Playground Arcade: A Directory of 800+ AI-Built Browser Games
What Playground is
Playground is a curated directory of independent browser games that were made with AI, hosted at playgroundarcade.com and built by Rich Leigh. The site lists 805 games, all playable in a browser, and links each listing back to the creator's own page rather than hosting the game itself.
The project was posted to Hacker News as a Show HN under the title "AI-built browser games, collected in one place," where it received 32 points and 2 comments.
Playground's stated purpose is discovery: "Playground brings independent browser games into one place, with a genre, creator credit, and a link to play. Games made with any AI model are welcome." Clicking Play opens the creator's site in a new tab.
The catalog is organized by genre, AI model, and device
Playground's library is filterable by genre, by the AI model used to build the game, and by device. The genre counts published on the site are:
| Genre | Games | Genre | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simulation | 204 | Puzzle | 197 |
| Strategy | 166 | Arcade | 160 |
| Action | 151 | Adventure | 115 |
| Multiplayer | 89 | Shooter | 83 |
| Survival | 77 | Exploration | 60 |
| Racing | 56 | Sports | 49 |
| Roguelike | 49 | Platformer | 45 |
| RPG | 45 | Sandbox | 32 |
| Flying | 29 | Fighting | 20 |
| Tower defence | 19 | Card games | 16 |
| Rhythm | 12 |
The model filter offers these options: GPT-6 Astra, Claude Opus 5.5, other GPT models, other Claude models, Google Gemini, Grok, and "other / multiple models." Playground states that "model labels follow creator or source attributions," so the labels reflect what submitters or sources claimed rather than independent verification.
Device tags are Computer, Phone/tablet, and Controller. The site notes that device icons show where to play and that controller badges appear only when support is confirmed. Phone/tablet is meant to indicate touch controls work, not that a game was designed for mobile.
Rankings, ratings, and reviews
Playground ranks games by play clicks. The site counts one outbound play click per browser per game per day, limited by a browser cookie. The same cookie remembers a visitor's rating so that changing a rating updates the existing vote rather than adding a new one.
Ratings and reviews publish immediately and feed into game rankings. Visitors can rate a game directly on its star display without providing an email address. Removed reviews do not count toward ratings. Contact emails collected during submission are kept private and used for moderation, replies, and duplicate checks.
Submitting a game is free and reviewed before publication
The submission form asks for a game title, creator name, a public browser play link, a creator profile, a cover image (JPG, PNG, or WebP up to 5 MB, landscape screenshot preferred), an optional source or announcement link such as a build log or repository, the AI models used, supported devices, up to three categories, a one-line description capped at 160 characters, and optional content warnings for fantasy violence, strong violence, horror, and strong language.
Submitters must confirm two statements: that they made the game or have permission to submit it and share the cover image, and that the listing and game contain no sexually explicit content, gambling for money, scams, or malicious downloads. Playground states that submitting is free and that "payment is never required for approval." Every submission is reviewed before it appears, and approved games appear immediately.
The site is supported by optional tips of £3 via Stripe. Playground also runs an "On our radar" section for projects that need a local setup; the current entry is Spiderbench, a web-swinging city project by Shikhar, where the creator shares code and local setup instructions but a public browser build is unconfirmed.
Analytics and privacy
Playground uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand visits, referral sources, and site performance. The site states that this analytics does not use tracking cookies. Messages sent through the contact form are stored privately for Rich, and FormSubmit forwards a copy to his email inbox.
What the Hacker News discussion raised
The only substantive comment on the Show HN thread came from user Lerc, who tested games carrying the Phone/tablet tag on an actual phone. The finding was that compatibility and intent are different things:
"I tried a couple of games on my phone that had the phone/tablet tag. They ran and were aware of touch, but everything I tried was not really a mobile targeted experience. I'm not sure what the correct approach is to handling that. Perhaps a recommended platform so you can find something targeting a type of experience rather than mere compatibility. Still, every one was better than YouTube games. Not a high bar, but a bar nonetheless."
The suggestion — replacing a compatibility flag with a "recommended platform" signal — points at a real gap in how directories describe device support. A game that technically responds to touch input is not the same as a game designed around a phone screen.
A second comment on the thread was flagged and contained no readable content.
Caveats stated by the site itself
Playground is explicit about its limits. Games belong to their creators, and Play opens the creator's site rather than an embedded build. Some games require a keyboard, a mouse, or a recent browser. Links can change over time, and the site states that inclusion is not a full gameplay review — listings are checked for the basics, not evaluated as games.