What is RetroIRC?
RetroIRC is the 90s internet you remember — IRC channels, dial-up sounds, pixel avatars, neon-on-black CRT glow — rebuilt on a thoroughly modern stack. It looks like 1999, but it's real-time, mobile-friendly and secure. Everything listed below is built and live today.
Free to use, forever: jump in as a guest, no signup required. Open the chat →
💬 Chat
15 official channels
#general, #introductions, #off-topic, #80s, #90s, #y2k, #movies, #tv-shows, #anime, #gaming, #retro-gaming, #music, #coding, #crypto, #art — always on, always free. Up to 12 rooms open at once in tabs with unread badges.
Your own communities
Create public rooms free, or private password-protected rooms with Premium. Room owners get real mod powers — /op and /deop your own moderators and run your corner of the internet.
Real IRC commands
/me, /nick, /join, /msg, /shrug, /roll, /8ball, /slap (the classic trout) and more. Mods get /kick, /ban, /mute, /topic. Type /help in chat for the full list.
Direct messages
Private 1-on-1 DMs with read receipts, editing, deleting and the legendary ICQ "uh-oh" sound. Unread counts follow you everywhere.
Jukebox listening parties
Every room has a shared YouTube jukebox — queue tracks and listen together, 90s radio style.
TriviaBot 3000
Live 90s trivia rounds in #general — first correct answer takes the glory.
Presence & typing
Live online lists sorted by role, typing indicators, join/leave announcements — the room feels alive because it is.
Moderation that works
Role hierarchy (★ founder, ◆ admin, ● mod), warn/mute/kick/ban with reasons, profanity filter, rate limiting, reserved-name protection against staff impersonation.
🕹 The Arcade
Free cabinets
Pong (vs CPU), Snake, Tetris, and "The Lost Server Room" text adventure — playable instantly, high scores saved.
Premium cabinets
Castle Neon 3D — a real raycasting FPS, 24 levels, 4 episodes, bosses. Dungeon of Doom — 100-floor RPG with NPCs, shops, quests and saves. The Information Superhighway Trail — Oregon Trail for the dial-up age. Neon Serpent Arena — slither against 7 AI serpents: eat orbs, grow huge, cut them off.
High score boards
Per-game top-10 leaderboards in the arcade hall — beat ZER0C00L and claim your rank.
The arcade hall
A CSS-only 90s arcade with cabinet art, scanline screens and coin slots. Walk in →
😎 Profiles & Social
Pixel Avatar Studio
Build your own 16×16 pixel PFP — sex, skin tone, hair, clothes, background, accessories. Or load an NFT you own as your avatar (Premium).
21 earnable badges
From "First Words" to "Terminally Online" — chat, game, befriend and streak your way through bronze, silver, gold and neon tiers.
Daily streaks & rewards
Log in daily to build your streak. Milestone days drop free cosmetics — Stardust glitter days, Aura glow days, exclusive badges.
Follow, friend, like
Follow profiles, send friend requests, like pages, sign guestbooks — with a live notification bell for everything that happens to you.
Cosmetics & banners
One-time avatar frames (Neon Tube, Solid Gold, The Grid…) and profile banners (Miami Sunset, Vapor Dream…). Own them forever.
Invite rewards
Share your personal invite link — 3 signups earns a free month of Aura.
🎨 Customization
12 site themes
Terminal Green and Amber free; Hot Pink, Ice Cyan, Purple Haze, Vaporwave, Light Paper, full Windows 95 AND Windows XP skins, Cyberpunk, deep-space Starfield and RGB Gamer with Premium.
CRT effects
Scanlines, screen flicker and phosphor glow — toggle each in settings. Synthesized dial-up and ICQ sounds (mutable, we promise).
Name colors & sparkles
Founders glow green. Free accounts are purple. Paid members pick from six neon colors. Stardust ($1.99/mo) adds sparkles in 6 styles — classic gold, Rainbow Prism, ice crystals, pink hearts, emerald rain, fire sparks — and Prism ($1.99/mo) makes your whole name flow through the rainbow.
Profile themes
Skin your own profile page — visitors see YOUR aesthetic, MySpace style.
⛓ Web3 Corner
Wallet connect
Connect MetaMask (or any EIP-1193 wallet) — only when you click, never auto-prompted.
NFT profile pictures
Point at any ERC-721 you own and wear it as your PFP (Premium).
Genesis Drop
Founders Club members get a FREE mint of the RetroIRC Genesis NFT. Join the waitlist →
⭐ Going Premium
Basic chat is free forever — that's the point. Premium unlocks the good stuff: private rooms, the premium arcade, all themes, emoji picker, name colors, NFT PFPs and the avatar studio.
- ★ Founders Club — $4.99/mo or $39/yr, rate locked forever, first 10,000 members only (live countdown on the pricing page)
- ★ Premium — $7.99/mo or $69/yr
- ✨ $1.99/mo add-ons: Aura (PFP glow) · Stardust (6 sparkle styles) · Prism (rainbow name) · Grand Entrance (custom join announcement) · Name Plate (profile title) · Living Avatar (animated PFP) · Streak Shield (vacation-proof streaks) · Power User (24 tabs) · Chat Pet (pixel buddy) · Profile Themes
- ⚡ Room Boost $2.99/mo — glowing border + pinned to the top of the sidebar
- 🎁 Gift any subscription to a friend
🔧 Under the hood
Next.js 15 · React 19 · TypeScript · Tailwind v4 · Supabase (Postgres + Realtime + Auth with Google sign-in) · Stripe subscriptions · Vercel edge hosting. Row-level security on every table, signature-verified payment webhooks, and a fully playable offline demo mode. The games are 100% hand-coded canvas — no engines, no asset packs, just like the shareware days.
Under Construction
This page is permanently under construction. It's tradition.