If you’re up for trying to bypass your school’s filtering system so you can play some online games, read on for a few tips on how to do so!

Find Fresh, New Gaming Websites

One way to bypass your school’s filtering system is to try finding sites that it doesn’t block yet. You are best searching for these sites at home and bringing a list of them to school to try out. To search for unblocked sites, go to Google search and type a search such as “unblocked games at school”, “games sites not blocked at school”, or something similar. After searching, click on the “Past 24 Hours” option on Google to display new search results. Go through the results and you should find very recent lists of (potentially) unblocked gaming sites. Make a note of them and try them out at school!

Find New Proxy Sites

Another option is to use the same technique described above, but for proxy sites. A proxy site allows you to bypass filtering systems since the proxy, not the school, gets the data of the website you request – just enter the URL and hit go. Search for lists of new proxy sites and try access them at school!

Look for Javascript Games

One other trick is to search for javascript games. The downside is that javascript games are much simpler than flash games, but they are much less likely to be blocked by school filters. There are some fun javascript games around in many genres, especially puzzle games – even Tetris have been re-created using javascript!

Look for Educational Games

You might recall your teachers occasionally using online games as aids to their lessons. Indeed, your school might not block some online games because of their ‘educational’ content. Now, not all educational games are about doing math problems or spelling words – some are action-packed or present interesting logical puzzles. Therefore, it’s worth searching the internet for ‘educational’ games your school’s filter may let slip – you might be surprised how fun some are.

There may even be some sites out there disguised as ‘educational’ sites in order to fool school filters, so keep looking!

Try Free-to-Download Games

One final trick to try out is playing free-to-download games at school. The ability to play these games largely depends on whether you can run the software on the school’s computers. But many school admins may not suspect pupils would do this, and might leave the school’s network unsecured against these games by default. There are some great free games you can download and play at school, such as Counter-Strike 1.6 Mini Edition. So have a look around for these games, though remember that some graphic-intensive ones may not be able to run on your school’s computers!

1. Suggest the educational value of some games

Not all games are irrelevant to your curriculum. Plenty of games out there test your maths, English, and science skills. Teachers can use games such as Countdown as ‘warm-down’ exercises for a bit of fun at the end of a lesson.

If your school insists on keeping educational games blocked, suggest they pre-load some of the games onto the school network – a compromise that will keep the IT admins and students happy! Ideally, bring them a list of games for them to check out and approve.

2. Ask the admins to install certain software

In order to play some games, a computer must have certain software installed. Software called Flash powers most games, but other games use Java or Shockwave which your school might now have. If this is the case, try getting your school’s admins to install them! You could make up a reason for you wanting them to do it other than playing games – but don’t get caught playing them afterward.

3. Ask for your school’s network to be a little less restricted

If you want to host a LAN game on your school’s network, you may find your school network forbids you from this. Generally, such games take up few resources and should put the network under very little strain. Of course, don’t expect the admins to let you run the latest version of Battlefield or another modern game – it is extremely likely your school computers won’t be able to run such games even on the lowest graphics settings.

4. Ask for your school to open certain ports

Ports are a series of ‘routes’ to the internet that a network uses to organize connections. Different software will use different port numbers. If you want to play some online games at school, first, pick a game that isn’t resource intensive. For example, MMO games usually take up little bandwidth, and should be fine.

However, FPS games and Minecraft usually take up a lot of bandwidth and admins may be wary of allowing those games. To find out which port you need unblocked, you will need to find out by searching, or asking on, the internet. One final note – if you want to play Minecraft at school, your school needs to have Java installed on their computers.

5. Most importantly – be responsible

The game you want unblocked my not be ‘educational’ at all – that’s fine. You can convince your school’s IT admins that you won’t play any online games during lessons; instead, it’s just something fun to do during breaks. Show that you will be responsible and chances are they will let you play your games.

Here are some great free online games I like to play in my spare time!

1. Stick Sports

http://www.sticksports.com

Stick sports is an excellent site for sports games. There’s a good variety of games on offer – from tennis to baseball – and generally they are very high-quality given they are free games. Good game design and some simple, but impressive, physics make Stick Sports games a great way to kill some time.

