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YouTube has rolled out a collection of mini-games as an experimental feature for select users, dubbed Playables. If you’re interested in playing, here is how to activate this feature and join in on the fun.
What Is YouTube Playables?
Playables is a collection of YouTube mini-games that can be accessed on your smartphone via the YouTube app or through your desktop’s web browser.
At the time of writing, Playables has 40 mini-games, all of which require no download or installation to start playing. The games are split into eight gaming genres, mostly focusing on Brain & Puzzle and Arcade games.
Here are all the games accessible in the YouTube Playables section:
8 Ball Billiards Classic, Basketball FRVR, Carrom Clash, Super Goal
Brain & Puzzle
Angry Birds Showdown, Brain Out, Collect Em All!, Color Pixel Art, Daily Crossword, Element Blocks, Gold Mahjong FRVR, Onet Connect Classic, Tile Master
Cannon Balls 3D, Color Burst 3D, Crazy Caves, Merge Master, Merge Pirates, Moving Co., Northern Heights, Om Nom Run, Pirate Pop, Slice It All!, Stack Bounce
RPG & Strategy
Cube Tower, Endless Siege, Merge Heroes
Draw Climber, Scooter Extreme
Board & Card
Daily Solitaire, FreeCell Solitaire, Gin Rummy
Simulation
Farm Land, My Space Pet, Rainy Boba Cafe
Magic Cat Academy, State.io
Trivia & Word
Today’s Hurdle, Words of Wonders, Words of Wonders: Guru
Many of these games have been developed by well-known game developers, such as FRVR, Nitro Games, Vodoo, Aim Lab, Famobi, and Arkadium. And since some of these developers are popular for their free HMTL5 games, you can actually play some of the games listed above outside YouTube Playables through the game developer’s official website or through third-party sites likeHTML5 Games.
Who Can Play Playables on YouTube?
If you aredeciding whether YouTube Premium is worth itto access Playables and all the other premium features, we suggest that you skip the annual subscription and get the monthly subscription instead. This is because the Playables feature will only be available until August 01, 2025. If it doesn’t become a feature after that date, it may get canceled entirely.
How Can You Activate Playables?
To activate Playables, open the YouTube app and go to theYousection at the bottom right of your screen. Then open the settings menu by hitting thegear iconand selectTry experimental new features.You will be shown all the available experimental features. Look forPlay games on YouTubeand selectTry it out.
Once you have enabled YouTube Playables, you can access the games through theExploretab on YouTube. The Explore section should be accessible in plain sight if you’re using a web browser. For those using their smartphones, tapping on thecompass iconin the top right of your screen will reveal the Explore section where Playables is listed.
Alternatively, you can simply keep scrolling through the YouTube homepage pastShortsandBreaking newsuntil you see thePlayables on YouTubesection. You can then click any of the 40 mini-games available to start playing.
Testing YouTube Playables
Just like YouTube, Netflix and TikTok have also added mini-games as part of their platforms. What YouTube does differently is requiring no download or installation to play its mini-games. This level of convenience could attract more casual gamers to YouTube, which may boost user engagement and time spent on the platform.
Depending on how Playables perform, we may see more platforms implementing mini-games into their services. Or the experiment could fail miserably.
