The good news: YouTube has added over 75 minigames to its platform, available to the public since May 2024.
What Games Are Part of YouTube Playables?
Some of the offerings on the YouTube Playables list include a version of the popular Angry Birds game and classics like Cut the Rope and Alien Shooter.
In addition to these favorites, many knockoffs of the games people enjoy are available on the platform, such as Today’s Hurdle, in lieu of the New York Times’s popular Wordle, a word game that I recommend.
The bad news: although I have written many articles promoting online video games, I have a different opinion about YouTube Playables.
Although I enjoy YouTube as a platform, the majority of these games is not as high quality as many others. Most of the games have poor graphics and low production values.
Games YouTube offers, like Fork N Sausage, in which the player attempts to (you guessed it) get a sausage onto a fork, can be rather dull.
But, There's Angry Birds Showdown
That said, there are fun games out of the 75+. My favorite is Angry Birds Showdown, a version of the popular game. Angry Birds has always been a fun, well-developed game, that turned into a rather impressively animated movie.
In Angry Birds Showdown, players compete against rather unrealistic computer-generated avatars to “pop” all their opponent’s pigs, first by launching birds with special abilities at them.
Power-ups are available to assist while the player chooses his bird line-up (like baseball) to launch.
What separates this game from the others is that Angry Birds Showdown uses strategy along with luck, while simultaneously displaying well-generated graphics, sounds, and features.
State.io, Crazy Caves and More
My second favorite is State.io, which takes place on a geographical map of the world’s countries. Here players use strategy to battle over territories and defend their own.
Simply put, the player’s army grows in their spawn territory and others they conquer. They can then send their troops into other lands and battles.
Crazy Caves is a combo of Alien Shooter and Fruit Ninja, set in a gold mine. In this game, a miner throws pickaxes at boulders falling from the ceiling and bouncing like the DVD logo on an old TV.
When the rocks crumble and break, coins drop that can be used to upgrade equipment. Although this game is not the most creative, it is challenging and enjoyable.
There are also some classic games like Chess, Pool, and Crossword.
Heaven for Multitaskers
Many people have questioned why YouTube added these mini-games, and I believe I have the answer. Social media’s Reels have shortened our attention spans so much that today’s youth feel they need to multitask while doing online recreation.
Because of this, YouTube has made it so that one can easily watch a video and play a game simultaneously, without even leaving their platform.
Click here to see all the YouTube Playables.
If you're wondering how, here's a 'splainer video:
Image: Playing Angry Birds on a smartphone/Adobe Stock
D. Sariego is a teen who really likes gaming.
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