2. Adrenaline Challenge

www.crazymonkeygames.com/Adrenaline-Challenge.htm

Adrenaline challenge is one of the most popular flash games on the internet. The premise is simple – you ride a bike in a 2D world, and hurting your character in any way will stop the game. The controls are easy to get used to, but take a while to master. Overall, Adrenaline Challenge is a great mixture of biking and platforming.

3. enDice

http://armorgames.com/play/2759/endice

If you want to play a good puzzle game, look no further than enDice. It’s clever, slick, and will have you puzzling for hours. Like many puzzle games, the design is straightforward, but as you progress, the levels get rather complex. The game works by rolling dice into designated spaces, but you can only move each die a certain number of times. See if you can get to the end!

4. Ultimate Flash Sonic

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/151706

One of the most impressive free online games I’ve ever seen! Ultimate Flash Sonic is a flash game remake of a classic video game, Sonic the Hedgehog. If you like platforming games, this amazing remake will keep you entertained for a while. If you’re a sonic fan, you’ll appreciate how faithful Ultimate Flash Sonic is to the old Sonic games!

5. Bubble Pop

http://www.bubblegame.org/

This game is based off an old Playstation series called Bust-a-Move. Use the arrow to fire bubbles onto the bubbles at the top of the screen. When you hit a three or more joined bubbles of the same colour with a bubble of the same colour, the bubbles pop and clear some of the screen. The aim is to clear the screen of all the bubbles.

6. Tetris

Tetris is really easy to find – just type ‘Tetris’ into Google and click on one of the results. Tetris may not be the trendiest of games, but it’s very addictive, and one of the most famous puzzle games of all time!

7. Exmortis

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/189227

If you like horror games, Exmortis is definitely worth checking out. It’s a point-and-click adventure game, where you navigate a haunted house. The game is actually quite scary and gruesome at times. Best played in the dark on your own, to get the best atmosphere possible!

8. Zelda: The Seeds of Darkness

http://www.dan-dare.org/FreeFun/Games/ZeldaDarkness.htm

If you’re a Legend of Zelda fan, here’s a great little Zelda-themed flash game. Explore forests and dungeons as you carefully drag a giant bomb around with you. Be careful not to let the bomb collide with anything, or it’ll blow up and cause game over!

9. Multitask

http://www.kongregate.com/games/IcyLime/multitask

Multitask is one of those games you just have to keep coming back to! The aim is to ‘survive’ in the game as much as possible. Over time, you are given a series of simple objectives to accomplish at the same time as each other. For example, one task is to keep a ball balanced on a movable object. Another task is to move an object to avoid projectiles. It sounds easy, but doing all these tasks at the same time as they build up gets tricky!

10. Minecraft

http://www.minecraft.net

Although the main version Minecraft is a paid game, there is a free ‘Classic’ version of the game you can play! To access it, create an account on the Minecraft website. Now click on either the single or multiplayer link below the “Play Minecraft Classic (Outdated, but free)” text. Preferably, you want to choose multiplayer and click on a server to go on. Although ‘Classic’ Minecraft is limited in functionality, you can still build to your heart’s content!

This trick, however, will let you play flash games while at school!

1. Open the game at home.

(You have to start at home or another computer that doesn’t block games.) Go on your own home computer and open up the game(s) you want to play at school.

2. View the page source.

Right-click on the page the game is on and select “view source.” A bunch of code will appear on your screen in a notepad file, but don’t worry about all that! What you see is the ‘HTML’ code for the page, a set of codes a web browser like Firefox or Google Chrome reads in order to construct a web page onto your screen.

3. Find the game’s source file.

Press CTRL+F and type .swf into the text box. Notepad will find the .swf files loaded on the web page. The .swf file will be highlighted, and you should see it as part of a URL. For example, if the game you want is called ‘pong’ you might see an address like http://www.yourgamessite.com/pong.swf.

4. Double-check the game.

Note that other flash files may be loaded on the site for purposes other than games, such as for menus or animated adverts. You will need to use the CTRL+F utility to go through the .swf files on the page until you find the game file. Sometimes the .swf file will be embedded in codes that cause it to be unidentifiable. If this appears to be the case, just move onto another games website.

5. Load just the game in your browser.

Once you have the right .swf file, copy its URL and paste it into the address bar. Hit enter to load it.

