5
Rosie
Pickleball. Fastest dinker on the block.
Custom games for kids
We build browser games that star a real kid, a real team or a real class. Their look, their number, their sport, their rules, their dog. Every project starts from games that already work, so your budget goes into the parts that make it theirs.
We reply within one business day. Every quote starts with a free 20-minute call.
23
Sam
Soccer. Takes every throw-in.
14
Jada
Floor hockey. Never in the crease.
Why we build games for kids
Paper Kid Games started at home. Everything we believe about kids and games, we learned building for one kid first.
A rule makes sense once you have played it
Ask a six-year-old where to stand on a goal kick and you'll get a shrug. Put them in a game that stops, shows them the spot, waits until they get there and lets them take it, and the answer sticks. That's what Learn mode in Soccer Kids does, through thirteen lessons and a coach who never talks over them.
Kids care about what is theirs
A kid will play a game about somebody else for a while. A game where they're the player, in their number and their colors, with their dog on the sideline, is a different thing. It's the reason every game we build starts with the kid who will play it.
Screen time should give something back
Our games have no ads, nothing to buy and nobody to chat with. What they have is the sport your kid plays on Saturday, played by the real rules, and sometimes a reason for a grandparent to sit down and play pickleball with them.
Kids are the best testers there are
They tell you exactly what is wrong. Restarts take too long. The puck is hard to see. Medium plays like Hard. Every one of those notes changed a game, and the same loop runs on every project we take on.
Their world, kept safe
Everything in the game is drawn, never photographed. Real places only appear if you want them, and are only named if you say so. Kids never make an account or type in an email.
What each of our games is for
Every game we make has a job beyond being fun. These are the jobs our current games do, and what a custom one can do for your kid.
Soccer Kids Soccer Kids is the game we would hand a six-year-old the week before their first season. It plays like the small-sided games young kids play in a lot of rec leagues, four a side with little goals and no goalies, and it runs on the tablet that's already in the house. Hockey Kids Hockey Kids is gym-class floor hockey: no skates, no goalie, just a stick, a puck and the blacktop at the park. It's fast, it's loud, and it teaches the one rule every floor hockey kid learns the hard way, which is that you stay out of the crease. Pickle Kids Pickleball is a sport kids can play with their parents and grandparents, and almost everybody finds the scoring confusing the first time. Pickle Kids teaches the rules by playing them: the serve rotation, the kitchen and the two-bounce rule, with the score called out the way players say it. Ziggy & Pam Sports Arena Every kid with a dog has wondered who would win. The Sports Arena puts the two of them on the same field and lets the kid find out, and Pam is no pushover.
Who we build for
Families
A Player Edition for a birthday, a game that stars every sibling, or a whole arcade like Ziggy Games.
Teams and leagues
A game in your format and colors that teaches your rules, for every family on the roster.
Schools and camps
A sport a PE class is starting, or a camp's teams and colors, in a game kids can play at home.
Organizations
Kids' programs, clinics, facilities and brands that want a game kids will actually play, with no ads in it.
For schools, camps and leagues
What program directors ask before they share a game with every family.
- No accounts, no student data
- Players never sign in or type personal information, and our games don't collect student records.
- Chromebooks and iPads
- Everything runs in the browser on the devices schools and families already have.
- One link for everyone
- Share it with every family on the roster or every student in class. Nothing to install.
- Invoiced to your program
- We invoice the school, league or booster club directly, with a fixed quote first.
What we can make theirs
A sample of what goes into a custom game. Ziggy Games has nearly all of it.
- Their look
- Hair, skin, glasses, freckles, headbands and favorite cleats
- Name and number
- On the jersey, the title card and the scoreboard
- Team and colors
- Their real team colors, or their favorite
- Friends and siblings
- On the roster as teammates or rivals
- The family pet
- As a sidekick, a fan on the sideline or an opponent
- Places they know
- A field, a school campus or a street, from public map data
- Their rules
- The format and rules their league really plays
- Voices
- An announcer who calls their name, and a coach who teaches
- Inside jokes
- Favorite teams' colors, secret codes and easter eggs
- Their own art
- Drawings they make, framed on the walls of the game
Packages
Three starting points. Every project gets a fixed quote after a free 20-minute call, and it only changes if you change what you're asking for.
