Toddler Touch Game Rules (iPad, ages 2-5)

---
name: toddler-touch-games
description: Rules for building touch games (web or native) for 2-5 year olds. Apply to every new game, mode, screen or art prompt in a kids' playroom app.
---

# Toddler touch game rules

These rules come from repeated playtests of a 13-game iPad "playroom" (React/Next.js in a WKWebView) with a 3-year-old. Each one cost a crying kid or a rejected build. Apply all of them by default.

## 1. Every interaction works by TAP and by DRAG ("backup mechanic")
Small kids mix up tapping and dragging. Never make one gesture the only way.
- Tap on a draggable item = send it where it belongs (auto-complete the drag).
- Drag that ends on a tap button = same as the tap.
- Pick/choice buttons fire on touch-down, not on release.
- Implement once: a shared `aim(pointer)` helper with an `isTap` branch (movement under ~10 px and under ~250 ms = tap), used by every draggable.
- QA rule: play one full pass using taps only, one using drags only. Both must finish the game.

## 2. The host always says what's next
When a step needs more input, the character speaks the hint ("More pepperoni, please!"). Never wait silently. A toddler can't read and treats silence as "it's broken".

## 3. Tapping a talking character must not spam
Kids tap the host over and over. One shared limiter for every host/character:
- A tap while a line is playing never restarts or cuts the line; the character only hops/wiggles.
- Spoken answers rotate through a pool (the current "what's next" hint first); never the same line twice in a row; a given line may repeat only after ~20 s.
- At most 3 spoken answers per 60 s; after that a tap is a hop plus a giggle/boing sound only.
- Wrap any repeatable nag line ("tap again!") in the same guard.

## 4. No faces on objects
Only characters and animals get eyes/mouths. Food, eggs, clouds, flowers, mushrooms, candy, pumpkins (no carved jack-o'-lantern faces), tools: never. Parents find "banana with eyes" creepy.
- Every image-generation prompt for an object ends with: "NO face, NO eyes, NO mouth, not a character."
- Check every new sprite sheet for stray faces before shipping.

## 5. Touch targets
Minimum 48 px on a side (Apple says 44; a toddler's finger needs more). Buttons must never be clipped by an `overflow: hidden` parent or hang off the edge in any supported orientation. Automate this check (see the companion "iPad screen check" skill).

## 6. Age rating traps (Apple Kids Category, 4+)
- Any cartoon violence, including "magic used to harm", "bonk" hits or dizzy stars, pushes the app to 9+. Magic may only transform, grow, shrink, twirl or give candy; nothing gets hurt.
- No knives, flames or blenders in kitchen games; use toy ovens, freezers and stirring.
- Collect no data; keep saves in localStorage; put any link to the web or a book behind a grown-up gate.

## 7. Replayability is the key element
Owners of kids' games ask for it every round. Cheap wins that worked:
- A countdown round (~5 min) plus a persistent "garden" that only grows through play (Tamagotchi-like, slow reward: "come back and see").
- High score with a big gong, collectible sets with empty shadow slots, one present per round, rotating backdrops/places.
- Remix of a favourite song = the ORIGINAL audio again with new visuals. Re-recorded or chopped remixes "sound completely different" and get rejected.

## 8. Voice and sound
- Same kid voices every time; no DSP, no whisper or singing tags, dry and full voice (see the companion "ElevenLabs character voice lines" skill).
- Menu music mild; new songs first in the playlist, old ones last.

## 9. Hub and navigation
- Game cards say the game's name out loud on tap.
- A tap-anywhere "games row" inside every game to switch games without finding a tiny back button.
- Leaving mid-game asks once ("Keep playing?") with huge buttons.

## Checklist before calling a game done
- [ ] Tap-only pass and drag-only pass both finish
- [ ] Host never silent when input is needed; tap-spam limited
- [ ] No faces on objects in new art
- [ ] Screen check passes at all iPad sizes, portrait and landscape
- [ ] Nothing harms anything (4+ rating)
- [ ] Something to come back to tomorrow