TheGamesDB

An open, online database for video game fans providing game information, artwork, and metadata via API.

TheGamesDB publishes 5 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Developers API, Games API, Genres API, and 2 more. Tagged areas include Database, Gaming, Video Games, Metadata, and Artwork.

The TheGamesDB catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.

TheGamesDB’s developer surface includes documentation, signup flow, authentication, and 7 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub

45.9/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 31/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-08-05 · rubric v0.9.1

AccessFreemium

5 APIs 7 Features 4 Use Cases

DatabaseGamingVideo GamesMetadataArtwork

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-08-05 · rubric v0.9.1

Composite quality — 45.9/100 · developing

Contract Quality 14.6 / 25

Developer Ergonomics 3.9 / 20

Commercial Clarity 7.9 / 20

Operational Transparency 4.8 / 13

Governance 8.3 / 12

Discoverability 6.5 / 10

Agent readiness — 31/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/thegamesdb: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 5

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Thegamesdb Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Thegamesdb Finops

FINOPS

Features 7

Notable capabilities this provider offers.

Game Search

Search games by name with optional platform filtering

Game Details

Retrieve complete game metadata by ID including overview, ratings, and system requirements

Platform Catalog

Full catalog of all gaming platforms with hardware specifications and images

Game Artwork

Boxart, screenshots, fanart, banners, and clearlogos for games and platforms

Game Updates

Retrieve games updated since a given timestamp for database synchronization

Reference Data

Complete lists of genres, developers, and publishers

Batch Requests

Request multiple game or platform IDs in a single API call

Scroll for all 7

JSON Schema 8

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

Scroll for all 8

Examples 8

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Scroll for all 8

AGENTIC

Use Cases 4

What developers build with this provider.

Gaming Applications

Build game databases, libraries, and collection managers

Media Centers

Power game scrapers for Emulation Station, Kodi, and similar media centers

Game Collections

Manage personal or commercial video game collection databases

AI Game Assistant

Power AI agents that answer questions about video games

Integrations 2

Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.

EmulationStation

Popular retro gaming frontend using TheGamesDB for scraping

Skraper

Game scraper tools using the API for artwork and metadata

Resources

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Signup

Signup

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Design & Contract 2

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

TheGamesDB Spectral Rules

SpectralRules

TheGamesDB Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization

GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Authentication

Authentication

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits

RateLimits

Company 1

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

Source (apis.yml)

aid: thegamesdb
name: TheGamesDB
description: An open, online database for video game fans providing game information, artwork, and metadata via API.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Freemium
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
position: Consumer
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/thegamesdb.png
tags:
- Database
- Gaming
- Video Games
- Metadata
- Artwork
created: '2025-02-08'
modified: '2026-05-19'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/thegamesdb/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: thegamesdb:thegamesdb-developers-api
  name: TheGamesDB Developers API
  description: The Developers API from TheGamesDB — 1 operation(s) for developers.
  humanURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  baseURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net
  tags:
  - Developers
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/thegamesdb-developers-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  - type: Signup
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/key.php
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/thegamesdb-game-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/thegamesdb-game-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/thegamesdb-context.jsonld
- aid: thegamesdb:thegamesdb-games-api
  name: TheGamesDB Games API
  description: The Games API from TheGamesDB — 6 operation(s) for games.
  humanURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  baseURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net
  tags:
  - Games
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/thegamesdb-games-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  - type: Signup
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/key.php
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/thegamesdb-game-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/thegamesdb-game-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/thegamesdb-context.jsonld
- aid: thegamesdb:thegamesdb-genres-api
  name: TheGamesDB Genres API
  description: The Genres API from TheGamesDB — 1 operation(s) for genres.
  humanURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  baseURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net
  tags:
  - Genres
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/thegamesdb-genres-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  - type: Signup
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/key.php
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/thegamesdb-game-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/thegamesdb-game-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/thegamesdb-context.jsonld
- aid: thegamesdb:thegamesdb-platforms-api
  name: TheGamesDB Platforms API
  description: The Platforms API from TheGamesDB — 4 operation(s) for platforms.
  humanURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  baseURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net
  tags:
  - Platforms
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/thegamesdb-platforms-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  - type: Signup
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/key.php
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/thegamesdb-game-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/thegamesdb-game-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/thegamesdb-context.jsonld
- aid: thegamesdb:thegamesdb-publishers-api
  name: TheGamesDB Publishers API
  description: The Publishers API from TheGamesDB — 1 operation(s) for publishers.
  humanURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  baseURL: https://api.thegamesdb.net
  tags:
  - Publishers
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/thegamesdb-publishers-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
  - type: Signup
    url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/key.php
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/thegamesdb-game-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/thegamesdb-game-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/thegamesdb-context.jsonld
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/thegamesdb-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/thegamesdb-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://thegamesdb.net/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/
- type: Signup
  url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/key.php
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/TheGamesDB
- type: SpectralRules
  url: rules/thegamesdb-spectral-rules.yml
  title: TheGamesDB Spectral Rules
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/thegamesdb-vocabulary.yml
  title: TheGamesDB Vocabulary
- type: RateLimits
  url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/key.php
  data:
  - name: Monthly Allowance
    description: 1000 queries per month (20 calls per query = 20,000 total calls)
- type: Authentication
  url: https://api.thegamesdb.net/key.php
  data:
  - name: API Key Query Parameter
    description: API key passed as 'apikey' query parameter on all requests
- type: Features
  data:
  - name: Game Search
    description: Search games by name with optional platform filtering
  - name: Game Details
    description: Retrieve complete game metadata by ID including overview, ratings, and system requirements
  - name: Platform Catalog
    description: Full catalog of all gaming platforms with hardware specifications and images
  - name: Game Artwork
    description: Boxart, screenshots, fanart, banners, and clearlogos for games and platforms
  - name: Game Updates
    description: Retrieve games updated since a given timestamp for database synchronization
  - name: Reference Data
    description: Complete lists of genres, developers, and publishers
  - name: Batch Requests
    description: Request multiple game or platform IDs in a single API call
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Gaming Applications
    description: Build game databases, libraries, and collection managers
  - name: Media Centers
    description: Power game scrapers for Emulation Station, Kodi, and similar media centers
  - name: Game Collections
    description: Manage personal or commercial video game collection databases
  - name: AI Game Assistant
    description: Power AI agents that answer questions about video games
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: EmulationStation
    description: Popular retro gaming frontend using TheGamesDB for scraping
  - name: Skraper
    description: Game scraper tools using the API for artwork and metadata
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com