But there is so much more to your favorite smart speaker that you may not know about. One of its hidden features is interactive gaming, which makes use of gaming programs specially designed for smart speakers. Let’s take a look at some of the best games adapted for voice-assisted gameplay that you can play on your favorite Google Nest device.
What is Google Nest?
Google Nest is the banner term for a series of smart speakers developed by Google. Google Nest is the rebranded version of Google Home and features the same product line, albeit with a different name. The series features seven models of smart speakers that include the original Google Home, the Google Home Mini, Home Max, Nest Hub, Nest Mini, and Nest Audio. All of these devices serve as the housing unit or mainframe from which users can interact with the company’s famous digital assistant, Google Assistant. Integration with the digital assistant allows the devices to execute various tasks via voice commands. Examples of tasks include playing music, retrieving traffic updates from weather apps, and creating shopping lists, among other voice commands. Google designed the devices to serve as control centers for multiple smart devices in the home that are connected to the Google Home hub.
What are Google Home Games?
Smart speakers that run on Google Assistant offer quite a lot in the way of functionality and features. However, their use is often limited to core functions that users are familiar with. The rest of the lesser-known features such as online shopping are not employed because people are not aware of them. The same is true of the Google Assistant’s voice-assisted interactive gaming feature. Not many people are aware of this feature, even though Google has included it in the device since the beginning. The games are described as interactive due to the artificial intelligence (AI) component of Google Assistant. It’s the key to the digital assistant’s advanced language comprehension capabilities, making excellent AI to human interactions. These advanced abilities are the same reason Google Assistant has labeled as the most accurate digital assistant in the world. Google Nest devices are able to recognize and play thousands of games on command. Some games require devices with screens, whereas others only require standard speakers. You can prompt most games using voice command, which means you need to specify the title you want to play. The AI-powered Google Assistant then runs the program and takes over as a game master or taskmaster. The digital assistant will handle everything from providing instructions to taking note of responses and keeping scores. It will also occasionally tell stories depending on the game that you choose. There are currently thousands of voice-assisted games compatible with smart speakers from different brands. And we can only expect their numbers to grow as more people worldwide begin to adopt Internet of Things (IoT) devices into their homes.
20 Best Google Home Games to Play
Google Home speakers are not only great for work purposes; they also moonlight as mini-entertainment devices when you’re badly in need of a distraction. Whether you’re planning to host a party with friends or are just chilling at home by yourself, there’s plenty of interactive games that you can play. With these voice-assisted games, the device does most of the talking while you sit back, participate, and have loads of fun. It’s also a great way to maximize your use of the smart speaker that you spent your hard-earned money on. Allow us to present some of the best Google Home games to play by yourself or with friends:
1. SongPop!
SongPop! is a music trivia game where players need to guess the song and the artist of the clips being played. You can choose from a wide variety of playlists with different artists, genres, and themes. You can also choose the decade to be selected and determine how many players should participate in the game. This is a game that you can play alone, but it might be more fun to play with friends like other music trivia apps. Start the game anytime with the trigger words, “Hey Google, play SongPop!”
2. Animal Trivia
Animal Trivia is one of the best Google Home games available. As its name suggests, it’s a trivia game that focuses on the animal kingdom. Google Assistant will ask you a question related to anything and everything about the animal kingdom. A sample question for this game is, “rhinoceros have horns that are made of what?” It will then present you with multiple choice answers for that question. The player determines how many questions they want to answer before stopping the game. You can go as little as a single question or a hundred. Google Assistant will also explain some of the questions to provide a context. The game is a great way to learn about the animal kingdom with your children, and you don’t exactly need to be an animal lover to enjoy the game. Say “Hey Google, play Animal Trivia,” to play the game.
