.

Where the check was made

Every page was opened in a desktop browser from a connection in Thailand. Two things depend on the visitor's country and were therefore not seen as a British reader would see them: the adverts, and the age wording in Poki's rules.

What “est.” and “not verified” mean

“Est.” marks an estimate by Lobby Meadow where nobody publishes a figure. It appears on the length of a game of Yacht, Ludo Hero, Mancala Classic, Four in a Row and Hearts: Classic. The estimates rest on the size of the game, such as the 42 slots in the grid of Four in a Row, and not on a stopwatch.

“Not verified” marks a question that was asked and not answered: whether a friend can enter a Master Chess room through its invite link as a guest, what the Online Mode of Ludo Hero shows to strangers, whether a friend can join a Yacht match by its number.

No game receives a score from Lobby Meadow. The ratings in the facts tables are the hosts' public figures, printed with their vote counts.

When a page is read again

The date at the top of the home page is the date of the last full check. When a reader reports a change with a link to the host's page, the game's page is corrected and given a new date. The address is [email protected].