6. Save the .swf file.

Now go to File > Save As, or Save Page As. Save the .swf file onto your computer.

7. Copy the game to a thumb drive.

Next, you need to put the .swf file on a portable device such as your phone or a USB thumb drive. Ideally, you should just be able to plug it into a computer and access your files directly. Because of this, a USB drive is your best option.

Alternatively, you can email yourself the .swf file and open it at school, though there’s no guarantee your school’s computers will let you download the file onto their network.

8. Plug in at school!

At school, plug in your portable device or open your email. If you are using email, download the .swf file onto the school network. If you are using a portable device, open My Computer and find your device, then navigate to the .swf file.

9. Open the game in your browser.

Right-click on the .swf file, select “Open With”, and then chose to open it with Internet Explorer (or whatever web browser your school uses). Alternatively, you can go onto the internet browser and click File > Open and locate your .swf file from there. Hopefully your game will be open in the browser ready to play!

10. Hopefully it works.

Sometimes, even if you correctly load the .swf file at school, the game may not work. So before you head off to school, it’s best to try opening the .swf file on your own computer to confirm it works.

How a Proxy Site Works

A proxy server is a type of website that lets you bypass internet filtering systems. When you connect to a website through your school’s internet, your school’s system will check whether the website is suitable for viewing at school or not. Proxy servers bypass this because the proxy server, rather than the school, fetches the details of the website.

Most proxy servers are very straightforward to use. When you enter a proxy server website, it will ask you to enter a website address. Enter the address, click the submit button, and you should be browsing the site!

Many proxy servers also allow you to specify a few options. For example, it may ask whether you want java script and flash enabled. If you are using a proxy to access a games website, you want to turn those features on. Other features, such as cookies, are optional. Some proxy servers might bombard you with advertisements, but that’s the price you pay for bypassing your school’s internet security!

How to Find a Proxy Site

To find a proxy site, the easiest way is to visit Google and type in ‘proxy server’ or something similar. Thousands of sites will come up on the search results page. You might want to make a note of some of them at home and then try them at school the next day to see if your school blocks any of them.

If you find a proxy site that your school does not block – congratulations! You can now play online games and access other sites as you please. Generally, however, using a proxy website at school may not be easy. Unfortunately, schools are very aware of proxy sites, and they ban many of these sites on their networks.

What if the Proxy Sites are Already Blocked?

If your school appears to block many proxy sites, you can try research newly established proxy sites and try those out. One easy way to do this is to search Google for proxy websites, except this time try clicking the ‘past 24 hours’ option. This may yield some new proxy sites.

Some schools may use a keyword filtering system on their internet connections. This means the system will block websites based on the words on the site. For example, if you access a games website, the system may recognize the site is about games due to certain phrases such as ‘free online games’, or whatever. The system will detect that you are trying to access a games website, and will promptly block access to it.

The same system may block proxy websites, so even if you find new proxy sites that may not be on school ‘blacklists’, your school’s system may even detect it is a proxy site due to the keywords on it, and deny access. You therefore may not be able to use proxy servers to play games at school.

Fortunately, many proxy site creators are smart, and they name their sites clever names. For example, you could find a proxy at a site like “funeducationalsite.org” which is less likely to be blocked than a site like “proxyproxyproxy.com”.

Here’s a list of games you might be able to persuade your teacher to let you play – that is, if your school doesn’t block them already!

1. Countdown

This game is based off the British game show of the same name. You can play with letters or numbers. The goal is simple – you pick a bunch of letters (either vowels or consonants) or numbers (either “big” or “small” numbers) and the goal is to make words out of the letters, or, in the case of numbers, work out a calculation that produces a randomly generated three-digit number. It’s fun playing under the time limit, especially if your whole class does it.

[Link] http://www.subtangent.com/maths/countdown.php

2. Dots and Boxes

This is a fun, simple, logic-based game. You and the computer take turns to click on the space between two dots to connect them. The aim is to make a square, using you and/or your opponent’s lines. Each square you get awards a point, but each time you create a square you must take another turn, so be careful not to inadvertently allow your opponent to make a bunch of squares!

[Link] http://www.well.com/user/argv/java/dots.html

3. Immune System Defense Forces

Finally make biology lessons fun as you command an army of macrophages and dendrite cells to fight invading bacteria, whilst learning about the immune system at the same time!

