Do Flash games work in Ruffle? We tested 509

The result

We ran every game in this site's archive through Ruffle, the open-source Flash emulator. The first full run, on a September 2026 build, started 499 of 509 games (98.0%). When we rechecked on the build of 19 October 2026, five of the ten failures had started working. That recheck covered a sample of 32 games, and none of the games that worked before had stopped.

The 99.0% figure therefore combines a full run with a partial recheck: we did not run all 509 games again on the October build.

Results by Flash version

This is the version recorded in each game file's header, with the October recheck included.

Results by year

This is the year the file was stamped on our server, which is close to, but not always, the year the game was made.

The five games that do not start

Four of the five need something from a server that no longer exists. In those cases the missing part is the game itself or a file it depends on, so a better emulator cannot bring them back.

• Star Command and Protect the Farm: 25 KB loaders, with the game itself on factory.packed.com.
• Denny's Flash Soccer: depends on www.menato.net.
• Turret Bot Defense: depends on Mochi's ad servers.
• American Tank Zombie Invasion: hangs without a clear error. We do not know why.

Dead services were less of a problem than we expected. 107 games still try to contact old Mochi services that no longer answer, and all 107 start anyway.

How we tested

1. Each game was loaded in an automated browser through the same embed code and Ruffle settings the site uses.
2. Three screenshots were taken about four seconds apart. If they differed, the game counted as running: 437 games passed this way.
3. Games with an unchanging picture were checked for brightness variation and number of colors, because a still menu is fine and a black screen is not: 60 games passed this way.
4. Two borderline games were checked by eye, and both had working menus. The remaining 10 of the 509 failed in the September run.

What this test cannot see

This is the most important limit on the number. A pass means that a game started and drew something, and nobody played all 509 to the end. Roads of Rome 3 shows the gap: it passed, then failed in its own menus with Error #1009 because Ruffle does not yet implement the Flash Text Engine. We repaired that one by hand, as described in how the archive was restored. Other games may have similar faults that appear later.

The sample has limits too. It is one site's catalogue of mostly casual arcade games, so it does not represent all Flash content. Three-screenshot checks can also vary between runs on borderline games.

How this compares with Ruffle's own figures

The Ruffle compatibility page measures something different: how much of Flash itself is implemented. When we checked on 5 November 2026 it listed 99% of the language and 82% of the API for ActionScript 1 and 2, and 90% of the language and 82% of the API for ActionScript 3. A game can run well without using the missing parts, which is how both sets of numbers can be true at once.

Try it yourself

Every game that started is on this site, and each page asks whether the game ran for you. Those answers catch what our test cannot. You can browse the archive, or read about other ways to play Flash games.