Whiskerway: for grown-ups
A cozy, silly exploring game for all ages, designed to be safe for young children: you play a cat, a dog, a squirrel or a hamster in one of four worlds (a little town, a farm, a big city, and a giant house seen at bug size), with quests, hats, pets and friends. Here's exactly what the game does and doesn't do.
- No accounts. No sign-up, no email, no passwords.
- No chat and no typing. Names are made from two word lists (like "Sneaky Biscuit"). Players talk only with emotes (a heart, a star…) and four friendly phrases: "Follow me!", "Over here!", "Good job!" and "Let's race!".
- No ads, no purchases, no trackers. Treats and hats are earned by playing. There are no analytics or advertising scripts, and no links out of the game.
- Nothing scary. Chases are silly: getting caught means a cuddle, a joke "ticket" or a tumble, and you're back at a safe spot, never anything worse.
- Playing alone sends nothing anywhere. The game only goes online if your child joins a friends' room or turns on cloud save.
Playing with friends
Friends play together in a room. A room has a code of four words (for example "Otter · Pickle · Moon · Waffle") and an invite link. Only people who have the words or the link can join, and a room holds at most 8 players. There are about 268 million possible room codes, so rooms can't be found by guessing. Please only share your room's link or words with people you know.
While in a room, the game shares with the other players: where your child's animal is and what it's doing, its color and hat, its word-list name, and any emotes or phrases. These messages pass through Supabase Realtime, the service that connects the players. They are not stored. Like any internet service, it sees the device's IP address in order to deliver messages. To leave a room: Friends → Leave room, play alone.
Saving progress
Progress is saved in the browser on this device (the browser's local storage, not tracking cookies). Clearing this website's data in the browser erases it, and so does Settings → Start over.
Cloud save is optional and off unless turned on (Settings → Cloud save). It keeps a copy of the game progress online so your child can continue on another device: quests done, treats, hats, the animals' colors and word-list name, pets, house decorations and game settings. No personal information. The copy is filed under a secret save code of six words; only a scrambled (hashed) form of the code is stored, never the code itself. Anyone who has the code or the save link can load that progress, so please keep it private.
To delete the online copy: Settings → Cloud save → Stop cloud saving. If you no longer have the device, email us the six save words and we'll delete it.
What the game never collects
No real names, email addresses, photos, voice, location, contacts or device identifiers, from anyone of any age. Pictures taken in the game's photo mode are saved straight to your own device and are never uploaded. We don't collect personal information from children (or anyone else) through the game.
The game is hosted at playwhiskerway.com by Cloudflare. Like every website host, Cloudflare processes standard technical information (such as IP addresses) to deliver and protect the site; we don't use it to track anyone, and there are no analytics. The full details are in the Privacy Policy.
Installing the game
You can add Whiskerway to a phone's or tablet's home screen (on iPad or iPhone: Share → Add to Home Screen). It then opens like an app, full screen. To make that work, and to let it open without internet, the browser keeps a copy of the game's own files on the device; this stores nothing about your child. Playing with friends still needs internet. Removing the icon, or clearing this website's data, removes the copy.
Health and safety
Flashing lights. A very small number of people can have seizures when they see certain flashing lights or patterns. Whiskerway has fireworks, neon signs and other flashing lights. If your child has epilepsy or has had a seizure, check with a doctor before playing, and stop right away if they feel dizzy, see blurry, twitch or seem confused. Encourage breaks, a well-lit room, and never playing while walking.
The fine print
Whiskerway is free and made by Mid Cities Business Services, Texas, USA. By playing, you agree to the Terms of Use (including how the game is provided "as is"). The open-source fonts and code it uses are listed, with their licences, under Credits & licences.