How do I get plays and votes for my game jam entry after the jam?
Once submissions close, the rating period is your window. Play and comment on other entries, ask the jam's chat for feedback, and post a short clip, all within the jam's rules. After results, publish a polished version on its own page and share that as a second launch.
Updated October 10, 2026. Written by Foundplay, a game discovery platform for free browser games. Foundplay also sells Boost, a paid promotion for games, and this guide says where it fits. The advice before that part works without it. All guides
Know the phases and the rules
Most jams run in three steps: a submission period, a rating period and a results announcement. The jam page lists the dates and says what you may change after the deadline. Read it before you touch the entry. Some jams freeze the jam build, some allow bug fixes only, and some allow anything.
During the rating period
- Play and comment on other entries. A specific comment ('the second jump felt great, the timer was hard to read') is more likely to bring that person to your game than a message that says 'play mine'.
- Check how the jam's rating system works. Some jams ask you to rate a minimum number of entries, and some show your game to more people when you rate others. The rules say which.
- Follow the self-promotion rules of the jam's chat or forum. Many allow one post about your entry. Vote trading is banned in some jams, so ask before you offer it.
- Post a short clip with the link. People scroll past screenshots and stop for motion.
Make the page easy to rate
People who rate entries play dozens of them, and give each a few minutes at most. On your entry page, put the browser version first, the controls and the goal in the first two lines, and a GIF of the best moment near the top. Say how the game uses the theme, since raters look for it.
A page where the game starts in one click gets more attempts than one that asks people to download a build. If you made a download first, add a web build before the rating period ends if the rules let you.
Fix, then split
If the rules don't let you change the jam build, leave it alone and publish the fixed game as a separate page, named something like 'Title (post-jam version)'. Put a link to it in the jam entry's description if the rules allow. Keep the jam link stable until results are out, so ratings and comments stay attached to the right page.
After the results: your second launch
- Spend a week or two on polish: the bug list from comments, a clearer first minute, better touch controls, a real title screen.
- Write a short post about what you changed since the jam. People who rated the entry are already interested, and a changelog gives them a reason to return.
- List the post-jam version on Foundplay and itch.io, and share it in the genre communities you skipped during the jam.
- Credit the jam in the description if its rules ask for that or allow it.
Attention to jam entries fades after the results, so do this while the jam is still fresh in people's minds, not months later.
Check licenses before a public release
Jams often provide or allow shared assets. Before you list a game outside the jam, check that the fonts, music, art and code libraries you used allow it, and replace anything that doesn't.
How Foundplay can help
Foundplay is a game discovery platform for free browser games. It doesn't host games: every listing sends players to the creator's own site.
The free listing
Listing a game is free. Paste the link where people play it at /submit, check the details and publish. The game goes live right away, and Play sends players to your own site.
Foundplay suits the post-jam version. Paste the link to the page where it plays, and use the source link field to mention the jam entry. A game you submit goes live right away, so you can time the listing to your post-jam announcement.
Boost, the paid option
Foundplay sells Boost, so it has a reason to want you to buy it. The free listing works without it.
A post-jam version is a release, so the plan called Boost fits a week of polish and posting. Launch ($100 for 1,500 plays in 7 days) is for a version you want on the home page. Neither gives you jam votes: a play on Foundplay counts a click, and jam ratings stay on the jam's site.
The Boost plan costs $10 for 120 plays in 5 days, which works out to 8.3¢ a play. Where it shows: its genre pages and search results.
A play is a counted click on Play from a sponsored spot, the same way public play counts work: once per game per network a day. Every sponsored spot is labelled Sponsored, and the share of plays not delivered by the end of the plan's days is refunded automatically. Foundplay can't see what players do after the click. Fan games and copies of commercial games can't be boosted. A game has to be listed before it can be boosted. List it first, or start a Boost and add your play link there, and Foundplay lists the game for free as part of the same flow.
For scale, Foundplay's own visit counter shows an average of 4,500+ visitors a day over the last three full days, and 600+ games are listed. It updates every few minutes.
More free ways to find players are in the full guide.
Questions
- Can I update my game during the rating period?
- Check the jam's rules. Many don't allow changes to the jam build. If yours doesn't, publish the fixed version as a separate page and link to it in your description if the rules permit.
- Is it okay to ask for votes in a jam's Discord?
- Ask for feedback instead, and follow the jam's rules. Some jams ban vote trading and others limit how often you can post about your entry.
- Should I list a jam game on Foundplay?
- Yes, if it plays in a browser at a link and the jam's rules allow a public release. A post-jam version with fixes usually makes a better first impression than a build that was finished in the last hour.
- When should I post the post-jam version?
- A week or two after results is a good target. People still remember the jam, and you've had time to fix what the comments pointed out.