A year ago, we launched zaphira.games at Gamescom 2025. In our bag: Multiplayer Snake as our first game, and an idea we believed in from day one. Casual games don’t have to be an afterthought. When gameplay, community, and incentive come together, they can become something bigger. Twelve months later, we’re looking back and taking stock: what has become of that idea?
From Launch Game to Our Own Word Game Family
First off: more games. Multiplayer Snake was our starting point. Funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space and built with roughly 10,000 hours of development work, it was more than just a launch title for us, it was proof that our idea worked.
Since then, a lot has happened, especially in daily word puzzles. HelloWords and Spelling Hex brought two daily formats in the spirit of Wordle and Spelling Bee, and Word Lines followed as a third variant, inspired by the New York Times’ Strands. Just how well the concept resonates became especially clear when streamer Huebi tried several of our games with his community, including Multiplayer Snake, Spelling Hex, and HelloWords, and his community couldn’t get enough of them. Moments like that are what tell us we’re on the right track.
A Giveaway That Surprised Us
In May, we ran a six-day giveaway with daily prizes and a grand prize of €1,000, in partnership with Deutsche Fernsehlotterie. The response caught us off guard. Several thousand users took part. For us, that was a clear signal: the combination of a daily quiz and bonus chances in Bubble Shooter creates exactly the kind of recurring engagement we were hoping for.
Cashback: Playing Pays Off
One thing that sets us apart from most casual gaming portals: we let our players share in our ad revenue. In partnership with the established cashback provider rewardo.de, users who reach us through rewardo get a share of that revenue back, based on how much they play, with no extra sign-up required on our end. Playing for fun turns into a small but real financial incentive, a model that goes beyond the usual advertising or subscription logic. That’s something we’re genuinely proud of.
Embed Games: Our Offer for Publishers
Since November 2025, Zaphira Embed Games has offered a free entry point for publishers, blogs, and content sites. The idea is simple: the integration works like a YouTube embed. Readers play right on the page, ad-free and without us collecting any personal data, and are directed to zaphira.games at the end. If a reader follows that link, the publisher earns a share through our affiliate model. In October, kress.de covered games for publishers in depth and specifically highlighted Embed Games as a relevant offering for smaller publishers, which we were especially glad to see.
What Comes Next
Our goal for the years ahead is clear: we want to make our games even more playable. More fun in the actual gameplay, more reasons to come back, whether through new mechanics, additional cashback opportunities, or community formats like leaderboards. Our first year was about building the foundation. Now it’s about steadily improving the experience for everyone who plays with us.
Thank you for playing with us this past year. Here’s to the next one.
The market leader in games for publishers in German-speaking countries is making online games and puzzles available to publishers of every size – from a free entry point through to an enterprise solution, with high-quality word and thinking games modelled on the New York Times and the most searched-for online classics such as Sudoku, Solitaire, Mahjong or Bubble Shooter.
Karlsruhe/Cologne, 17 August 2026 – kr3m. media GmbH is the market leader for games solutions in the publishing market of the DACH region. Leading media companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have relied on games from kr3m for years – among them BILD, Süddeutsche Zeitung, FOCUS, NZZ, Blick, Krone and many more. Internationally, Le Monde, The Mirror and Daily Express are among kr3m’s clients.
kr3m is now opening its fully integrated games platform Playground to the entire market: at gamescom 2026 (26 to 30 August, Koelnmesse) the Karlsruhe-based company is presenting its modular games software for the first time as a fully scalable SaaS solution. Publishers of every size – from the regional title to the international media brand – can use it to launch a games offering of their own that is deeply integrated into their existing digital products, editorial processes and revenue models. kr3m can be found in the Business Area in Hall 4.1, Booth C051g.
The New York Times success model – now for every publisher
The New York Times has demonstrated the strategic value that games hold for a digital publishing business: around 34 percent of its total web traffic goes to games, daily games reduce subscriber churn by about 25 percent, and around 40 percent of games-only subscribers move to a full subscription within the first year (Streamline). How regularly readers come back is around ten times more important for subscription retention than the number of articles they read (Northwestern).
34% of the New York Times’ web traffic comes from games (Similarweb)
Playground transfers this model into a software-as-a-service offering – and goes beyond the New York Times’ approach to play. Alongside daily word and thinking games with archives, streaks and statistics (Crossword, HelloWords, Spelling Hex, Word Match, Word Lines, Quiz), the curated portfolio comprises the online classics with the greatest reach: Sudoku, Solitaire, Mahjong, Bubble Shooter, Chess, 2048, Snake and eXchange (Match3). These are precisely the titles that rank among the most searched-for keywords worldwide – and, backed by the authority of the publisher’s brand, they translate into organic traffic, registrations and subscriptions. Playground is available in German (DE, CH, AT), English (US, UK) and French (FR, CH). Spanish, Portuguese and additional languages will follow in the coming months.
