Help & Guides

Welcome! Games In Class gives you ready-made games, tools and printable worksheets for your classroom — most of them work straight away with no setup.

Playing an activity

Open any game or tool from the homepage and start using it right away — nothing to save or sign up for. Look for the How to play button inside an activity's header for instructions specific to that one.

Making it your own

Most activities let you type or import your own words, pictures or questions, then click Save my version to keep it — you'll need a free account for that. Your saved version gets its own link you can share with students or other teachers.

A faster way to fill activities in

Instead of retyping the same words and pictures into every game, build them once as a class list or word list (see below) and import them into any activity in one click.

Four parts of the site can look alike. Each one has one job.

Lists and sets: your content

A list holds words, sentences, pictures or a reading passage. A set holds lists (a book, a unit, a class). Use them to fill games and worksheets. They are for you; nothing is shared until you share a set.

Classes: your students

A class is where you assign activities as homework or use them in lessons, and see student results. Students and co-teachers are added to a class.

Shared folders: your colleagues

A folder you share with colleagues or parents. A set holds lists; a folder holds finished activities (and can also take sets and picture folders). Use it for a department, a year level or a parent group. Tick the folder when you save an activity, or use Share with a shared folder on a set.

The Share button: anyone outside the site

Share always means the public link. Use it to send one saved activity to social media, email or messages. Private activities cannot be opened by a link, so make them public first.

Quick guide

• Content for games: a list or set.
• Homework or a lesson for my students: a class.
• Activities for colleagues or parents: a shared folder.
• One activity for anyone: the Share button.

The Share button is in the top bar of every game and tool (on a phone, in the three-line menu). It is for sending one activity to anyone outside the site.

What it does

It opens a window with the public link. Press Copy link, or send it straight to Facebook, X, WhatsApp, LINE or email. On a phone you can also use the phone's own share sheet.

Private activities

A private activity cannot be opened with a link: only you and the people you have added (shared folders and classes) can open it. Press Make public… in the Share window to change that in the Save window.

Not the Share button

To give homework or run a lesson, use your class (Use, Host live or Collect). To share with colleagues or parents, use a shared folder. Class codes are never shown in the Share window.

The Tools section has helpers for running the lesson on the classroom screen. Each one has a Fullscreen button (or press F), and most can be run from your phone with Present (see below).

Timer & Stopwatch

A big clock that counts down or up. Add your own text (like “English exam”), choose a theme and an alarm.

Agenda Board

Shows today's date, the lesson goals and a class plan you tick off as you go. A clicker or the space bar ticks the next item.

Classroom Wheel Spinner and Who's Next? Student Picker

Spin a wheel or tap a name to choose a student, a word or a topic. Both can use your class lists, and you can remove winners as you go so nobody is picked twice.

Dice, Coin & Cards

Big 3D dice, coins and cards for board games and speaking activities, with optional topic prompts.

Noise Meter

The microphone level drives a traffic light, dial, balloon or face, with stars for staying quiet. Sound is measured on your device and is never recorded.

Slide Presenter

Open a PDF or a set of pictures and show them full screen. Flip the pages from your phone. Files stay in your browser and are never uploaded.

Certificates & Stickers

Make printable certificates for the whole class in several themes, plus sheets of reward stickers.

