About the game
Parking Patrol is a free educational game about reading clocks and working with time. Each level has three streets (the last level has four), and each street has four to six parked cars. The clock in the top-left corner shows the time now. Above every car, a parking meter shows how long that car is allowed to stay. Your job is to ticket every car whose time has run out, and only those cars.
The streets are made up fresh every time you play a level, so you can replay as often as you like and always get new times to check.
How to read a meter
There are two kinds of meter:
- PAID UNTIL 10:30: the car may stay until 10:30. Compare it straight with the clock.
- IN AT 9:50 · PAID 30 MIN: the driver arrived at 9:50 and paid for 30 minutes. Add the two first: 9:50 + 30 minutes = 10:20. That is when the time runs out.
The golden rule: a car gets a ticket only when the clock is later than the end of its paid time. If the meter says paid until 10:30 and the clock says exactly 10:30, the driver still has their last minute, so no ticket.
An example
The clock says 10:45. Car 1 is paid until 11:00: still fine. Car 2 arrived at 10:00 and paid 30 minutes, so it ran out at 10:30: ticket. Car 3 is paid until 10:45: exactly now, so still fine. Car 4 arrived at 9:40 and paid 1 hour, so it runs until 10:40: five minutes over, ticket.
Stars and mistakes
After you press Done, every car gets a green tick or a red cross, with the time its meter ran out. A mistake is either a ticket on a car that was still paid, or an expired car you missed.
- 3 stars: no mistakes in the whole level.
- 2 stars: one mistake.
- 1 star: two mistakes.
- Three mistakes end the shift, and you can try again with new streets.
There is no timer. Take as long as you need to work out each meter.
The twelve levels
| Level | What is new | Cars |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Main Street | Whole hours only (2:00, 3:00…) | 4 |
| 2. Half Past | Half hours (2:30) | 4 |
| 3. Quarter Hours | Quarter past and quarter to | 5 |
| 4. Town Hall Clock | The time is shown on a clock face | 5 |
| 5. Five Minutes | Any five minutes, and meters that end exactly now | 5 |
| 6. Pay and Display | Arrival time plus minutes paid | 4 |
| 7. Over the Hour | Paid time that runs into the next hour (10:50 + 20 min) | 5 |
| 8. Clock Tower | Clock face with both kinds of meter | 5 |
| 9. Long Stay | Up to 2 hours 30 minutes paid | 6 |
| 10. Station Car Park | 24-hour clock (14:35) | 6 |
| 11. Night Shift | 24-hour clock with long stays | 6 |
| 12. Chief's Beat | Everything, on four streets | 6 |
On the 12-hour levels all times stay between 1:00 and 11:59, so you never need to worry about morning and afternoon. On the 24-hour levels, times run from 07:00 to 21:55.
Tips
- Say the end time out loud. For "IN AT" meters, work out the end time first, then compare it with the clock.
- Crossing the hour: 10:50 + 20 minutes is 10 minutes to reach 11:00, plus 10 more: 11:10.
- Clock faces: the short hand shows the hour and the long red hand shows the minutes. When the long hand points at 3, it is quarter past; at 6, half past; at 9, quarter to.
- 24-hour clock: subtract 12 from hours after 12 to get the afternoon time. 15:20 is 3:20 in the afternoon.
- Exactly now is not late. Only ticket when the clock has gone past the end time.
For parents and teachers
Parking Patrol follows the usual order in which children learn to tell the time: o'clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to, five-minute steps, then elapsed time (adding minutes to a start time) and finally the 24-hour clock. Each level focuses on one new idea, and the review after every street shows the correct end time for each car, so mistakes turn into quick lessons. Levels 1 to 4 suit most children from about age 6 or 7; the elapsed-time and 24-hour levels are good practice for ages 8 to 11 and for adults who want a quick brain workout.
Frequently asked questions
Is Parking Patrol free?
Yes. It is completely free to play in any modern browser, with no download, account or in-game purchases.
Is the game about real parking rules?
No. Parking rules differ from place to place. The game uses one simple rule (ticket a car when its paid time has run out) so that you can focus on reading and adding times.
Why was my ticket wrong when the meter showed the same time as the clock?
A meter that says "paid until 10:30" is still valid at 10:30. The car only becomes late after that time, so no ticket.
Can I play on my phone or tablet?
Yes. Tap the cars or the meters to place tickets, and use Fullscreen for a bigger view.