Strange, pygame is not usually demanding on hardware and works on any toaster (I'm not talking about performance, but about whether they work).

Pygame, by default, opens a background command window, because it works on python, the creator of the game must disable this, if not, then it is normal for it to appear and close if for some reason it fails to start the graphical environment.

By any chance, what operating system do you have? Pygame runs on python and depending on the version of python used, the game might not work on windows 7 or 8, and only work on windows 10 and 11

I would tell you to use this game that I have programmed myself to test, it is created in pygame 2.x and with python 3.12, I have tested it on a computer that is more than 10 years old, but with windows 10.

https://hechelion.itch.io/andromata

The administrator mode and the sandbox should not alter the operation of a well programmed game at all, they are actually basic security tips.

A well designed game (except for very, very few exceptions) should not need administrator mode and the sandbox is used, so that in case a game carries malware or tries to steal some credentials it cannot affect your real data.

I will refrain from running as admin now

Very good. It is not only malware and spyware, but you should consider that things that are barred behind admin privileges are usually done so because of reasons. An amateur developer might screw up your system settings by accident. Or write at locations that might be fine for the developement version of the game on the developer's computer, but not on the user's system. Things like that.

I am not using the sandbox feature. Should I be?

Tough question. Consider it's existence. Why is it there? Why has Steam no such mode? If you combine amateur developers with the fact that Itch does not verify games or developers and anyone can upload anything - till it gets reported and removed for bad behaviour, you get a strong hint that it might be because of the reasons above. Amateur devs and added security. A malicous or badly programmed game could access your browser and steal session cookies, or delete your favorite image collection by accident.

If there is a dedicated other reason for this feature, I would be interested to know. Maybe it was just implemented, because it is dirt cheap and I think Windows has similar features in recent versions, so they went with the flow. The sandbox mode on Itch just uses a different user for execution of files, so the files of the main user are read and write protected. You can do that by foot, if you create a user and open an exe with shift-right click and run it as that user.

Should you switch to that mode, you cannot access your old save games from within the game.

I've looking into the files for an error log and do not see one, where is it I should be looking?

For those type of games, within the game folder. Like log.txt for example for renpy.

The error you describe can be just about anything. From failing memory chips to malware, problems with graphic drivers or sound drivers, even hardware failures or misconfigured multi monitor setup. Or not having the right to read files

I would try starting one of those renpy games that do not start and look at the log file. It should always create a file. It should start with the date and time and end with something like "Total time until interface ready: 5.32613682747s".

Actually, you just need to look in the folder and open the file from last time.