Deep integration instead of an isolated solution
Playground is not a simple collection of games. Rather, the platform fits into the publisher’s brand, domain and technology: responsive across web, app and e-paper, connected to the CMS and editorial workflows, to registration and single sign-on, to the subscription system and paywall as well as to ad sales, consent management and analytics. User data remains within the publisher’s ecosystem. Editorial teams can embed individual games or quizzes directly into articles, topic pages and newsletters using embed code; publishing groups manage several brands centrally via multi-brand and tenant management while editorial independence is preserved.
In practice, Playground achieves retention rates of 30 to 50 percent with publisher partners, average dwell times of more than 20 minutes per visit, traffic growth of 5 to 30 percent and registration rates of 5 to 10 percent of users.
Pricing tiers from free to enterprise
What is new above all is the accessibility: Playground is available with immediate effect in tiered SaaS licence levels geared to monthly visits and the desired depth of integration.
Embed Games – free entry point with ad funding, revenue share via an affiliate programme, no minimum term
Starter – a first games offering of your own, from 450 euros per month for the entire games selection
Plus – brand adaptation, archives, streaks, leaderboards and registration, unlimited portals
Pro – CMS, editorial integration, SSO, subscription and paywall connection, subscriber-exclusive content
Enterprise – multi-brand and tenant management, exclusive puzzle content, individual integration and flexible commercialisation
Optionally, kr3m offers the all-in partnership: kr3m builds and operates the fully branded games platform, entirely on the basis of a revenue-share agreement. All models are built on the same platform: publishers start where the greatest benefit lies for them today and keep growing without changing systems.
A clear distinction from AI-generated games
In doing so, kr3m deliberately relies on the expertise of game designers with many years of experience and on lasting enjoyment of play. “A game that a model generates in seconds is closed again seconds later. What brings readers back every day comes out of game design, editorially reviewed puzzle content and years of fine-tuning – exactly as publishers know it from high-quality journalism,” says Jan Reichert, Managing Director of kr3m. “We use artificial intelligence where it genuinely takes work off editorial teams’ hands: in creating quizzes and word games, and as support during development. The game design itself remains handcrafted, and all content receives a final review by people.”
The games in the Playground portfolio are developed by professional game designers and continuously optimised; word and puzzle content is produced editorially and is available exclusively for the individual publisher on request – a difference that has a direct effect on return visits, dwell time and search engine visibility.
More than 20 years of experience in the publishing sector
Market leadership in the DACH region has grown over more than 20 years: kr3m has been developing digital games and engagement products for publishers and media companies since the early 2000s and is today a leading provider of HTML5 games for the publishing industry. This experience goes into every integration – from the placement of game entry points within the editorial product through the connection to paywall and single sign-on to the content planning for daily puzzle formats.
Concept and consulting
Many publishers are still at the beginning of their games strategy. Internally, the know-how to draw up a corresponding concept is missing. To help overcome this hurdle, kr3m offers consulting for this important phase. Managing Director Jan Reichert brings 30 years of know-how about publishers and online games to meet media companies where they stand today and to develop a future-proof games strategy for individual titles or an entire publishing house, independently of kr3m’s other services.
Meetings at gamescom
kr3m can be found from 26 to 30 August 2026 in the Business Area of gamescom in Hall 4.1, Booth C051g. Meetings for editorial teams and publisher representatives can be arranged in advance.
About kr3m
kr3m. media GmbH, headquartered in Karlsruhe, is the market leader for games solutions in the publishing market of the DACH region and has been developing digital games and engagement products for publishers and media companies for more than 20 years. With the modular publisher games platform Playground, kr3m combines a curated portfolio of high-quality games with deep integration into web, app and e-paper – from the editorial team through registration and subscription to monetisation. Playground is available as a SaaS licence in several tiers as well as an all-in partnership. The new offering was made possible by the German federal games funding programme for the projects Words and Mahjong. More at kr3m.com
Many small and medium-sized publishers, blogs, and other news and content websites would like to offer games to their readers. However, the required budgets are often too high. Starting in November 2025, kr3m offers a new – free – solution for these publishers: Zaphira Embed Games.
