Regex Blacklist noob question

[Hammer]

Hi, I use pi-hole to disable game sites when my kids are supposed to be doing homework on their computers. When I see them playing a game, I’ll go to the Query Log page to see what sites are being accessed and add those sites to a Group called Games which I then toggle on or off to block or unblock those sites.

My question is should the sites I add from the Query Log be set as Exact Blacklist or Regex Blacklist? As I read up on the difference between the two, it sounds like Regex is used for “wildcard” style blocking vs Exact which requires an exact match. However, I don’t think there is a way for me to edit the “string” of the blocked domain to allow for wildcards and so it seems when I add via the Query Log, everything is Exact?

For example, ideally, I would like to block all variations of domains ending in epicgames.com. How can I accomplish this?

Thank you and apologies if this question has been asked previously.

[jfb]

@Hammer

add those sites to a Group called Games which I then toggle on or off to block or unblock those sites.

The group is only effective for the clients assigned to the group. Are the kids' devices in this group?

@Hammer

should the sites I add from the Query Log be set as Exact Blacklist or Regex Blacklist?

From the query log directly, you can only add a domain as an exact blacklist entry.

If you copy the domain to your clipboard and then go to the web admin GUI > Blacklist, paste the domain into the window and select "add as wildcard". This will create a regex for that domain that includes the domain and all subdomains.

[Hammer]

Thank you! Makes much more sense now! Appreciate it although probably not my kids!