Merge Fellas Unlimited Shake: Blocking help needed for student Chromebooks

[houchclemen]

Hello fellow ELP members,

Hoping to get some advice on a new digital distraction we're seeing on our managed Chromebooks.

A web-based game called "Merge Fellas" is becoming popular with our students during class. For context, so you can see exactly what I'm referring to, this is the site they are accessing:
https://modhello.com/merge-fellas/

The issue is that it's consuming a lot of focus time, and it seems quite accessible despite our current filters.

I have already added the main URL to our blocklist in the Google Admin Console under "URL blocking". However, it seems to have little effect. I suspect students might be accessing it through different mirrors or cached versions, but I'm not certain.

My question is: What is the most robust method for blocking a specific web application like this across our entire fleet of devices? Is there a more effective approach than a simple URL block that I might be missing in the Admin Console, perhaps through app controls or a network-level setting?

Any guidance from those who have dealt with similar persistent web apps would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[kaned]

This is a game of whack-o-mole...  

Blocking is generally done by domain or URL wildcards/RegEx.  If the site is located on 1000 different domains, this makes this very difficult to block.

You could use keyword/RegEx blocking but be very cautious as this can have unexpected consequences for legitimate sites.  Generally we frown on keyword blocking.  You could try to block something like *merge-fellas*, which would block any site with the text "merge-fellas" in the URL.  I'm not sure if there are any written best practices for this, but I generally argue against keyword blocking.

I would work with staff to address and deal with student behavior rather than block a website and have them simply find another.  Losing screen time, discipline, or loss of points on the task may be a much better incentive than IT trying to do classroom management.

We make a best effort to block sites, but this really needs to fall on the instructor to work with their student's behavior.