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HoopComet
Hoopara Korr studying holographic basketball court and pitch trajectories on a rooftop observatory table overlooking the stadium.

PERIHELION BOWL BROADCAST // HOUSEHOLD GUIDANCE

Guide for Parents & Carers

Clear, practical information for UK households on how HoopComet operates as an independent directory, how to read our verified facts strips, and what to check before someone in your household follows a link to a game's official site.

Hoopara Korr spinning a glowing basketball on her fingertips while calling a play on the court.

SECTION 01 // INFORMATIONAL DIRECTORY

What HoopComet Is — And What It Isn't

HoopComet (hoopcomet.com) is an independent British informational guide to nine browser basketball, court and arcade sports games, written for players aged 16 and over. We do not host, embed or stream playable game files on our own servers, we do not run player accounts or chat rooms, and we never process payments or sell anything.

Every game on HoopComet is presented through our own courtside scouting prose, original artwork set in the fictional Perihelion Bowl, a verified facts strip checked on , and a direct button labelled Play on Official Site. When a visitor selects that button, they leave HoopComet and go directly to the external website run by that game's developer or publisher.

How to Read the Verified Facts Strip

Right above every game's official link sits a compact facts strip. Before anyone clicks through to play, you can read the lead line and open the expandable details panel to check six practical points:

  • Base price & in-game purchases: Stated plainly on the top line — showing whether a game is free to play with no in-game purchases, or whether it offers optional in-game purchases on its official site or store version.
  • Advertisements: Whether the official version displays banner or video adverts between matches.
  • Account requirement: Whether a visitor can jump straight into a match in their browser or whether an account is optional or required.
  • Chat & communication: Whether the game includes live text chat in public or private rooms, preset emotes, or no chat at all.
  • Verification date & source: The exact date () we checked the publisher's official website and store pages.
  • Destination notice: A clear reminder that the button opens an external site operated by the game's publisher.

In-Game Purchases, Paid Random Items & Spending Controls

SECTION 02 // PLAIN-ENGLISH BREAKDOWN & DEVICE SETTINGS

Even when a game costs nothing to start in a web browser, some games or their companion mobile and store editions sell optional extras. Here is what those terms mean in plain words and how to manage spending on household devices.

PLAIN-LANGUAGE DEFINITIONS

What In-Game Purchases Are

In-game purchases are optional items, upgrades or features that a player can buy with real money after starting a game. Depending on the game, these can include:

  • Cosmetic items: Character outfits, uniforms, court designs, paddles or goal celebrations that change how a player looks without changing the rules of the match.
  • Virtual currencies: Coins, gems, tokens or credits bought with real money and then spent inside the game's shop.
  • Unlocks & ad removal: Bundles that unlock extra characters, courts or game modes immediately, or a one-off payment that removes adverts, or a recurring subscription that removes ads across a developer's leagues.

What Paid Random Items (Loot Boxes) Are

Paid random items — often called loot boxes, mystery crates, prize packs, card packs or prize spins — are a specific kind of purchase where you pay real money (either directly or by spending virtual currency bought with real money) without knowing the exact item you will receive before you pay.

Instead of buying a chosen item off the shelf, you pay for a random draw that might contain a common item, a duplicate you already own, or a rare item with low odds. Because the outcome is decided by chance, players can end up spending more than they intended while trying to win a specific item.

HOUSEHOLD SAFEGUARDS

Switching On Device & Store Spending Controls

Phones, tablets, computers, games consoles and digital app stores all include built-in spending controls that parents and carers can switch on. Taking a few minutes to configure these settings prevents unexpected charges:

  • Smartphones, tablets & app stores (Apple App Store, Google Play): Use Family Sharing / Screen Time on iOS and iPadOS, or Google Family Link on Android, to require a password or biometric approval for every purchase, set monthly spending limits, or block in-app purchases completely.
  • Games consoles (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch): Create a dedicated child or teen profile linked to your adult family manager account. From the family settings menu, you can set a monthly spending cap (including £0), require a PIN at checkout, and prevent stored payment cards from being used without permission.
  • Web browsers & computers: In desktop and mobile browsers (such as Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox), turn off autofill for saved credit and debit cards, and do not stay signed in to one-click digital wallets on shared household profiles.

When a game is described on HoopComet as having no in-game purchases, our check on found no real-money store inside that game. Where a game offers optional store items or ad-free subscriptions, our facts strip states that clearly so you know before visiting the official site.

PEGI Ratings, External Policies & Multiplayer Rooms

SECTION 03 // AGE GUIDANCE, DATA RULES & MATCH FORMATS

AGE RATINGS & DESCRIPTORS

How to Check a Game's PEGI Rating at pegi.info

In the United Kingdom, video games are rated using the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) system. A PEGI age label (PEGI 3, 7, 12, 16 or 18) tells you whether a game's content is suitable for a given age group—not how difficult the game is to play—and pairs with content descriptors such as In-Game Purchases (including whether a game contains Paid Random Items), Violence or Bad Language.

Many independent web browser games are distributed directly on their developers' websites and have not been submitted for a formal PEGI certificate; where a game has no official age rating, our facts strip notes that plainly. To check whether a game or its mobile/console edition holds a PEGI rating, visit pegi.info, type the game's title into the search bar, and review both the age icon and the content descriptors for each platform.

EXTERNAL PUBLISHER RULES

Each Game Has Its Own Privacy Policy, Terms & Age Rules

Because HoopComet links out to official websites run by separate developers and publishers (such as Blue Wizard Digital, Madpuffers, RHM Interactive OÜ, ZenGM, LLC, Mario Carbajal, Exodragon Games and Happylander Ltd), leaving HoopComet means stepping under that publisher's own legal and technical rules.

Each game has its own privacy policy, terms of use and minimum age rules. Those documents govern what cookies or analytics the publisher uses, whether third-party advertising networks run on the page, how optional player accounts or leaderboards are stored, and what minimum age applies to players in the UK. We encourage parents and carers to check the footer links on any external game site before a young person creates an account or joins an online match.

SESSION ARCHITECTURE

Local Two-Player Modes vs Online Multiplayer Lobbies

The nine games featured on HoopComet span three very different ways of playing, and our Court Scouting Observatory lets you compare them side by side:

  • Single-player solo play: Games such as Basketball GM run locally in your browser against the computer with no other players involved.
  • Shared-keyboard local two-player: Modes in Basket Random, Basketball Stars and Basket Bros allow two people in the same room to share one keyboard or touchscreen with no internet matchmaking required.
  • Live online multiplayer rooms: Games such as HaxBall, NitroClash.io, Soccer Bros and Football Bros connect players over the internet in public matches or private code-shared rooms. Where a game includes live room chat (such as player-hosted rooms in HaxBall), our facts strip highlights this so you can decide which mode suits your household.

SITE OPERATOR & ENQUIRIES

Who Operates HoopComet & How to Contact Us

HoopComet is operated by [Operator legal name] ([Legal form], registration: [Registered in, company number and registered office]), located at [Trading address]. If you are a parent or carer with a question about any facts strip, link or description on this site, you can write to us at [Contact email]. For full details on how our own website handles technical server logs and cookies, please read our Privacy & Cookies Policy (last updated ).