Photo Board

Show a textbook page, a worksheet or a drawing on the classroom screen. Press Present, scan the code with your phone, then tap Take photo (or Choose). On your phone you can pinch to zoom, drag to move, Rotate, mark it with the Highlight or Pen, show 2 photos side by side, or hide the screen with Blank. Photos are never saved: they are deleted from our server as soon as you stop presenting. Please keep students' faces and names out of the photos. If the phone is silent for about 10 minutes, or you tap Disconnect on it, Photo Board ends and the photos are erased. Draw on big screen hands the pen to the classroom screen, so you or a student can mark the photo there with a finger, pen or mouse; tap Draw here instead on your phone to take it back. Keep on screen lets the photos stay up if your phone sleeps or goes quiet (the phone is then cut off); everything still disappears when you exit presenting. Tidy (on by default) straightens and brightens a photo of a page before it is sent: it finds the sheet, flattens the angle, crops away the desk and evens out shadows (it only does this when it clearly sees a page, and you can turn it off). Retake takes a new photo that replaces the one on screen, and the old one is erased. Gallery (tap 2 photos, then Gallery) shows many photos on the classroom screen at once, up to 24: each new photo appears as you take it, on a corkboard, a grid or a gallery wall (Theme). Tap a photo to open it large and draw on it, then All photos to go back. Hide photo covers one on the screen (for example if a name is showing). Save collage makes one picture of the whole board on your phone; nothing is saved on our server.

Worksheets are made to be printed, and many also play on screen. Find them in the Worksheets section of the home page. The same Print and Save to PDF buttons appear in many games too (for example Balloon Hangman, Picture Quiz and Flashcards).

What is there

• Crossword Maker and Word Search Generator: type your words (and clues), then print or play on screen.
• Handwriting Practice: dotted tracing sheets for letters, words, names or a whole class list.
• Reading Worksheet: a reading passage with highlighted words, a fill-in-the-blank version with a word bank, questions and vocabulary matching.
• Bingo Card Maker: a different card for every student.
• Picture Quiz: sheets with write-the-word, matching, choosing, scrambles and more.

Printing

Press Print (or Save to PDF). The next screen lets you choose the paper size (A4 or Letter), and where it is offered, whether to include the answer key. Save to PDF is handy for emailing a sheet or printing later.

Using your own words

Every worksheet starts with sample words. Type your own, paste a list, or press Import to bring in a list from My library. Press Save my version to keep it.

Class lists hold your students' names so games and tools (like Who's Next? Student Picker and Attendance & Seating) can use them automatically — you don't have to type a roster into every activity.

Setting one up

Go to My classes, create a class, and type or paste in your student names — one per line. Students do not need an account to be on your list; you're just keeping a list for your own use.

Students with accounts

Students who are 13 or older can have their own account. Give them the class code and they press Join a class; you approve each request. Younger students should always be added by you, and they play without an account. Students with an account see their classes, and anything you share with them, under Classes I joined. Student accounts cannot make classes.

Teaching with someone else

Open the class and go to Teachers to add a co-teacher. They see the same students, activities and sets.

Classmate play

Switch on Classmate play in the class's settings (it is off by default). Students with accounts can then play Trivia Night against classmates, 2 to 6 players at a time, without you hosting.

Assignments and progress

Set an assignment from the class's Assignments tab (see Collecting student work). Practice and badges appear in Progress reports (see the Progress reports guide).

Where it's used

Any activity that can use a class list has an Import button (for example “Import words & pictures…” or “Import from my classes & lists…”). Pick the class and the names load in automatically.

Games In Class has a few kinds of account. You choose one when you sign up.

Teacher

Teachers make classes, assignments and shared folders, host live games, collect student work and use the Phone remote.

Student

Students who are 13 or older can have their own account. They join a class with its class code (Join a class), see what their teacher shares and any assignments under Classes I joined, earn badges and see My progress. They can also save their own versions of activities to practise with. Student accounts cannot make classes, host live games, import lists or use shared folders. Students under 13 do not get accounts: a teacher adds them to a class list, and they play with a game code or a class QR code.

Parent or guardian

A parent can follow a child's progress with a link code from the child's account. See the Progress reports guide.

Other

Tutors, homeschoolers and anyone else use the same tools as a teacher.

Changing your details

Open Account & avatar from your menu to change your email, password, avatar and 2-step login.

Collect lets students make something in a creative tool and send it to you, so you can show their work on the big screen or print it. It works with Fortune Teller Maker and Paper Airplane Maker (print, cut and fold paper toys with your own words and pictures). Collecting is a plan feature for teachers; students never need a plan.