[Link] http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/immunity/index.html

4. Word Wiz

As the letters fall, you have to remove them from the game by joining them up to make words. This is a great game for sharpening your memory and vocabulary. It plays just like Tetris, yet also improves your English skills – a winning combination.

[Link] http://www.thekidzpage.com/freekidsgames/games/wacky/wackywordwiz2.html

5. Super Mario Bounce

Initially, this may seem like just another platforming game, but it’s actually very strategic. The aim is to progress through each level in as few bounces as possible. If you jump too many times during a level, you’re dead! You can only beat the game by logically considering which places are best to bounce.

[Link] http://www.shegame.com/view/23417/Super-Mario-Bounce

6. Broken Calculator

If your calculator stops working during an exam, it’s probably best to ask to borrow one. Otherwise, this is a great game to test your mathematical intuition, plus your ability to use a calculator’s memory function.

[Link] http://www.subtangent.com/maths/broken-calc.php

7. enDice

One of the most entertaining puzzle games on the internet. You have to roll dice into all of the marked squares on the level. You can only roll a dice a certain number of times (indicated by the number on top of it) and you can push a die into another to roll them both simultaneously. Levels start out easy, but get very tough later on. Playing games like enDice will surely help you with your mathematical skills.

[Link] http://armorgames.com/play/2759/endice

8. Portal: The Flash Version

Portal is one of the most famous video games in existence, and for good reason. The game is built on a simple but amazing idea that offers substantial scope for a puzzle game – using two portals to maneuver your character. Again, this isn’t a mindless game. Only skill and logic will allow you to finish it.

[Link] http://armorgames.com/play/107/portal-the-flash-version

9. Othello

Othello, also known as Reversi, is a classic board game. The goal is simple – to turn over as many of your opponent’s pieces, leaving the majority of spaces on the board occupied by your own. You can play against the computer or your friends!

[Link] http://www.springfrog.com/games/othello/othello.htm

10. Bloxorz

Bloxorz is similar to enDice in that you need to maneuver logically objects through space. Unsure what that exactly means? Well, in Bloxorz you move a three-dimensional rectangle across a grid. Since it’s a rectangle, you need to consider how moving the shape onto its side or having stand up straight will affect your ability to move it through the level. Tell it to your teacher like that and they may sound impressed!

[Link] http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-bloxorz/index.html

Hopefully those games are allowed on your school computers. Enjoy.

However, some kinds of games are much less likely to get blocked than others. Here’s a list of ten games you should try out!

1. Minesweeper

You can find classic games like Minesweeper on games sites all over the internet. If the above URL does not work, try typing “JavaScript Minesweeper” into Google and try out the results. Because games developers don’t need to use flash to create games like Minesweeper, your school will not detect any flash games on the page – so they could easily not be blocked!

[Link] http://www.chezpoor.com/minesweeper/minesweeper.html

2. Sudoku

Sudoku puzzles might sound boring, but they’re worth trying out to see if you like them. There are almost certainly going to be some Sudoku sites not blocked by your school – have a search on Google and try some of the sites it lists.

[Link] http://www.sudokukingdom.com/

3. IQ Tester

Are you always arguing with your friends over which one of you is the smartest? Try out this game to see which one of you is correct!

[Link] http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/iqtester.shtml

4. Medical School

This game lets you step into the world of medical science! Your school might let this game through the filter since it will demonstrate some educational value.

[Link] http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/medical_school.shtml

5. Food Fight

Food Fight is a game produced by Brain Pop, a site for educational games. Food Fight is just an example of one of their games your school may not block. Many of the games are good fun, containing action and strategy.

[Link] http://www.brainpop.com/games/foodfight/

6. Hangman

Want a simple game of hangman? Like Minesweeper, Hangman does not require flash and is often powered by Java Script, meaning it’ll be easy to search for and unlikely to be blocked by your school!

[Link] http://www.google.com/search?q=hangman

7. Save the Paintings

Another game with an ‘educational’ value! If you like puzzle games, you’ll enjoy this – you have to drag together pieces of a canvas to make the full painting.