Player Edition
Your kid in one of our sports games.
- Your kid drawn as a paper kid: hair, skin, glasses, cleats and number
- Added to Soccer Kids, Hockey Kids or Pickle Kids as the player you control
- Friends or siblings on the roster, in your team colors
- Your pet on the sideline
- Their name on the title card and called by the announcer
- A private link that works on any tablet, phone or laptop
- Best for:
- A birthday or holiday gift, one kid or a set of siblings
- Timeline:
- Typically 1 to 2 weeks
- Price:
- Fixed quote after a free call
Custom Sport
A game for your team, league or class.
- Your sport and your format: four a side, no goalies, a build-out line, whatever your program plays
- Your colors, your mascot and your players' nicknames
- Learn mode lessons for your rules, with a coach voice
- Easy, Medium and Hard computer teams
- One link every family on the roster can open
- A new sport we have not built yet, if that's what you need
- Best for:
- Coaches, leagues, camps and PE programs
- Timeline:
- Typically 3 to 6 weeks
- Price:
- Fixed quote after a free call
Arcade World
A whole hub of games around one kid.
- A hub with its own logo and look, like the Ziggy Games arcade
- Several games built around one kid's world, added over time
- Their pets, their places, their teams and their own drawings inside
- Their favorite game, rebuilt around their rules
- Your own web address, if you want one
- Best for:
- The kid who deserves everything, or a program that wants a home for its games
- Timeline:
- Typically 6 weeks or more, built in stages
- Price:
- Fixed quote after a free call
Every game we build includes
- Runs in a browser on iPads, Chromebooks, phones and laptops
- Touch controls built for small hands, plus a keyboard
- No ads, no in-app purchases, no chat, no accounts
- Rounds of play-testing with your kid or your team
- Hosting on a private link, or your own web address
- Everything drawn, never a photo of your kid
How it works
Five steps, with your kid in the loop the whole way.
- 1
Draft
Day one
Build your player online or book a free 20-minute call. We talk about your kid or your team: the sport, the rules, the pet, the colors, the inside jokes.
- 2
Sketch
First few days
We draw your kid, or your whole roster, as paper kids and send player cards for a thumbs-up before the game itself changes.
- 3
Build
About a week in
You get a playable link early. It runs on the tablet, phone or laptop your kid already uses.
- 4
Play-test
As often as it takes
Your kid plays it and tells us what is wrong, and we change it. Every game on this site went through rounds like that, often several in a day.
- 5
Launch
Your date
The game goes live on a private link or your own domain. More levels, more players or another sport can follow later.
Questions about custom games
Straight answers. If yours isn't here, ask us.
How much does a custom game cost?
It depends on what we're building. Putting your kid into one of our sports games is the quickest job; a new sport, or a whole arcade like Ziggy Games, takes more. After a free 20-minute call we send a fixed quote, and it only changes if you change what you're asking for.
How long does it take?
A Player Edition typically takes one to two weeks from our call to your private link. A new sport usually takes three to six weeks, and an arcade world six weeks or more. You get a playable link early and see it change after every round of feedback.
How does payment work?
A deposit to start and the balance at launch. The exact split is in the quote you sign, so there are no surprises about when money is due.
Who owns the game?
You do. Your game lives at your address and you get the files, so if you ever leave, you leave with your game. Your quote spells out the details.
What happens after launch? Is there a hosting fee?
We host your game and keep it running. Hosting and any updates after launch are written into your quote, so you know the cost before we start, and you can always take the files and host the game yourself.
How many rounds of changes are included?
Play-testing is built into every project, so the changes your kid asks for during the build are part of the job, not extras. Anything that grows the game past the quote, like another sport or more levels, we price before we build it.
Do you use photos of my kid?
Never in the game. Everything is drawn. You can send photos so we get the hair, the glasses or the favorite cleats right, and we use them only for that.
What if we aren't happy with it?
You see your kid drawn as a paper kid, then a playable link, early, long before launch. If something isn't right, we change it. That's what the play-test rounds are for.
Draft your player
It takes about two minutes. Design your kid as a paper kid, pick their sport and what the game should teach, and see the game plan we would build for them.