A Zaphira Embed Game can be integrated by editors just like a YouTube embed code. Readers can play for around 10 minutes per day directly on the site. At the end, they receive a link to zaphira.games to continue playing there. If they use this link, the publisher receives an affiliate share from Zaphira Games.
Zaphira Embed Games are ad-free and do not collect personal data. Therefore, no user consent is required. Any advertising revenue generated before the game starts or from ad placements around the game remains entirely with the publisher.
http://kress.de reported in detail on October 24 about games for publishers and highlighted Embed Games as an important offering for smaller publishers.
If you would like to test Zaphira Embed Games, please contact Franziska Weser directly.
kr3m is expanding its portfolio with an innovative gaming platform: Zaphira Games is now available at zaphira.games, bringing both the newly developed multiplayer title Zaphira Snake and classic, well-established games directly to the browser.
Zaphira Snake: Classic Cult Game in a New Format
Zaphira Snake brings back the legendary classic game Snake—with one major innovation. Instead of playing alone, multiple players can now compete on the same game field simultaneously.
The gameplay remains simple: control your snake, collect food, and grow. The challenge? In addition to obstacles and your own snake, you now have to compete against other players.
Highlights of Zaphira Snake
Zaphira Snake offers exciting features unique to kr3m’s version. Players can unlock individual skins through experience points (XP) and personalize their game. Power-ups provide additional excitement and unexpected twists.
The game is playable on smartphones, tablets, or desktops and runs directly in the browser thanks to HTML5 technology—no downloads required. At launch, it will be available on zaphira.games and later exclusively for kr3m’s partners.
Our goal with Zaphira Snake is to provide an accessible, engaging gaming experience that connects and excites players.
Zaphira Games: Premium Gaming Experience for Every Taste
In addition to the innovative Multiplayer Snake, the new platform Zaphira Games offers a carefully curated selection of classic games: 🔹 Solitaire – The timeless card classic in an elegant design 🔹 Sudoku – Brain training with various difficulty levels 🔹 Mahjong – The traditional Chinese tile game 🔹 Match-3 puzzles such as Bubble Shooter and eXchange – Strategic gem-matching
All games are developed as HTML5 games, making them cross-platform and usable without additional software. Other popular classics, including crossword puzzles and various Mahjong variants like Mahjong Solitaire, Alchemy, and Shanghai, will be released shortly. These exciting additions will further enrich the already diverse offering and promise even more variety and fun for users.
Freemium Model with Premium Benefits
Following kr3m’s proven business model, users can play the majority of games on Zaphira Games for free. The platform deliberately avoids disruptive pop-up ads, ensuring an uninterrupted gaming experience. For users who want to further enhance their experience, a Zaphira Plus subscription is available. This provides: 🔸 Completely ad-free gameplay 🔸 Access to additional difficulty levels (e.g., “Sudoku Very Hard” and “Sudoku Expert”) 🔸 Extended features and premium content
Affiliate Program for Content Creators and Reach Partners
Zaphira Games also opens up opportunities for collaborations with influencers and reach partners. The newly introduced affiliate model allows content creators to earn a revenue share by promoting the gaming platform.
Interested partners can contact:
Franziska Weser Director Business Development, kr3m
✉️ franziska.weser@kr3m.com
Technical Excellence and User-Friendliness
The development of Zaphira Games relies on the latest web technologies. All HTML5 games are designed responsively and work seamlessly across different devices. The platform excels with: 🔸 Instant gameplay without downloads 🔸 Optional registration for high-score tracking 🔸 Mobile-optimized display 🔸 Fast loading times 🔸 Intuitive user navigation
With the launch of Zaphira Games, kr3m strategically positions itself in the growing market for browser-based casual games, combining free content with premium features.
The platform is now available at zaphira.games and invites players of all ages to explore both nostalgic classics and innovative new interpretations like Multiplayer Snake.
With its Playground, a White-Label Games Portal, kr3m offers publishers and their readers worldwide the opportunity to play casual games such as Sudoku, Mahjong, Solitaire, and other popular games. Accessible without registration and in the browser on all devices, with extended features available through registration and even subscription. The Playground is fully customizable, allowing all needs of publishers and their target audiences to be met. kr3m also excels in search engine optimization for the games platform.
„Multiplayer Snake“
This is how the idea for a “Multiplayer Snake” game was born. kr3m’s game development is strongly guided by what games are searched for worldwide. In this context, the browser game “Snake” ranks among the top 5 most searched-for games globally. So far, Snake games have mainly been offered by US companies, with the most popular games being snake.io and slither.com.
