Privacy & price notes

Who this game is for

This preview is for teens 13 and older and adults learning everyday budgeting. We use a reviewed catalog of groceries and household essentials. There is no typed chat, photo upload, or custom avatar.

Information the game keeps

A necessary, secure session cookie remembers your guest session for seven days. The server stores your preset nickname, an age-eligibility flag, your guesses, scores, and room membership. Birth details are checked for eligibility and are not stored. Rooms expire after 12 hours; expired records may remain until maintenance removes them.

If you choose Sign in with ChatGPT, the hosting platform identifies your account. The game uses that account identifier to save completed game scores and accuracy history. The Account panel shows the sign-in methods enabled for this game. For email/password or Google sign-in, Firebase handles passwords, email verification and password recovery. The game uses your verified account identifier to keep your player and saved history, with a separate secure sign-in cookie lasting up to one hour. The game server does not store your password. Your account email is not shown to other players. The Account panel lets you sign out.

Use the Clear guest session button on the home screen to remove your active guest session. Signed-in players can also request deletion of their saved game history from their profile. The hosting service may separately retain operational records under its policies.

MKA reference prices

MKA stands for Mister Kantu Approved. We use reviewed, sourced averages as a shared game reference for a specific year and quantity. A local store can charge more or less; that does not change the game target. This is not a claim about what a product should cost.

Unique usernames

Each username is reserved across the game. Taken names are removed from the choice list, and case or spacing variations cannot be used to claim the same name. Leaving a room, clearing a guest session, session expiry, or deleting game history does not release the name. Distinct numbered names keep new choices available.

If you sign in, your reserved username is associated with that verified account and can be restored on another device after the age check. Without a linked account, clearing or losing your guest session means you cannot reclaim its name. The server retains the reserved name, an internal owner identifier, its optional account association, and when it was claimed to enforce this rule. Previous duplicate guest names receive unused numbered names while their records are preserved.

Readable room names

Each room has a unique shopping name that stays with its room code across reloads and replayed matches. New numbered names keep rooms distinct when the name list cycles. The server retains the room-name reservation so another room cannot use it. Short join codes and invite links still work.

Computer players

A shared pool of 100 computer players can fill a lobby when one person has been waiting alone. One joins after 90 seconds and a second after 120 seconds, when available, with a maximum of two per room. They use the same name and avatar presentation as other players and do not have human accounts. Their guesses vary and use the same timers and scoring rules. In an ordinary waiting lobby, another person joining replaces the computers. Public arenas can run matches with two computers and let people join on the next round. Arena matches start, advance and replay automatically while the game is being used; human host controls remain available. Solo practice does not add computers. Computer names are permanently reserved alongside human names.

Product pictures

Product names appear beneath their pictures during guessing. Pictures are original AI-generated illustrations of generic products, not photos of the exact sampled packages. The displayed quantity defines what is priced; package shapes, milk-cap colors, meat marbling, and pictured counts do not prove a grade, brand, or weight. Image descriptions are available to screen readers.

Where the prices come from

Starter packs use Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly average retail prices for the U.S. city average. We compute an equally weighted mean of the published monthly averages and round to the nearest cent.

These are national sample averages across retail outlets and may include eligible sale prices. They are not a guaranteed price at your store, a quote from a specific major retailer, or a regular-price-only average.

The playable catalog contains 85 reviewed products: 68 foods, 9 fuel/energy references, and 8 toy releases. Each year from 1990 through 2026 has 49–69 documented items, including 55 for 1990 and 49 for 2026. An item appears only in years with published observations; discontinued series are not extended with estimated prices. Partial product-years retain missing observations, and each reveal states its actual period and published-month count. October 2025 is unavailable; some records have additional gaps. 2026 uses available observations through August and is labeled year-to-date. Then vs. Now shows changes in these sample averages; it is not an official inflation measurement. Read the BLS methodology.

Fuel, utilities, oil and price history

Retail fuel cards use BLS pump-price averages, including applicable taxes. Household-energy cards use BLS averages for electricity per kWh, piped natural gas per therm, and residential #2 heating oil per gallon. The pictured equipment represents energy use; it is not what you are buying, and the target is not a whole monthly bill. Oil cards use EIA-published annual WTI or Brent crude-oil spot-price averages for 1990–2025. A barrel means 42 U.S. gallons of crude oil, not the container, refined gasoline, or a retail purchase. There is no invented 2026 oil average. After an everyday/energy reveal, a chart lets you explore actual available years for the same product definition. For Then vs. Now, the chart waits until the Now answer is revealed. Missing years stay blank; partial periods are marked; values are not adjusted for inflation.

Toy Flashbacks

Popular toy releases are the exception to yearly averages. These rounds use a verified U.S. manufacturer suggested retail price from the release year, for the exact toy/version. MSRP is clearly labeled; it is not a yearly average or a resale price. Everyday price education leads: about 35% of eligible games include one toy among seven guesses. Toy Flashbacks appear only in documented release years, and launch-only toys are not used for Then vs. Now.

How guesses are judged

Both modes accept dollars and cents and use the cent-rounded average. A guess within the inclusive 50¢ Easy window or the chosen 10¢ or 25¢ Expert window is correct and earns 25 points. In server acceptance order, the first correct answer adds 75 points (100 total), the second adds 50 (75 total), and the third adds 25 (50 total). Later correct answers earn 25. Wrong, unanswered or late guesses earn zero, even if they are closest, and do not consume a correct-answer bonus position. The server records acceptance order even when timestamps match. Already revealed rounds and saved game totals retain their original scoring.

Phone installation

You can add Cart Clash to your home screen through your browser. Live multiplayer still needs internet. The browser stores only the public reconnect page, its stylesheet and retry script, and one app icon for launches without a connection. Game pages, player sessions, guesses, and room responses are not stored in service-worker caches. Browser installation does not create an Apple or Google store account.

Preview limits

Rooms synchronize through frequent server updates. The server controls deadlines, answer locking, and scoring. Short rounds discourage price lookups but cannot prevent searching on another device. This preview has not been tested for large-scale public traffic.

Version 0.4.1 · October 3, 2026