MANXLAB / Research

Research

We measure free browser games and publish the data, the scripts and the method, so anyone can check the work. Everything here is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.

Disclosure: we make MANXLAB, a small set of free browser games. Our own games are measured in each study by the same method and reported separately.

What a free browser game really downloads

We opened 70 free web games on seven portals, three times each, and clicked nothing. In the first minute, Armor Games pages contacted between 157 and 162 advertising and tracking companies and Coolmath Games pages between 142 and 166, taking each page’s median of three loads and counting companies as a public list names them. On itch.io, Friv and Y8 the typical page contacted one.

Measured 28 September 2026 from a US connection. Includes a reproduction kit.

Browser games that actually work offline, tested

We took 40 browser games that “offline games” articles recommend and web-app lists feature, cleared the browser’s ordinary cache, switched the network off and reloaded. 19 loaded again, two of them online multiplayer games that cannot be played offline. For 4 the page opened but the game did not, and 17 showed a browser error page.

Tested 28 September 2026 in Chrome from a US connection. A reload test: it does not show whether a game already open keeps running.

Browser games that load offline: a tested list

The games from the offline study, retested every month with the network off, each with its latest result, how many tests it has passed and a screenshot. The full history downloads as a CSV.

Started 28 September 2026; retested 14 October 2026.

Corrections and questions

Each study lists its changes and takes corrections. For anything else about this research, email [email protected].