For parents

The first start-up

The board opens the setup wizard for a parent: 1. choose a parent PIN (four digits, asked twice), 2. set the clock, 3. WiFi (off unless you turn it on; you can type the network name and password with the knob), 4. choose which games and apps are on (all on by default). Until the wizard has been finished once, only the clock and alarms work.

Parent controls

Settings > Parent controls asks for the PIN (five wrong tries lock it for a minute). In it you can:

WiFi: turn it on and set the network name and password.
Games and apps: switch each of the five games, Messages, Alarms and the Pet on or off (a switched-off game is hidden and the board will not join a friend's session of it), and two more switches: Install apps (lets the board get apps from the store with an install code) and Update apps itself (checks for new versions about once a day). Both are off until you turn them on.
Change PIN, the Setup wizard (run it again) and Reset scores.

Messages from a parent's phone

With WiFi on, while the board is idle (not in a game, a game menu or a chat room) it joins your home network and serves a small web page. The address is shown under WiFi in Parent controls (and under Parent in the menu); it looks like http://tarcade-xxxx.local or an IP address. Open it on a phone or laptop on the same network, enter the PIN, and you can read and write messages, with quick buttons. On the board a message shows as a banner "PARENT", and the child can answer by typing or with quick replies.

Good to know: WiFi is paused while a game or chat room is being set up or played. While WiFi is on the board does not light-sleep, so it uses more battery. The page is plain HTTP on your home network, so use it only on a network you trust. Messages exist only in the board's memory.

Chat rooms

Menu > Messages: one board hosts a room (up to 20 people, with a PIN or open), others join by PIN or from Nearby rooms. Messages are plain text, kept only in memory, and are gone when the room closes or the board is switched off. Settings > Message alerts (always, not in games, never) and Wake on message. A switched-off Messages item in Parent controls hides all of it.

What children can publish

Nothing a child makes becomes public without a person looking at it first. A child's builder account needs a parent's approval by e-mail, and notices about their games come to the parent's address. See the content rules and privacy pages.