Questions and answers
Quick answers about playing, battles, the shop and staying safe. Grown-ups will find more in the guide for parents.
Playing the game
Is Maatjie Arena free?
Yes. The whole game is free to play, in your web browser. A few optional looks can be bought in the Android app, and none of them makes a pet stronger. See Gear and the Supporter Pack.
What can I play it on?
Any up-to-date web browser on a computer, tablet or phone: just press Play. An Android app is on the way. Your pet is saved on the game's server, so it is waiting for you when you come back on the same device or browser. To move it to a new device, a grown-up can save it to Google first (see the grown-up controls).
Do I need to sign up?
No. Press Play and pick a nickname: one word, like Comet, with letters only. Don't use your real name; the game can suggest one. Nobody asks for a real name, an email address or a photo. A grown-up can save the pet to Google on our website, so it can come back on a new phone.
How long does my pet take to grow up?
About four days. A pet is a baby for its first 12 hours, a child until it is 2 days old, a teen until it is 4 days old, and then a grown-up. Grown-ups can battle. The pet care guide explains each stage.
What happens if I forget to look after my pet?
Its needs go down slowly, so a full tummy lasts most of a day, and a pet does not go hungry overnight. A pet left grubby or hungry for a long time can get sick, and three doses of medicine always make it better. Forgetting never makes a pet leave you.
Can I start again with a new pet?
Yes. A grown-up can choose to start fresh with a new egg in the game's settings. Your old pet goes off to live in the Meadow and is kept in your Pet Album, where you can always look back at every pet you have raised. Your outfits, badges and rooms stay with you.
What if we go away on holiday?
A grown-up can switch on holiday mode in Settings, under Grown-ups. Your pet waits safely while you are away: its needs stay where they are, it does not grow older, it cannot get sick and it does not lose hearts. When you are back, a grown-up switches it off and everything carries on, with nothing to make up for.
Can the game remind me to look after my pet?
Yes, if you switch reminders on. The game can send a gentle reminder when your pet is getting hungry, grubby, bored or tired, never more than a few a day. Reminders are planned outside quiet hours, which a grown-up can set. On Android 11 and older, or with battery saver on, a phone may deliver one late, and after a phone restarts, a reminder that was due while it was off can show once. In a web browser, reminders only work while the game is open in a tab.
Battles
Who do I battle against?
In Training you practise against a friendly arena buddy, and it does not change your rating. In an Arena match the game looks for another player's pet of a similar strength. If nobody is free, a tougher Arena bot steps in. You never see the other player's nickname or their pet's name: just its species, its look, its level and a friendly label such as "Rival Spark". You can also challenge a friend to a friendly battle, just for fun, which never changes your rating.
Does buying things make a pet stronger?
No, never. Everything that can be bought is a look. Battles are won by reading your rival, using Block, Focus and your moves at the right time, and by the care you gave your pet.
What are the five elements?
Spark, Tide, Leaf, Stone and Ember. Each one is strong against two others and weak against the other two, so there is no best pet. The battles guide has the whole chart.
What are seasons and ranks?
Every season, each player's rating starts at 1000 and goes up or down with each Arena match. Winning more does not simply add up: playing well does. The ranks show the season's top 100 and a board of your friends, by nickname. When a season ends, the top players get special looks that can never be bought.
Shop, crates and ads
What can be bought, and how?
Outfits and looks in the shop, and one optional Supporter Pack. They can only be bought in the Android app, through Google Play, and a grown-up step comes first every time. Each item is shown exactly as you will get it, and nothing in the shop has a timer or runs out.
Are crates loot boxes?
Not the paid kind. Crates are earned by caring for your pet and winning battles, and every crate comes with its own key. What is inside is a surprise, but crates and keys are never sold, and the chance of every item in them is published on the drop tables page.
Are there ads?
No. The Android app, the game in your browser and this website have no ads at all, and the game has no advertising or tracking software.
Safety
Can players talk to each other?
No. There is no chat, no messages and no way to type anything to another player. Friends are added with a private friend code. Friends who have both said yes can have friendly battles and swap outfits; a swap carries no message and needs a safety code that a grown-up sets up. Friends cannot see when you are playing unless a grown-up switches that on, and a grown-up can switch off friends and the leaderboards altogether.
Can other players see my child's name?
Not their real name: the game never asks for one. Players pick a one-word nickname, with the hint "Don't use your real name." Friends and the ranks show it, and Arena rivals never see it. Every nickname is checked by a word filter, and anyone can report a rude one: after three different players report it, it is hidden at once (a report counts once the reporting account is two days old and has hatched a pet), and we look at every report ourselves. A pet's name is shown only to friends, only if it passes a strict filter, and friends can report it too. Any player on the top 100, and anyone who sends a friend request, can be hidden with "Hide player", and a friend can be blocked. More in the guide for parents.
How do I delete an account?
In the game, open Me, then Settings, then Delete my account; a grown-up check comes first. Without the game, follow the steps on the account deletion page. An account nobody plays for 24 months is deleted in the same way.
Still have a question?
The guide for parents explains safety, purchases, reminders and privacy in more detail, and the about page says how to get in touch.
Ready to hatch your egg?
It is free, there is nothing to install, and five eggs are ready to choose from.