Help

How can we help?

Answers about playing, buying, your progress and the content. Accounts and purchases open with the full game; until then the public preview is free and needs nothing.

Playing

Which browsers work?

Current Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on a desktop or laptop computer. The game draws its scenes with WebGL, which every current desktop browser has.

Can I play on a phone or tablet?

Not yet. A stage is built on a screen-sized scene with panels beside it, which does not fit a phone. This site reads fine on one; open the game on a computer.

The game does not load

Reload once. If it still stops, check that hardware acceleration is on in the browser's settings (the game needs WebGL), try a private window to rule out an extension, and check the connection: the first load downloads the game's files.

If none of that helps, write to us with your browser and computer.

The scene is dark or empty

An extension that recolours pages, such as Dark Reader, can paint over the scene. Turn it off for the game's site; the game has its own Midnight theme.

Keyboard, themes and larger text

Menus, dialogs and panels work by keyboard. Settings › Display has five themes, including high contrast and colour-blind safe, larger text and reduced motion. See the accessibility statement for what does not work yet.

How does each kind of stage play?

Every stage is one of 18 game types. How it plays walks through each one's first stage, step by step.

Buying

What can I buy?

A domain ($25): every world of one campaign, including worlds still to come. Or a certification path ($10 to $30, set by the exam's fee): every stage one exam guide covers, in study order. Each is a one-off payment, yours for good. There are no bundles and no subscription. See every price.

I bought a path; do I pay again for its stages in a domain?

You own the union of what you buy, so you never lose a stage. When a stage is locked, the game offers the cheapest product that unlocks it given what you already own.

Prices in my currency

Prices are set in US dollars, with regional prices for many countries. Checkout shows the price in your currency, with tax, before you pay.

Invoices

Paddle, the seller of record, emails an invoice after each purchase. To have it reissued with a company name or tax number, use the link in that email.

Refunds

Within 14 days of buying, no questions asked, while you have cleared fewer than 20% of the product's stages. Ask from your Library in the game, or write to us with the order id.

I paid and it is still locked

Sign in with the same email you used at checkout: a purchase belongs to the account it was bought from. If you are signed in with that email and the stage is still locked after a minute, reload the page.

Still locked? Write to us with the order id from Paddle's email and we will put it right.

Teams and classrooms

Seats for a class come later. Meanwhile tell us about your class and we will set it up by hand.

Progress and account

Where is my progress saved?

In your account, so it is on every device you sign in to. You can play the 7 free stages without an account; when you clear your first one, the game asks you to sign in to keep it. If you choose Not now, that progress lasts only until you close the tab.

My progress is gone

You are probably signed out, or signed in with another email. Sign in with the email you used before. Progress made without signing in is not kept.

Playing offline

Stages you have opened keep working without a connection, and your results wait in the browser until it is back. The game shows when it last saved: if the device never comes back online, progress since then is lost.

Signing in

There are no passwords: sign in with a link sent to your email, or with Google. A link works once and expires after a short time; ask for a new one if it has.

Change my email

Account › Account in the game, or write to us from the old address.

Delete my account

Account › Account › Delete in the game removes your profile, progress and feedback, and emails you a confirmation. Purchase records are kept as tax law requires, without your progress.

A copy of my data

Ask with the contact form (topic: a copy of my data). We send it within 30 days.

Content

How stages are written and checked

Each stage is written from the cloud's public documentation, and the simulator's rules follow what the documentation says the service does. The checks are deterministic: nothing is graded by AI. More on the method.

Report a mistake

Use Feedback on the stage, which sends the stage with your note, or the contact form (topic: a content mistake). A report that quotes the documentation is fixed first.

Exam tags and guide sections

Each stage names the sections of each exam guide it practises, as the guide numbers them ("Task 1.2", "Skill 5.1.1"). A certification path is every stage tagged for its exam, in study order.

Retired exams

When an exam's retirement is announced, its page says so, and the stages move to its successor's tags before the last sitting.

Contact

The form, with your order id if it is about a purchase. We answer within two working days.

Write to us

Status

Sign-in, progress and purchases need Tracesleuth's servers; the free stages keep working without them.

Current status