A quick live collection

Open the tool, press Collect, then Collect now. You get a QR code and a short link. Students scan it, make their own, type a first name or nickname and press Submit. No accounts are needed. A student can fix their work and press Send again to replace it. A live collection is deleted 24 hours after it was last used.

Your board

The board opens from the QR window. Designs appear as they arrive. You can hide or delete a design, start a class timer (1 to 30 minutes, with +1 and +5 minutes), and print or save a PDF of one design or the whole set. Turn on Check designs before they show and new designs wait in a “Waiting for your OK” list: approve or reject each one before it reaches the gallery, the big screen or any printout.

Big screen

Press Big screen to show the gallery on the classroom projector. Choose a look (Plain, Corkboard, Gallery, Party or Space), and turn Spotlight new designs and Show names on or off. Lock the big screen hides the Exit button so students cannot leave it on a touchscreen; hold the top right corner for 2 seconds to leave.

Phone remote

Press Phone remote on the board and scan the code with your phone (or type it on another computer at gamesinclass.com/classremote). From the remote you can approve or reject designs, run the timer, close or reopen the box, switch Check designs on or off, change the big-screen look, and hide or show a design. It cannot delete or print. The menu button (three lines, top right) has Lock the big screen, Use another device and Switch box.

Assignments for a class

Instead of a live box you can set an assignment for a class: press Collect, then Set an assignment, or use the Assignments tab on the class page. You can add a deadline. Students with accounts in that class open it from Classes I joined, under My assignments, can Save progress and hand it in once. Work handed in after the deadline is marked Late (or refused, if you turn late work off). You see who has handed in, who is still working and who has no account.

What students can and cannot do

Students only send their choices: words, emoji and pictures from the site's gallery. They cannot upload files, and rude names are refused.

Attendance & Seating (in Tools) takes attendance, plans seating, splits the class into teams and keeps team scores. Everything uses the student names from My classes, so add your students there first.

Taking attendance

Press Take attendance next to a class, or use Quick attendance (no class needed). The board shows the names or a map of your classroom, a code and a QR code. Students scan the QR code or type the code on their own device and check themselves in. You can also tap a name to change it: Here, Late, Excused or Absent. Everyone is here marks the whole class at once.

Check-in options

Choose how students check in: tapping their name in a list, typing their name (you can approve typed names first), or using their account. You can set a check-in time limit and when to count someone as late, use a code that keeps changing so only students in the room can join, and allow one check-in per device.

Seating

Open Students & seating and choose Seats. Build the classroom with the number of rows and desks, then tap one desk and then another to swap students. During roll call each desk lights up as its student checks in.

Teams

Choose Teams to split the class. Make 2 to 6 teams by columns, rows, at random or mixed (boys and girls evenly), then tap a team and tap students to move them. You can keep several team sets, for example “Review game” and “Project groups”.

Team scores

Open the Team scores tab and press Start a scoreboard. Tap a team to give it points (+1, +2, +5 or +10 per tap, or press 1, 2, 3 on the keyboard). Undo takes back the last change. End & show winner announces the winner, and past results are kept so you can reopen them. Use Present to run the scoreboard from your phone.

After the lesson

Past attendance is kept for each class and can be downloaded as a CSV file.

Word, sentence and picture lists let you build a set of content once — like a unit's vocabulary — and reuse it in any game or worksheet instead of retyping it every time.

Creating a list

Go to My library and open the Lists tab. Start a new set and add the words, sentences or pictures for that unit. You can keep several lists organised by topic or by class.

Using a list in a game

Inside most games and tools, press the Import button (for example “Import words & pictures…”) and tick the lists you want. They drop straight in, instead of typing everything by hand.

Sharing with colleagues

Share a set with one of your shared folders and everyone you have invited can use its lists. A whole grade level or department can then reuse the same vocabulary sets.

There are several ways to get words into a list without typing them all. Open one of your lists or sets in My library and press Smart import. You always see a preview and can fix anything before it is saved.

