Help

This section contains information about No-Bullshit Games and its purpose, in Q/A format.

What constitutes "bullshit"?

Defining "bullshit" is rather hard, and inclusion in the list is at least somewhat subjective. However, there are some general guidelines for what you can expect. Generally, "bullshit" games are those which expect you to pay with your time, or which aim to extract a large amount of money by exploiting psychological weaknesses.

Here are some examples, for clarification:

Games which show ads often with no way to disable them are bullshit. However, if the game has a one-off in-app purchase to remove all ads for ever, that's basically a trial before you buy and is fine.
Games which have their own in-game currency (coins, crystals, whatever) which you can buy for real money are almost always bullshit. An in-game currency is a dead giveaway that the game is predatory. If you see such a game here, please report it immediately.
Games that charge you a small price to download some extra levels are okay, as long as the original game isn't intentionally crippled so you spend more money. DLC is fine, but it should be worth the money.
Games where you can pay to win are bullshit. Any item you buy should be purely cosmetic.
Games that are extremely hard after a point to get you to pay for help are bullshit. It doesn't matter if you can "get very far without paying" or if you can "beat the game on your own", games are supposed to be fun and spending time to save money is basically the definition of work, or extortion.
Emulators are not games, they are software for running games, thus they are not allowed here. Apps that are not games at all are right out, obviously.

To keep this site fun for me to maintain, I have a disclaimer where I will sound like a dick, but it's necessary: Please remember that the final call and responsibility for whether a game makes it on the list or not is solely mine. I don't have to justify the decision, not even if there is a similar game to yours already on the list. All decisions are final, I will not argue with you and might just stop talking to you altogether.

Is the site curated?

Yes, it is. When you add a game, it is checked for some criteria (popular, well-rated, no ads, no IAP) and will automatically be added to the list if it fulfills the criteria. If not, I can manually add or remove it, which will take longer. The game might also be delisted if its criteria change (e.g. it suddenly gets ads).

To help me with curation, please add your favorite games and tell me if they contain IAP and why they should be included if they do. If you see any games on the site that are bullshit, please report them and mention why they are bullshit and I will take them down.

Is there a popularity threshold?

There is, the games listed here need to be at least somewhat popular. This has the unfortunate side-effect of ignoring some hidden gems, but makes my job much easier in that it helps me rely on other people to ballpark the bullshit level of popular games.

If you're a small developer affected by this, I'm sorry. I'll be happy to add your game once you have achieved a bit of popularity, though.