With the support of the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), a multiplayer Snake game was developed over the past two years. It was launched on August 20, 2025, as Zaphira Snake at Gamescom. The funding from BMFTR over the period from May 1, 2023, to October 31, 2024, amounted to approximately €177,000.
However, this sum covers only part of kr3m’s investment in development. The total project cost for “Multiplayer Snake” was around €490,000. Among other things, a dedicated multiplayer server was developed from scratch, as no suitable off-the-shelf solution met the requirements of the White-label browser-based solution. Nearly 10,000 working hours were invested in the entire project.
As a finished game, Zaphira Snake offers all players extensive features and many possibilities that only kr3m’s version provides. New skins are unlocked through experience points (XP) for the snakes, and in-game power-ups add even more excitement. Players can enjoy Zaphira Snake on smartphones, tablets, or desktops. Zaphira Snake initially launches on zaphira.games but will later be offered to kr3m’s exclusive partners as well.
Alongside the introduction of Multiplayer Snake, kr3m’s own platform Zaphira Games is launched. In addition to the newly developed Multiplayer Snake, zaphira.games also offers other classics such as Solitaire, Sudoku, Mahjong, and Match-3 puzzles.
Following kr3m’s model, most games on Zaphira Games are free to play. To play without ads and unlock additional difficulty levels, users can subscribe.
Zaphira Games also allows influencers and reach partners to earn a revenue share through an affiliate model.
Interested partners can contact kr3m’s Director of Business Development, Franziska Weser: franziska.weser@kr3m.com
The sketch was created as an early scribble before the start of the project.
kr3m provides the gaming platforms for a large number of well-known news sites in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, e.g. spiele.spiegel.de, games.focus.de or spiele.nzz.ch. Most of the games on these sites are also searched for intensively on search engines. One search term that appears very frequently is “snake”. Players are sometimes looking for the old mobile Snake, but mainly for modern multiplayer variants such as https://snake.io/, which are offered by manufacturers from the USA. kr3m is developing its own game here, which has to be internationally competitive. “Modern Snake” is a multiplayer game that will be playable in all relevant browsers on smartphones, desktops and tablets.
When submitting a funding application, a picture and a short descriptive text must be included. The sketch shown here and in the funding database was created before the start of the project and in no way shows the final product. The project includes front-end development for all relevant platforms, high-scaling multiplayer servers and high-quality graphics for various resolutions. A budget of around €360,000 is usual for such a development. Only half of this, in this case just under €180,000, is being funded. The DLR Project Management Agency checks the liquidity in advance and the expenditure afterwards. The majority of the budget goes towards staff salaries. The game developer has to pay for marketing and publishing in full.
Thanks to the wide reach that kr3m achieves through its partners, the probability of success for “Modern Snake” is also high. The already published single-player Snake, which runs on https://spiele.spiegel.de/snake/, for example, is not the funded project.
kr3m was founded 25 years ago and has been successful and profitable for many years with 30 permanent employees in Karlsruhe. In recent years, the company has received various gaming subsidies. This has enabled kr3m to expand internationally from Germany and to prevail against competition, particularly from abroad. In some cases, state funding for games is considerably higher there, e.g. in Canada or France. There is also much more venture capital available in the USA in particular.
In an era of information overload, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) and kr3m media GmbH are setting new standards for news and puzzle experiences with the AI Crossword.
This innovativecrossword puzzleis specifically designed for magazine publishers to strengthen reader engagement and generate new subscriptions.
From News to Puzzle Fun The AI Crossword was born from the vision of not only informing readers but actively engaging them in the world of news. Utilizing artificial intelligence, the puzzle generates new questions daily, drawing directly from the content of NZZ articles. These articles are often behind a paywall, encouraging readers to subscribe to access the needed answers: https://spiele.nzz.ch/kreuzwortraetsel/
Unique Feature for Newspaper Publishers At the heart of the AI Crossword is an advanced AI that searches through and analyzes NZZ content, extracting relevant terms for the puzzle. The questions generated by the AI are not only a reflection of current events but also an incentive for readers to dive deeper into the articles.
Quality Control Before the puzzle goes live, it undergoes stringent quality control, including manual verification by kr3m’s QA team. This ensures that each puzzle is not only informative and entertaining but also of the highest quality.
Interactive User Experience The user interface of the AI Crossword is designed to offer readers challenging yet solvable puzzles. If a user gets stuck on a question, a direct link provides access to the full article. This not only fosters a deeper understanding of the topics but also supports content monetization through new or existing subscriptions.
Continuous Development The AI Crossword is a dynamic project that is continuously optimized. Future versions aim to increase the degree of automation and further enrich the puzzle experience for users.