Ways in

• Paste or upload: a Word file (.docx), a text file (.txt, .csv, .tsv) or text copied from Word, Google Docs, a PDF or a web page. It works out which part is the word and which is the translation, whether they are in a table, on one line (“apple – 蘋果”, “apple | 蘋果”) or on alternating lines.
• A reading passage: paste a text, then tap the words you want to teach. They become a vocabulary list that goes with the reading.
• Photo of a page (AI assist): take or choose a photo of a textbook page and AI copies out the vocabulary, sentences and reading it finds.
• From a topic (AI assist): type a topic such as “kitchen items”, choose how many words, the language for the meanings and the level, then press Suggest with AI.

Check before saving

The preview shows every item. Edit, delete or add rows, rename a list, and untick anything you do not want. Choose whether to make a new set or add to one you already have. Press Create the lists (or Add to the list) to finish. Files and photos are not kept.

AI assist

AI assist is an optional helper that writes suggestions for you. It is always your choice: nothing is saved until you check it. It can suggest a list from a topic, read a photo of a page, write short meanings for words that have none (press AI assist in the “Fill empty meanings” bar), and suggest words and meanings from a reading passage.

• Plans and limits: AI assist belongs to certain plans and has a daily and monthly number of requests. A photo counts as more than one request. The count restarts at midnight (UTC), and you can see how many you have left next to the button.
• Privacy: the text or photo is sent to an AI service to be answered and is not kept. The first time you use it you will see a short notice. Please keep students' names and faces out of anything you send.
• Check the answers: AI can make mistakes, especially with meanings and level, so read the results before you save. AI assist is in beta and may be switched off at times.

Meanings without AI

In the Fill empty meanings bar you can press Dictionary to fill meanings from the built-in dictionary, and you can pick the language you want. In games and worksheets, Import words & pictures… brings in lists you have already made.

Your pictures live in My library. Open the Pictures tab to upload, organise into folders, and share. My library also holds your saved activities, your lists, and anything colleagues have shared with you.

Uploading

Pictures can be JPG, PNG, GIF or WebP, up to 2 MB each. They are resized and private details such as a photo's location are removed. How many pictures you can keep depends on your plan. Please only upload pictures you have the right to use, and no pictures of students.

Adding pictures to an activity

In a game or worksheet press Import (or click a picture slot). You can choose from your lists, your own pictures, pictures other teachers shared on the Community page, the site's own picture library, or upload from your device. In many activities you can also drop picture files straight onto the page.

Without an account

You can use pictures from your own device while you are playing. To keep them in a saved version you need a free account, because saved versions can only use pictures that are stored on the site.

A shared folder is a folder you share with colleagues or parents. It is where you and other teachers share things: activities, sets of lists and picture folders. It also gives students one link to a whole group of activities.

Shared folder or co-teacher?

Teaching one class with another teacher? You do not need a shared folder: open the class, go to Teachers and add a co-teacher. They see the same students, activities and sets. Use a shared folder to share with teachers who are not on your class, such as a department, a year level or a colleague taking over a unit.

Making a shared folder

Open My library, choose the Shared folders tab and press New shared folder. Give it a name, choose whether anyone with the link can open it or only the people you invite, and invite your colleagues.

Putting things in it

• Activities: tick the shared folder when you save an activity, or add them from the shared folder's page.
• Sets of lists: open the set and press Share with a shared folder. Lists are shared as part of their set.
• Pictures: in My library, open the Pictures tab and share a folder.

Inviting colleagues

Invite other teachers as collaborators. Viewers can use what is in the shared folder; editors and managers can also add and change things.

Giving students the link

Copy the shared folder's link and send it to students. Opening an activity from inside it shows Previous / Next buttons, so they can move through the whole group in order. You can also attach a shared folder to a class and share it with that class's students.

Hosting turns any supported game into a live, whole-class round everyone plays together in real time, each from their own device.

Starting a live game

Open the game you want to host and choose Host live (this needs a paid teacher plan; joining is always free for students). You'll get a join code and a QR code to display.

