Tab habits for idle games: saves, hidden tabs, time

The save is an entry in one browser, so export it where you can

None of the 6 games needs an account, which means none of them keeps your progress on a server unless you log in to the host. Idle Breakout says so on its settings screen: “Save file uses local browser storage. Use Export to backup your progress”. A Dark Room writes “saved.” on screen within seconds and keeps one entry in local storage.

The hosts add a layer. Poki’s FAQ says that without a Poki account “your game progress is saved in your browser cookies”, and that cookie blockers or private browsing can stop it. CrazyGames says nothing to players that we could find. Its documentation for developers says a guest’s game data goes to local storage, and its site asks returning guests to log in to save progress.

Browser storage belongs to 1 browser on 1 device. Clearing site data, using a private window or moving to a new laptop leaves the save behind.

• Idle Breakout: Export and Import in the settings, beside a button that wipes all data.
• A Dark Room: the save. item in the bottom menu gives a text string in version 1.3.
• Leek Factory Tycoon: no export seen. Our factory was still there on return in the same browser, after a CrazyGames notice offering Continue as guest or Login now.
• Capybara Clicker: no save or export button; the settings hold 2 sound sliders.
• Kiwi Clicker and Idle Mining Empire: nothing stated in the game, so Poki’s rule for guests applies.

What a browser does to a tab you are not watching

Browsers slow the timers of hidden tabs to save battery. Chrome’s developers describe 3 levels. A visible page is barely throttled. A hidden page has its timers checked once per second. Once a page has been hidden for more than 5 minutes, chained timers are checked once per minute; that level arrived with Chrome 88 in January 2021. A page that has played sound in the last 30 seconds is exempt.

Firefox on desktop holds inactive tabs to a minimum timeout of 1 second, according to MDN. Firefox for Android is far stricter, with a minimum of 15 minutes, and may unload the tab entirely.

What this does to a game depends on how the game counts. One that adds a unit per timer tick falls behind in a hidden tab. One that reads the clock and pays for the time elapsed does not. Which method each of the 6 uses we could not read from outside. Two make a claim: the description of Leek Factory Tycoon says the restaurant earns “even when you’re offline”, and the foreman in Idle Mining Empire says managers earn “when you’re away”. For A Dark Room an earlier reading of its code found no catch-up. The other 3 say nothing.

If you want a game to keep working while you do something else, the safe arrangement is a small window of its own that stays visible on screen. A visible window is not a hidden page.

Fast clicking is paid double in Capybara Clicker

Capybara Clicker has a meter that fills while you click without pauses. When ours filled, a 2X sign appeared and Click Power read +6 where it had been +3. We had 135 capybaras, clicked 100 times and found 606 on the counter, where plain clicks would have made 435. It is the one game of the 6 in which we saw speed itself rewarded.

Time: the stop button is on your side of the screen

We saw no session timer and no reminder to take a break in any of the 6. Several things pull the other way. A Dark Room’s stoke fire button returns every 10 seconds. Leek Factory Tycoon runs seasons with a public leaderboard and showed a countdown of 4 days to the next one. Kiwi Clicker summons a king each time you level up. The limit has to come from outside the game: a kitchen timer, a phone alarm, a closed tab.

A Dark Room is the only one of the 6 with a verified ending, so it is the one you can finish. The other 5 offer resets, called ascend or prestige, that start the climb again with a bonus, or state no end at all. It is worth deciding which kind you want before you start, and the picker asks exactly that.

Adverts and video buttons on the 6 pages

All 6 games sit on pages with advert slots: 2 on each page, in the right column and under the game, and on CrazyGames a further box lower down. On the 3 Poki pages the slots were empty boxes on our screenshots; on CrazyGames most were filled. No video advert played before a game or interrupted one. Our visits lasted 1 to 5 minutes and ran from Thailand, so later adverts and the adverts served in the UK were not seen.

Three games add adverts you choose to watch. Capybara Clicker has buttons marked 2X and Free with a video triangle. Kiwi Clicker shows a Boost button, “+24 kiwis per click”, with a video icon. Leek Factory Tycoon has a button that boosts farms and factories by 1.5 for 5 minutes, marked AD. We pressed none of them. In A Dark Room, Idle Breakout and Idle Mining Empire we saw no such button.

Nothing was sold for money in any of the 6 browser games. The app editions are another matter: Capybara Clicker sells “No Ads” at £2.99 on the UK App Store, and Leek Factory Tycoon sells coin packs up to £9.99.

For parents: what the age rules and ratings cover

Start with the hosts. CrazyGames’ terms list who may not use the site, beginning with anyone “younger than thirteen (13) years old”. Poki’s website rules, in the version served to a connection in Thailand, call the site “dedicated to website visitors of 16 years and older” and add that an age restriction may depend on location. We did not read Poki’s rules from the UK, so 16 is not confirmed as the British figure. Both hosts run separate sites for younger children.

Store ratings exist for 3 of the 6, and they belong to the app editions. A Dark Room has PEGI 7 on Google Play and 13+ on the App Store, and a grim story. Capybara Clicker and Leek Factory Tycoon have PEGI 3 and 4+. Kiwi Clicker, Idle Breakout and Idle Mining Empire have no store edition linked from Poki, so no rating.

One game shows other players. Leek Factory Tycoon has a leaderboard of names and a field to set your own, and a guest is listed under an automatic name. We saw no chat in any of the 6.

Sources for this page

1. Chrome for Developers: timer throttling in Chrome 88
2. MDN: setTimeout, timeouts in inactive tabs
3. Poki: FAQ
4. Poki: website rules
5. CrazyGames: terms and conditions
6. CrazyGames documentation for developers: game data
7. The 6 game pages on this site list the sources for each game.