3. Star Wars Trivia Challenge
The Star Wars Trivia Challenge is exactly what it sounds like. Google Assistant presents the player with multiple-choice questions about the Star Wars saga. The game also lets you go into story mode or survival mode, with harder questions assigned to the latter. In both modes, the digital assistant presents the player with multiple-choice questions about anything and everything under the Star Wars universe. The player must answer using the assigned letters before the given time expires. If the player fails to answer before the given time expires, the assistant takes that as an incorrect answer. The game proceeds simultaneously, which means you can accommodate as many questions as you can handle. Start the game anytime with the trigger words, “Hey Google, play Star Wars Trivia Challenge.”
4. Freeze Dance
Freeze Dance is a very simple party game that kids had played even before the internet took over. The game mechanics couldn’t get any simpler: keep dancing to the music until it stops, at which point you have to freeze on the spot. The song choices are mostly modern pop songs. If you want to spice up the game and take it to the next level, you can always place a few chairs in a circle and turn it into a musical chairs-type of game. Freeze Dance is an all-inclusive game that practically anyone can join regardless of age. It’s also a great way for your kids to spend time with you or other children. To play the game, say, “Hey Google, play Freeze Dance.”
5. Sub War
Sub War is a naval war game for kids and kids at heart. The game puts the player in the position of a captain of a submarine in a naval battle-type scenario. Your submarine is in the fictional water bay Action Straits, where you have to fight other submarines in the water. The game will give you verbal descriptions of your submarine’s location in the water, you can ping the sonar in order to get information about the location of other submarines around you. Your submarine has a set number of ammunitions, which you can fire at other submarines. But beware, your enemies can track your location with every shot that you fire. The game is a great way to exercise your imagination and critical thinking skills, not to mention develop your ability to visualize directions. Start the game anytime with the trigger words, “Hey Google, play Sub War.”
6. Math Logic
Math Logic is a math trivia game that combines logic with mathematics. The questions vary according to various difficulty levels, and most are trick questions instead of an actual math problem. Take this question, “What’s 6 Mbps with 7 Gbps?” for example. The game also takes some general knowledge questions into account. And that makes this game a very cerebral experience that will have you stretching your brain muscles to the finish line. If you enjoy daily doses of brain puzzles, this game is the right one for you. To play the game, say, “Hey Google, play Math Logic.”
7. Mystery Sounds
Mystery Sounds is a game that makes players guess what random sounds are. The game mechanics are pretty straightforward. Google Assistant will play a sound about any object that you need to guess. The sounds they use come from typical everyday things, but some items produce unusual sounds that are perplexing enough to make you wonder if you’ve been paying attention to your surroundings at all. And of the unique aspects of the game is that it can keep tabs on your points to determine the winner at the end of each round. Mystery Sounds is the perfect game to hone your attention. In fact, it can even make you wonder about the daily things you tend to ignore. Start the game anytime with the trigger words, “Hey Google, play Mystery Sounds.”
8. Lucky Trivia
Lucky Trivia is a show trivia game that asks random questions about anything under the sun. Just like with other trivia games, Google Assistant presents the questions and provides multiple-choice answers. The questions are moderate in difficulty due to the complete randomness of the topics. For example, it may ask about a sports game show for one question then proceed to ask about the Vatican the next. The game can be played alone or with up to five players. There’s also a family-friendly version of the game called Lucky Trivia for Families. If you like playing games with completely random topics, this might be the game for you. Say, “Hey Google, play Lucky Trivia” to try the game out.
9. Ding Dong Coconut
Ding Dong Coconut is one of the best Google Home games available. It’s a fantastic memory game designed for children. Google Assistant will give players a series of sounds with unrelated words assigned to them. For example, the sound of a siren plus the word coconut. The game commences when Google Assistant plays the sounds, and you need to fill in the blanks with the words assigned to those sounds at the beginning of the game. You can play as many rounds as you can with the game, and it’s a great way to test your memory. Both children and adults can play this game. Start the game anytime with the trigger words, “Hey Google, play Ding Dong Coconut.”
