Public games and events

A fork with Public access can be played without an account by anyone who has its address /{your-organisation}/{fork}. It is the format designed for events (trade shows, conferences, seminars, awareness workshops), where participants scan a QR code and play on their phone.

Public or private game

A public game never takes a private game slot: on the Free plan, you can publish a public game for an event and keep your private game for your teams. The public game counter restarts on the first day of each month (UTC). Once the limit is reached, new games are refused with a neutral message ("This game is not taking new games right now") until the next month or until you move to a paid plan. Games already started end normally. See plan limits.

To make a fork public, choose Public in the Access tab (see Who can play).

The Maketools welcome screen

Before the first game of a public game, and before every catalogue demo, players see a short Maketools welcome screen: what the platform does, a QR code and the address of the maketools.ai website. The Skip button becomes available after a few seconds, with a visible countdown. The screen does not come back when the player plays again.

This screen never appears on your private games, in the editor, in the preview (Test) or in a SCORM package. It uses no cookie and no tracker: the link to the website only carries a parameter saying where the visit comes from.

Player nicknames

During the welcome screen, a player without an account can choose a nickname (optional, 2 to 24 characters): it is the name shown on the leaderboard and on the presenter screen. Without a nickname, they play anonymously. Rude or hateful nicknames are refused, as are special characters. A signed-in player has no nickname: their name follows your organisation's reporting mode (pseudonymous by default).

The nickname is not stored by the browser: it lasts for the visit of the page.

Running an event with presenter mode

Presenter mode shows on a big screen everything you need to get a room playing: the game title, a large QR code to the game, its short address, the number of players in game and of completed games, and the session leaderboard.

1. Deploy the fork and make it Public (or keep it private for an internal workshop: presenter mode follows the same access as the game).
2. Open the game, then Project (presenter mode) on its page. The address is /{your-organisation}/{fork}/present.
3. Connect the computer to the projector and click Full screen. The screen uses a dark theme and very large type, to be read from the back of the room.
4. Participants scan the QR code, choose a nickname and play. Counters and leaderboard refresh about every five seconds.
5. Between two sessions (a morning and an afternoon workshop, for example), click New session: counters and leaderboard start again from zero. Earlier games stay in your reports.

Tips:

• test the QR code with your phone from the back of the room before the audience arrives;
• keep the presenter tab visible: it pauses while the tab is hidden and resumes as soon as it is visible again;
• if the connection drops, the screen says so and retries on its own;
• a session lasts at most 24 hours; reloading the page keeps the current session.

Reports and moderation

On a public game, players can Report this game (a discreet link on the game page and after the game): they choose a reason (illegal content, scam or impersonation, hate or harassment, exposed personal data, other), add details and, if they wish, an email to be contacted.

The Maketools team reviews every report. A public game whose content breaks the terms of use can be suspended: it then accepts no new game, and players see the same neutral message as when a game is unavailable.

Before publishing, proofread your texts and images as if they were shown on a giant screen: it sometimes happens.