[Link] http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/save_the_paintings.shtml

8. Drop-a-block

Here’s another puzzle game. The aim of this one is to make words by putting blocks together, but this is essentially a puzzling, strategic game, so don’t think it’ll be completely boring and educational!

[Link] http://www.freeonlinegames.com/game/drop-a-block.html

9. Tetris

Tetris is one of the most famous games in the world, and it is available on the internet in abundance. Type ‘Tetris’ into Google. You’re almost guaranteed to find at least one Tetris site your school doesn’t block, simply because there will be so many of them.

[Link] http://www.google.com/search?q=tetris

10. Minecraft

Minecraft is a great free game you can play at school. If you can’t access the Minecraft website at school, you can download a dedicated client for the game at worldofminecraft.com at home, and run it off a memory pen (or some other storage device) at school.

[Link] http://www.minecraft.net

Here are a list of new games sites that may not be blocked – try them out!

1. Minecraft

Your school is likely to block the Minecraft website, but there is, potentially, a way around it. Firstly, login to worldofminecraft.com and download the World of Minecraft Client. Put the client file on a portable device, such as a memory pen. Take the device to school, and then run Minecraft through it! If Minecraft appears to be completely blocked, you can search for more ‘indie’ games your school may not be aware of – for example, take a look at http://indiegames.com.

[Link] http://www.minecraft.net

2. Zuwix

The reason I list this site is because it’s an example of a site that doesn’t contain any ‘buzz’ words in its domain. A school is more likely to block a web address that contains any ‘stop’ keywords such as ‘games’, ‘free games’ and so on. If Zuwix is blocked, try researching lists of gaming sites that do not contain any gaming-related keywords in their domain name, and try them out at school!

[Link] http://www.zuwix.com/

3. Cube Arcade

Another trick to access games sites at school is to try searching for newly-established sites that your school’s filters have not picked up yet. Cube Arcade is, possible, an example of such a site. There are numerous sites where people post their new arcade websites for people to try out, such as at talk arcades (http://www.talkarcades.com/site-showcase-reviews/). Just search through the list of threads on the forum, see which users mention any new arcade websites, and then try them out at school!

[Link] http://cubearcade.net/

4. JavaScript Gaming

JavaScript Gaming is a particular kind of site less likely to be blocked by school filters. The reason is that the games on this site are programmed in JavaScript. Flash, Java, and Shockwave power most games on the internet. JavaScript, on the other hand, is a more universal programming language that your school may find difficult to block. Nonetheless, if JavaScript gaming doesn’t work, try searching Google for “JavaScript games”, or some variant. Some JavaScript games are very simple, such as Hangman, which provides your school less incentive to block them.

[Link] http://www.lutanho.net/

5. Nobel Prize Educational Games

If you’re struggling to find any normal games websites, consider trying out ‘educational’ game sites such as the one listed above. It may seem like a last resort, but some ‘educational’ out there are actually great fun! Have a look at the Nobel Prize organization’s site and see if any of the games appeal to you. If not, search Google for “educational games” or something similar. You should be able to find games that are technically ‘educational,’ but in a practical sense play like any normal online game.

[Link] http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/

You should be able to find something at one of those five sites. If not, try these 10 games that are not blocked at school.

One of the main ways schools to block websites is by simple ‘filters.’ These filters contain a list of blocked sites and keywords. The idea is to block the user from accessing a site if the URL is on the ‘blocked’ site list, or if the site contains certain keywords (such as ‘online games’ or something similar).

These systems are still in place today, and are generally highly effective. Because the internet is well over a decade old, this has allowed these filtering systems to build up huge lists of blocked sites and become far more intelligent at detecting bad key words. So doing something predictable to this system, like searching for ‘free online games,’ is probably fruitless.

Worse still, if your school does not have java or flash installed – two main programming systems used to run internet games – most internet games will be off-limits to you.

If your school has flash and java, though, remember that the filtering systems cannot block all games websites. For example, the system may miss off some intricate keywords. You will have to keep trying to search the internet at school for complex key words, or make a list of games at home to try at school.

Also, when searching for a games website at school, it’s likely the school’s system will have scanned Google, Yahoo, Bing, and so on and gone through the games websites on the search engine results pages, blocking them. If you try an obscure search engine, though, such search engines may contain uncommon sites the school could not pick up in the mainstream search engines.