Students joining

Students go to /join.php, type the code (or scan the QR code), and add a nickname — no account needed. They appear on your screen as soon as they join.

While hosting

You can split players into teams, lock joining once everyone's in so no one else can join mid-game, and remove or move a player if needed, all from the host screen.

Present mode puts a tool on the classroom screen and turns your phone into its remote control. There is nothing to install.

Starting

Open a tool that shows the Phone remote icon on its card (hover or tap the icon to see its name), then press Present at the top right. It is available on computers and bigger tablets. The tool fills the screen and a QR code appears.

Pairing your phone

Scan the QR code with your phone's camera. Your phone becomes the remote and the code disappears from the screen. The code works once, so students cannot use it. To use a different phone, use Use another device on the remote, or press Exit presenting and then Present again. The code is never shown again once a device is connected, so a student cannot take over the remote.

Using a computer as the remote

The card also works for another computer in the room. On it, open the address shown on the card (gamesinclass.com/classremote) and type the remote code. A phone and a computer use the same kind of code. The code works once and runs out after 5 minutes.

Another device later

On the connected remote, tap the menu button (three lines, top right), then Use another device. It shows a new single-use code on that remote only. Type it on the other phone or computer: that device becomes the remote and the first one is let go. The code is never shown on the classroom screen.

Locking the screen

Tick Lock the big screen when a device connects on the card (it is on by default on touchscreens), or open the remote's menu and choose Lock the big screen at any time (an orange padlock then shows at the top of the remote). A locked screen hides the Exit button and the bar. Hold the top right corner for 2 seconds, or open the remote's menu and choose Unlock the big screen, to unlock.

Keeping the connection

The remote keeps your phone awake while it is open. If the phone sleeps or loses signal it reconnects by itself when you wake it, and a sleeping phone never ends the presentation. A small banner under the top bar tells you when the classroom screen is not responding. If the classroom screen itself stops answering for 5 minutes (the computer asleep or closed), the phone lets go by itself and goes back to its start page; scan the new code when the screen is back. Photo Board and Whiteboard are the exception: they end after about 10 minutes without the phone, because their pictures belong to it. To disconnect a phone yourself, tap the menu button and choose Disconnect this phone.

Which tools have a remote

• Timer, Agenda Board, Spinner and Pick Student: start, tick, spin and pick from your seat.
• Flashcards, Bingo Card Maker (the caller) and Picture Quiz: move through the cards or questions, show the answer, read it aloud.
• Slide Presenter: show a PDF or pictures and turn the pages from your phone.
• Balloon Hangman: call out the letters on a phone keyboard.
• Trivia Night: choose the answer the class picked, then show the result. There is an option for no timer.
• Dice, Coin & Cards: roll and draw.
• Noise Meter: listen, pause, change the sensitivity and reset the stars.
• Team scores (Attendance & Seating): give points to teams.
• Photo Board: send photos from your phone to the screen, then zoom, turn, highlight and draw on them.
• Whiteboard: draw and write on the board from your phone (pen, highlight, eraser, undo).
• Fortune Teller Maker and Paper Airplane Maker: the Collect board has its own phone remote (see Collecting student work).

Finishing

On the remote tap the menu button (three lines, top right), then Exit presenting: the classroom screen goes back to normal, even when it is locked. You can also move the mouse and press Exit presenting on the screen (or press Esc), or just close the tab. Choosing Disconnect this phone in the same menu only lets that phone go; the screen keeps running (Photo Board and Whiteboard end with it, because their pictures belong to that phone).

Most games and tools let you build your own version — your words, pictures or settings — and save it so you can come back to it or share it.

Saving

After you've set an activity up the way you want, click Save my version. You'll need a free account; how many versions you can keep depends on your plan.

Sharing

Every saved version gets its own link. Share it with students to play, or with other teachers to try out and copy for themselves from the Community page.

Locking an activity

When you share an activity, you can lock it so other players can only use it as you set it up (not edit the options), or lock it completely so it can only be played or printed exactly as saved.