A Review Queue for New Games From the Feed

Pulling games automatically from the PlayKovo feed keeps your section fresh with no manual work. But "automatic" also means a new game can appear on your site before anyone on your team has seen it. For many sites that is fine. For a site with a specific audience, such as children, a school or a brand, it is safer to put new games in a review queue first. This post explains how to set one up.

Ask yourself:

• Is your audience sensitive? Children, schools, or a brand that must avoid certain themes.
• Does your site have a clear focus? A puzzle-only site does not want a shooter appearing on the homepage.
• Do you write your own text for each game? Then a new game without text should not go live anyway.

If any answer is yes, a review queue is worth the small effort. If you run a general games site and accept the whole catalog, automatic publishing with good filters may be enough.

1. Sync the feed on a schedule, for example daily.
2. Compare it with your stored list of games.
3. New games go into your database with the status pending.
4. Removed games are taken down right away, without review.
5. A person reviews pending games and marks each one approved or rejected.
6. Only approved games appear on your site.

Removal must never wait for review. If a game leaves the catalog, the partner terms describe how quickly it must leave your site too. Treat removals as automatic.

games
  slug           text primary key
  title          text
  category       text
  tags           text[]
  device_support text
  status         text  -- pending | approved | rejected | removed
  first_seen     timestamp
  reviewed_at    timestamp
  reviewer       text
  note           text  -- why it was rejected, or what to write
  my_description text  -- your own text for the page

Keep rejected games in the table with their status, so the next sync does not add them back to the queue.

Before a person sees a game, filters can decide the obvious cases:

• Category and tags: auto-reject categories you never show, such as horror on a children's site.
• Device support: if most visitors are on phones, auto-reject or deprioritize desktop-only games.
• Orientation: if your layout only fits portrait games well, flag landscape ones.
• Keywords: flag titles or descriptions with words you want a human to check.

Filters should mostly flag, not decide. A word list can catch a harmless game, and a category label is not always precise.

Open each game and play it for a minute or two. Check:

• Does it load and work on a phone and on a computer, in a normal browser?
• Does it fit your audience? Theme, violence, language, scary content.
• Does it fit your site? Genre, quality and style.
• Are the controls understandable for your visitors?
• Is there anything you would be uncomfortable showing next to your brand?

Do not judge whether a game works from automated checks alone. Some game hosts block simple automated requests but work fine for real users. Always confirm by opening the game.

• A single admin page listing pending games with thumbnail, title, category, tags and device support.
• The game embedded right there, so the reviewer does not need to open another tab.
• Approve and reject buttons, and a short note field.
• Keyboard shortcuts if the queue is long.

Protect this page behind your admin login. It should never be public.

Review is a good moment to write the short description for your page. The reviewer has just played the game and knows what it is like. Two or three sentences in your own words, plus the controls, are enough to start. Mark games approved but without text as "not ready" if your pages need text to go live.

Pick a fixed rhythm that matches how fast new games arrive, for example once a week. A queue that grows for months is discouraging. If the queue gets too long, tighten the automatic filters.

Games can change after you approve them: developers update content, controls or ads. You cannot review every update, but a light check helps:

• Re-check your most visible games (homepage, top of categories) every few months.
• React to visitor reports quickly.
• Keep a "report a problem" link on game pages.

A review queue decides whether a game appears on your site. It does not let you change the game. Do not hide parts of games, block their ads or alter their embed code. If a game is not right for you, simply don't show it.

• New games enter as pending, removed games leave automatically.
• Rejected games stay recorded so they don't come back.
• Filters flag by category, tags, device, orientation and keywords.
• A person plays each game before approval.
• A fast admin page, behind login.
• Your own short text written during review.
• A regular review rhythm and periodic re-checks.

For details on the feed itself, see the other posts on the developers and partners blog.