However, the mainstream search engines are not useless. You can use them to try finding new games websites that may not be on the school’s site filter yet. Go on Google and search for ‘online games’ or something similar, then click the “Past 24 hours” option on the left of the search engine results page. This search result tracks any site that has been updated within a day, and you might find some newly-established games websites on it.

We have a fresh list of game websites not yet blocked by schools right here.

Another alternative is to try finding JavaScript games. Type ‘JavaScript games’ into a search engine. Your school is less likely to block any sites with JavaScript games, but, on the downside, JavaScript games are much simpler than flash and java ones. You will likely find games like hangman and Tetris.

Another option is to try playing an educational game. Some are boring, some may be surprisingly fun. Your school is far less likely to block educational games than normal games. For example, teachers sometimes use educational games to help teach, or as a cool-down at the end of the lesson.

Blacklisting

Blacklisting works by the school (or district) network saving a database of ‘blocked’ sites – such as gaming sites or social networks like Facebook. If a student tries to access a ‘blocked’ website, the network system will refuse connection to it. These systems can be inconsistent, because there is no way they can keep up with the growth of the internet.

If anyone finds a games website that was created very recently, chances are it isn’t blocked. Blacklist filtering systems are also vulnerable to being bypassed by proxy servers, though it is very likely schools will stay on top of blocking as many proxy sites as possible. Find an unblocked proxy site, though, and you’re good to go on any website you want.

Whitelisting

Whitelisting is the opposite of blacklisting. Schools specify a ‘whitelist’ of sites which students can access. Any sites not on the whitelist are inaccessible. It is unlikely your school will use this system since teachers are often dismayed at the number of ‘educational’ sites that the system will block, and applying for a site to get whitelisted can take a while.

Unfortunately, if your school does use this system, there isn’t a lot you can do about it. Trying to access a proxy server would be impossible, since no school would add one to their whitelist. All you can do is persuade your teachers to try getting the system changed!*

*Obviously you want to complain that educational sites that you like are blocked. The teachers won’t care if you can’t access your favorite online games.

Keyword Filtering

This system is more complex than blacklisting or whitelisting. The system identifies ‘keywords’ on a website (such as ‘games’ or ‘videos’). Based on these keywords, the system will try to figure out whether the site is appropriate for school use or not. Trying to access an online games site, for example, will probably send alarm bells ringing for the system and it will promptly refuse you access. Or, you might search Google for a term like ‘online games site’ only for the keyword filter to block the search.

Generally, it is too difficult to explain how these systems work, since they are based on complex mathematical algorithms. However, these systems are not perfect, so you may stumble on a site a teacher would find inappropriate, but the filter (incorrectly) says is OK. Note that it’s perfectly possible to combine keyword filtering with blacklisting too – so if the keyword filter gets it wrong, the site you’re trying to access may be on the blacklist anyway.

Monitoring

Be paranoid – because the school computer admins are watching you!

Trying to avoid your teacher’s supervision is one thing, but getting past your school’s IT staff is another. You may not realize it, but admins can watch your activity even to the point of monitoring your computer screen remotely. I’ve even seen admins take control of someone’s screen and send them a message telling them not to play games! Depending on the size of your school, though, you’d have to be very unlucky for the admins to pick on you for this, especially if dozens of people are using school computers at any one time.

Another tactic is for the school’s computer system to log every website you access, and bother you later about it. But you would only get into trouble under this system if you were careless. Most people in the computer classrooms will go on a few websites they shouldn’t go on anyway, and your teacher might even occasionally let people browse the internet freely for a while. Only if you had a history of constantly accessing ‘inappropriate’ sites would you possibly get into trouble for it.

File Blocking

Another way schools block websites, especially game websites, is to configure school computers to stop flash and java files from being loaded. Flash and java are two kinds of programming tools that developers can use to create games – and since most internet games are powered by flash or java, blocking them means virtually all internet games are blocked.

Some schools may just not install java or flash on their systems, which would also block the games. It is sometimes possible to get around these systems though – some tech-savvy kid in your class might know how to install flash on the computers, for example – but trying to manipulate your school’s computer network is something you don’t want to get caught doing.

Hopefully this article shed some light on what your school is doing to block your beloved gaming websites. Knowledge is power, use it to your advantage!