10. The Vortex
The Vortex is a story-based game that takes you through an abandoned spaceship that has been taken over by a hostile alien life form. The game begins with Google Assistant telling a narrative story while asking personal questions that the player needs to answer. Next comes the main game, where a male voice takes over and guides the player through the narrative by presenting different scenarios requiring decisions to be made. The player needs to respond with their chosen action, and the digital assistant asks some personal/philosophical questions while completing the task. The game’s objective is to command a ragtag team of robots to retake control over the ship and ultimately survive the Vortex. To play the game, say, “Hey Google, play The Vortex by Doppio.”
11. Darkness at Innsmouth
Darkness at Innsmouth is an interactive game where players need to use voice commands to unlock the letter’s hidden message. The player will play as Professor Wolfe from the Blessed Trinity University in this story-driven game. The task at hand is to decrypt the last letter sent by your recently deceased grandfather. The digital assistant will walk you through the story and present a few options. The decisions you make will determine the encryption outcome, and many human lives may depend on your decryption of the letter. Not everyone is able to decrypt the letter, but you can always keep coming back to any difficulty you may encounter until you do. The work of H. P. Lovecraft directly inspires Darkness at Innsmouth. And because it’s taken after infamous horror stories, you can only expect some dark and macabre themes that are more appropriate for adults. Start the game anytime with the trigger words, “Hey Google, play Darkness at Innsmouth.”
12. Fortnite Trivia Quiz
Fortnite is a massively popular game where players are pitted against each other in a massive arena. The game has tens of millions of players worldwide and is widely considered a gaming phenomenon. The game Fortnite Trivia Quiz is supposed to be a quiz about all things related to—you guessed it—Fortnite. Just like the Star Wars Trivia game, this game presents the player with a series of questions with multiple-choice answers. The players can control how long they proceed into the game and can quit the game at any time they need to. The game remembers where you left off, so you can return to the next question or restart the game completely. The quiz doesn’t have an age requirement as long as you know what to answer. And for those who have never played Fortnite, you don’t have to feel left out since there are a lot of other trivia games to play. Start the game anytime with the trigger words, “Hey Google, play Fortnite Trivia Quiz.”
13. Who Invented
Who Invented is a fun trivia game about modern-day inventions and the people who invented them. The game mechanics are simple. The game will take you through a historical journey while asking you to fill in some blanks that have to do with who invented specific objects (i.e., the telephone or the modern-day computer). This game is a great way to pay tribute to the brilliant and hardworking individuals who led us to the modern age. It’s also a great way to learn about everyday objects in the context of inventions and the conveniences they helped to bring about. Hopefully, you will leave the game with a newfound appreciation for everyday things that many people often take for granted. To play the game, say, “Hey Google, play Who Invented.”
14. Akinator
Akinator is one of the best Google Home games available. It’s a guessing game that is done in reverse since your Google Assistant will be the one doing the guessing. Before opening up the game, you have to decide on a particular celebrity, personality, or fictional character you’ll make your Assistant guess. It will then ask you a series of questions like gender and age in question to begin a process of elimination. The game also presumably uses a bunch of algorithms to refine the questions to hit the mark. The program can ask a maximum of twenty questions before being forced to warrant a guess, but sometimes it takes less than that. You can also control the number of rounds that you want to play. The Akinator doesn’t always get the right answers, but it’s still a fantastic showcase of the significant improvements in the abilities of your Google Assistant. Start the game anytime with the trigger words, “Hey Google, play Akinator.”
15. Riddle Room
Riddle Room is one of the best Google Home games available. It’s essentially a game about, you guessed it, riddles! Google Assistant will present you with a series of riddles that point to a particular object or abstract concept. The player needs to issue a guess within the allotted time. Getting the answer correctly will lead you to the next question, which is always related to the previous answer. Google Assistant will provide clues along the way to help you answer the questions. Google Assistant is quite efficient at understanding your answers, so you don’t have to worry about miscommunication. There’s also a good variety of riddles across different topics, but the riddles themselves are short and simple. You can play this game alone, although it might be an advantage to have some play for more difficult riddles. To play the game, say, “Hey Google, play Riddle Room!”
16. Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!
Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me is the digital adaptation of a popular radio quiz of the same name. Just in case you’ve never heard about the game, it’s a headline guessing game played on NPR, a highly popular national public radio station in the U.S. The interactive game features the voices of all the stars from the original quiz. The game mechanics is also the same as the original. Players have to fill in the blanks on headlines and quotes from this week’s latest news. The entire game only has a duration of approximately five minutes, and it’s a nice way to test your situational awareness while having fun. In addition to the main game, you also get added to the general lottery conducted each week to win a voicemail voice. Start the game anytime by saying, “Hey Google, play Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!”
17. Mad Libs
Mad Libs is an interactive game where the software comes up with a funny skit using random words. The game mechanics are simple. It first asks you to fill in the blanks about random categories (i.e., your favorite fruit, your favorite color) and then comes up with a funny story based on the words that you’ve chosen. This game is almost identical to the games they play on TV where actors and comedians have to pull off a funny improv to random categories like a color or a state. They later have to act out a script filled in with the words they provided earlier. The silliness of the phrases generated is also sure to give players a merry laugh. The game is also a great way to teach young kids the difference between adjectives and nouns. The more creative responses you can generate for the blanks, the better. To play the game, say, “Hey Google, play Mad Libs.”
18. Truth or Dare
Truth or Dare is a classic game that every person has played at least once. The game usually involves each player getting a turn to choose between truth or dare. Choosing truth will present you with a question while choosing dare will present you with a challenge to complete. If the player chooses a truth question, Google Assistant generates a randomly prepared question that may or may not be entirely personal. One question that could get asked is, “would you rather be a cat or a dog?” If the player chooses a dare, Google Assistant will instruct you to complete a task such as acting like Romeo from Romeo and Juliet. The truths often lead to interesting revelations, while the dares often generate the biggest laughs. Start the game by saying, “Hey Google, play Truth or Dare.”
19. The Magic Door
The Magic Door is an adventure game with a wide variety of original stories. Google Assistant presents the players with a fictional world with several options along the way. It also gives you choices in terms of backdrops for their stories. There are also tasks that you need to complete. These include collecting various items, solving riddles, and helping magical creatures. Players can also go into the alternative gaming mode called Rogue’s Choice. Under this mode, the players need to select a rogue character who must go on a series of adventures in a medieval fantasy setting. The Rogue’s Choice mode of gaming contains hours of original storytelling content that may not be safe for young children. Start the game anytime by saying, “Hey Google, play The Magic Door.” And if you’re the type to find highly creative narratives and original characters simply irresistible, then you might also enjoy playing some visual novel games.
20. Daily Brain Trainer
The Daily Brain Trainer is one of the best Google Home games available. It’s an engaging collection of short games designed to exercise your brainpower. The game features quick daily puzzles designed to test your memory capabilities, reaction times, logic, and focus. Most of the games featured have a duration of a few minutes. This makes them convenient enough to play while you’re on the way to work or when you’re relaxing on the couch. The puzzles are simple enough to understand without elaborate instructions. You can solve the puzzles as your brain exercise or play them to test your friends’ skills. To play the game, say, “Hey Google, play Daily Brain Trainer.”
Final Thoughts on the Best Google Home Games to Play Alone or with Friends
The Google Nest smart speakers are adept at playing interactive games, and it’s all thanks to the amazing abilities of Google Assistant. Then again, we need to be reminded that not all games are the same, and you need to choose your games wisely. Some games aren’t any good in terms of concept and quality. A handful out there that don’t function properly due to coding errors or contain misspelled words or inaccurate statements. And then there’s the fact that some games initially made for screens don’t sit well when converted to voice-assisted mediums. Some games are also available only for a limited time, while others are only available for select regions. The aforementioned considerations are great to keep in mind while choosing games, but you don’t have to worry since there are still plenty of decent Google Home games to choose from.
