AdSense Approval Runbook

Upload all ten files to the web root

Back up your existing index.html first. The new one is your original file with roughly 140 changed lines — every game, theme, avatar and leaderboard is untouched.

Open each new page in a browser

/privacy.html, /cookies.html, /terms.html, /about.html, /contact.html. If they render unstyled, pages.css didn't upload or landed in the wrong folder.

Confirm tavernarcade.com/ads.txt serves plain text

It must return the one line of text, not a 404 or your site's HTML error page. AdSense flags a missing or malformed ads.txt in your dashboard and it suppresses revenue even after approval.

Add the same footer links to tavern.html

Your "Enter 3D Arcade" button sends visitors to tavern.html, which I haven't seen. Every page that shows ads needs a visible route to the privacy policy. Copy the .foot-links block out of the new index.html.

Play three or four games end to end

A reviewer will click cabinets at random. A game that throws a console error, loads a black screen or 404s on its asset folder reads as a broken site. Check on a phone too — a large share of review traffic is mobile.

Check for mixed content over HTTPS

Open DevTools on the live site and look for blocked or insecure requests. Any http:// asset inside an otherwise secure page will show a broken-padlock warning.

Turn on a consent management platform

AdSense → Privacy & messaging → European regulations. Publish Google's own certified CMP message. Without it you cannot serve EEA, UK or Swiss traffic, and Google will eventually stop serving ads there entirely.

While you're there, publish the US states message too — it covers the CCPA opt-out that the privacy policy promises.

Stop Auto ads from landing on top of a running game

Your play modal fills the screen with an iframe. Auto ads place units by algorithm and can drop an anchor or vignette straight over a game canvas, where every mis-tap becomes an invalid click. That is exactly the accidental-click pattern that gets accounts suspended after approval.

Safest route: switch Auto ads off and place two or three manual display units yourself — one above the game grid, one below it, one on each legal page. Paste each unit's snippet where you want it, using the block AdSense generates for you:

<ins class="adsbygoogle"
     style="display:block"
     data-ad-client="ca-pub-2136017662110170"
     data-ad-slot="YOUR_SLOT_ID"
     data-ad-format="auto"
     data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>
<script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});</script>

Verify the site in Google Search Console and submit the sitemap

Submit https://tavernarcade.com/sitemap.xml, then run the URL Inspection tool on your homepage and click View crawled page. If the rendered HTML now shows the game grid and the about text, the splash fix worked and you're clear to apply.

Do not mark the site as directed to children

Your legal pages declare a 13+ general audience. Keep the AdSense setting consistent with that — a cartoon art style does not make a site child-directed, but declaring it one strips personalized ads and most of your revenue.

Confirm every game is genuinely yours

Your About page states the whole library is built in-house, and the file list backs that up — self-hosted, no portal feeds. If any single title is licensed, borrowed or uses assets you don't have rights to, remove it before applying. Copyright is a hard rejection and it's checked.

Then apply, and expect to wait

Reviews commonly take a few days to a few weeks. Don't resubmit repeatedly and don't change the site mid-review. If you're rejected, the email names a category — fix that specific thing and reapply once.

Give each game its own page

Right now the whole arcade is one URL. A page per game — title, description, controls, screenshot, play button — turns 78 games into 78 indexable pages of original content. It's the single biggest improvement available to you, both for approval odds and for search traffic. You already have the description and controls text sitting in the GAMES array.

Delete or ignore content1.html

The old modal source. Nothing fetches it now. Leaving it costs nothing, but if it holds a thin duplicate of the privacy text, delete it so it can't be indexed as duplicate content.

Make sure the Bitcoin donation reads as a gift

The terms page already says donations are non-refundable, unlock nothing and are not required for access. Just make sure the button on the page doesn't imply otherwise — nothing on the site should look like a purchase.

Add alt text to the game cover images

Accessibility and image search, and it adds crawlable text to a page that is mostly pictures. One line in renderGrid().