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A website won't load in Destroy Any Website
The game has to fetch and re-render the page you give it. Anything that stops a robot from seeing a page stops the game from building the level.
Most problems with Destroy Any Website are not game bugs. They are the game being told to load something it has no way of reading. Worth knowing first: the game does not work on mobile at all, so if you are on a phone or tablet, that is the whole answer — the official system requirements list desktop browsers only.
If you are on a desktop and the level still will not appear, work down this list.
1. The page needs a login
Anything behind an account — a social feed, a webmail inbox, a dashboard — cannot be turned into a level. The game loads the page anonymously, which means it sees the login wall, not the content. Nothing can be done about this from your side. Use a public page instead.
2. The page is paywalled or consent-gated
A full-screen cookie banner or a subscription prompt is often the only thing that renders, giving you a level with one giant boring wall in it. Try a different URL, or one of the demo pages the game offers.
3. The address is private or local
Private network addresses and anything that only exists on your own machine or company network are not reachable. Stick to public web addresses.
4. The site blocks automated requests
Many large sites actively refuse non-browser traffic through bot protection or a firewall rule. When that happens the request never returns a page at all, so there is nothing for the game to build. This is the single most common cause of "it just doesn't work" on a specific site, and it is not something you can switch off.
5. The page is simply a bad fit
Some pages load fine and still make a poor level: very short pages, pages that are one large video, and pages where almost everything sits below a lazy-loading threshold you cannot reach. The layout, not the content, decides whether the level is any good.
What to try instead
- Start with the built-in demo page or Wikipedia. Both are offered by the game itself and both are known to render well — they are the fastest way to confirm the game works on your machine.
- Pick long, element-heavy public pages: reference articles, documentation, big product listings.
- Try a different browser. The official support list is Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge on desktop. If you are on an unusual browser or a locked-down work machine, try one of those four.
- Reload once before giving up. A slow source page can time out on the first attempt and work on the second.
None of that worked?
If the demo page itself will not load, the problem is local to your browser rather than the URL — try a hard refresh, disable extensions that block scripts, and make sure you are not on a restricted network. The game has no account system, so there is nothing to reset on the developer's side.
Keep reading
Frequently asked questions
- Why won't my website load in Destroy Any Website?
- The four usual reasons are a login wall, a paywall or consent screen, a private network address, or a site that blocks automated requests. In each case the game has nothing readable to turn into a level.
- Does Destroy Any Website work on iPhone or Android?
- No. The official system requirements list desktop browsers only, with keyboard and mouse input. Mobile is not supported.
- Which websites work best?
- Long, public, element-heavy pages such as reference articles, documentation and large product listings. The game's own demo page and Wikipedia are safe starting points.
- Is the game broken if one site fails?
- No. A single URL failing only means that page could not be fetched or rendered. Try the built-in demo page — if that loads, the game is working fine.