Desktop Games & the Launcher

Some games are too big or too demanding for a browser and come as a download for Windows instead. They are started through a small program called the edu.games launcher, which unlocks the game with a token from your account and records your play the same way browser games do.

Before you start

• A Windows computer. A Mac version of the launcher is not available yet — a game’s label shows which builds exist (for example HTML5 + Windows).
• Permission to create a folder and run a program on that computer. On school machines, ask your teacher or IT staff.
• Your teacher must have licensed the game with enough seats — desktop games are always seat-licensed.

Step 1 — Generate a launcher token

On My Games, open the game and click the Setup instructions link under its Download button to reach the Launcher Setup page. Press Generate launcher token and copy the long code that appears. It is shown once only — if you lose it, generate another.

The token only unlocks games you are licensed for. It is not your password and cannot be used to sign in to your account, so a leaked token can’t expose anything else. Tokens expire after 12 months.

Step 2 — Save it where the launcher looks

1. Create a folder called .edugames inside your user folder: C:\Users\YourName\.edugames\
2. Inside it, save the token as a file named exactly token — no .txt extension. Notepad works: paste the token, then save with the file name in quotes ("token") so Windows doesn’t add an extension.

Step 3 — Download and run the game

1. Back on My Games, press ⬇ Download on the game. You get a ZIP file.
2. Extract the ZIP to a folder of your choice.
3. Run launcher-win.exe from that folder. It prints “Checking out seat…”, then “Seat reserved. Decrypting game files…”, and starts the game.
4. Play. When you close the game the launcher prints “Game closed. Releasing seat…” and finishes with “Done.”

How seats work for desktop games

Each time you start the game, the launcher checks out one of your teacher’s seats for the session and checks it back in when you close the game. Your teacher can see the session while it is running. You can only have one active session per game at a time, so close the game on one computer before starting it on another. If the game crashes or the computer shuts down before check-in, the seat frees itself automatically within a few hours — or your teacher can release it straight away from their class page.

Managing your tokens

The Launcher Setup page lists your active tokens under Your launcher tokens, with when each was last used. If a computer is lost or you think a token has leaked, press Revoke — it stops working immediately. Generate a separate token for each computer you use, so you can revoke one without affecting the others.

Common messages

• “No auth token found” — the launcher can’t find the token file. Check the folder name, the file name (no extension), and that you saved it under the Windows user you are signed in as.
• “checkout failed” with no_seats — every seat is in use. Ask your teacher for more seats or wait for a session to end. With session_active, close the game on your other computer first. With no_licence, your teacher hasn’t licensed this game for your class.
• “A newer version of this game is available” — the developer updated the game. Download it again from My Games; the old copy stops working after the date shown.
• “Could not check the game back in” — your internet dropped at the end. Nothing is lost; the seat frees itself within a few hours.