Time to Puzzle! The AI Crossword is more than just a daily diversion for users; it is a strategic tool for reader engagement, specifically developed for newspaper publishers like the NZZ. Dive into the innovative world of the news puzzle, supported by AI and verified with human care. Try the NZZ AI puzzle experience. The articles gain reach, and the readers stay up to date!
Bridging German Tech with French Media: kr3m’s “Playground” Enhances France’s Premier Daily Newspaper’s Website, with more Global Partnerships on the Horizon
Karlsruhe (Germany), March 25, 2024 – kr3m, a trailblazer in digital entertainment based in Karlsruhe, is broadening its global outreach with the launch of a new, exciting project. The company’s online gaming platform, “Playground,” has been integrated into the digital services offered by Le Monde, the premier daily newspaper in France. This partnership represents kr3m’s inaugural foray into markets beyond German-speaking countries, signaling the beginning of an ambitious plan to forge global partnerships in 2024.
The “Playground”, an innovative white label solution for the integration of HTML5 games at publishing houses, is used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland by most major publishers and media houses such as DER SPIEGEL, FOCUS, BILD, NZZ, BLICK and Kronen Zeitung. Since early February, French audiences can enjoy this platform, localized in French and tailored to meet Le Monde’s specifications, at arcade.lemonde.fr.
Jan Reichert, kr3m’s Managing Director, expressed excitement over the collaboration, stating, “Collaborating with Le Monde to feature our HTML5 games is a privilege. This partnership is a key milestone in our strategy to expand internationally and sets a positive tone for 2024.”
“Playground” games are available to Le Monde’s readers without the need for registration, offering instant access to beloved classics like Solitaire, Sudoku, Mahjong, and Snake, all at no cost and playable directly in web browsers.
The Benefits of HTML5 Games HTML5 games offer an immediate, hassle-free gaming experience across both mobile and desktop platforms, eliminating the need for downloads or wait times. Casual games not only help to increase traffic, but also prolong the time users spend on the websites, increase the return rate and thus user loyalty to the portal. On average, users engage with the games for over 15 minutes. The games are funded through advertising, yet players have the choice to opt for a gaming subscription as well—a tactic that’s becoming more and more popular with leading online newspapers, but one that is not currently integrated on arcade.lemonde.fr. Classics like crossword puzzles, Sudoku, solitaire, mahjong, and bubble shooters form the cornerstone of the “Playground”, chosen for their widespread global appeal.
About kr3m As a leader in HTML5 games and technology within the GSA region, kr3m stands out as one of Germany’s most established gaming companies. The “Playground” casual games portal is favored by major German-language online newspapers for its ability to increase reach, enhance customer loyalty, generate additional ad revenue, and encourage new sign-ups and subscriptions.
Party atmosphere at kr3m. media GmbH – We celebrate our 25th birthday!
Since our foundation in 1999, we have developed into the market leader for publishers and media companies in the world of HTML5 games and technologies in German-speaking countries. A huge thank you to all our loyal customers and partners for your trust and support on this incredible journey!
Today, we look to the future full of motivation and anticipation – ready for further growth and internationalisation to continue shaping the digital landscape with our innovative white label games, voucher portals and financial technologies.
Our Karlsruhe team and our home office heroes, who have been working across Germany and internationally since the coronavirus pandemic, are popping the corks today in our new offices in the heart of Karlsruhe and all over Europe. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary together and toasting to the next 25 years. 🥂
Embarking on the journey into 2024 with fresh ideas!
Progress demands change. To meet the demands of our growth over the past years and prepare for the developments of more successful years to come, we’ve relocated our office from the heart of Karlsruhe to a new space.
With spacious facilities and state-of-the-art technology, we are excited to continue supporting our clients and partners while elevating collaboration to an entirely new level with new ideas and possibilities.
After 15 years, the era of the former office has come to an end. Since December 2023, you can find us at Kaiserstraße 142-144 in 76133 Karlsruhe. The new office is easily accessible by public transportation and is located in a protected historic building, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the vibrant downtown Karlsruhe.
Preview
New Year, new partnership, pure innovation! Explore AMiA, the personal care Wellbot from Inferics. This robot revolutionizes your home with safety, companionship, and entertainment. Get a sneak peek on Indiegogo and secure exclusive bonuses! Comprehensive information will follow in the new year!
We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for your continued loyalty, collaboration, and successful projects. We look forward to welcoming you to our new premises and providing you with excellent services both now and in the future.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a successful start to the new year 2024!
