What are the best Alexa games of 2019? Recently, Alexa skills have become a common platform for developers to expand their catalog. Alexa skills allow developers to enhance your Alexa by creating custom games to play. Many people associate Alexa with controlling smart homes, playing music, and delivering voice based news and weather. The availability of games has now started to explode.
Enabling Alexa Skills
Alexa skills are the Amazon equivalent of Apps. A skill is a set of tasks Alexa can perform in response to instructions and answers provided by the user. All the games mentioned above are classed as “skills”. Before a skill can be used it needs to be enabled.
Perform the following steps to enable a new skill:
- Open the Alexa mobile app. Due to the limitations of voice control, settings, configuration, and skills are set up using the Alexa companion app on your favorite mobile device.
- Navigate to Skills and Games.
- Find a skill or game that you would like to play.
- Press “Enable to use”
- The skill should now be available to use on your Echo device. The mobile app will tell you how to launch the specific skill using voice commands.
Skills are also disabled in a similar fashion through the Alexa mobile app.
This article explores the best amazon alexa games to have hit the platform in 2019 recommended by Amazon:
1 – Question of the day
Question of the day does exactly what it says on the tin. Your braniac Alexa will ask a new question every 24 ours. Topics range from Dinosaurs to Movies and World Capitals. Alexa’s Question of the Day is sure to keep your brain in tip-top condition. With support for up to 4 people, and hundreds of questions, this is the perfect game for all the family. To Start the game, simply say “Alexa, what is the question of the day?”
2 – Would you rather?
Would you rather? is a perfect party game for any age. This engaging game combines humor with quick thinking and an element of disgust. Favorite questions include “Would you rather lose your sense of taste… Or your sense of smell? “ and “Would you rather sweat melted cheese or always smell like a skunk?”. With no wrong answers this game struggles to deserve the title “quiz game”. It will nonetheless provide many hours of entertainment. Some parents may decide its unsuitable for impressionable children.
3 – Pointless
Pointless is the first big hitter in our list. Following the format of the hit TV show, this favorite will stretch your mind. The aim is to find the most obscure answer to a common question. The pointless team have asked a 100 people the answer to each question. Your answer will be compared against these results. The lowest score wins. With several game modes this is one of the most comprehensive Amazon Alexa Skills. With major financial backing from the rights holders, this game is reliable and well-made and fun to play.
4 – Song quiz
Aimed at the avid music fans, this nostalgic brain racker will bring back memories of a time gone by. With hits from the last six decades this musical brain-teaser will keep you entertained for many enjoyable hours. One of the most popular Alexa Music Games this is an Alexa Skill must have.
5 – The Magic Door
The magic door is a classic role-playing adventure game. Set in a mythical land full of forests, castles and gardens this magical adventure awakens memories of 80’s computer games. As with any game in this genre the possibilities are almost endless. Hours of fun are literally at the tip of your tongue. To Start the best, simply say “Alexa, open the magic door”.
6 – Akinator
A classic who am I style game, the Genie Akinator will ask a series of questions before guessing who you are. With an uncanny nack for solving the problem, this is a great example of how intelligent Artificial Intelligence has become. As long as you stick to mainstream characters Akinator will surprise and impress you for many hours of joy.
7 – Trivia Hero
Trivia hero is the fastest game amongst our selection. You have just 60 seconds to answer as many complex questions as possible. It’s like a high speed version of jeopardy. For this reason, it’s aimed at the true trivia buff. The only problem with this particular game on this platform is the speed of the question asking. The concept is better suited to tablets and phones with quick buttons to press for correct answers. You can play on your own or with up to 20 others.
8 – True or False
This simple question only has two possible answers: True or False? While the choices are simple the knowledge required to choose is far from simple! Although good fun for all the family, this game requires real general knowledge to perform well at. Hundreds of questions will provide hours of entertainment.
9 – The Music Quiz
The title says it all. If you’re a popular music fan this Alexa Music Game is for you. With hundreds of questions spanning decades of music this game is sure to bring back the memories and help educate the younger members of the family in essential music trivia knowledge.
10 – Animal game
Along the lines of Akinator, this is a great game to play with the kids. This intelligent app will quickly identify the animal of your choice after a few questions. Demonstrating the full potential of artificial intelligence, this inspirational app gives the impression Alexa has a real brain.
Alexa music trivia games
Alexa skills are a great addition to your Amazon Echo or Dot. Making use of voice commands only, over 10,000 developers have created skills for Alexa. Trivia and Music Trivia Games naturally lead the way on this platform.
While voice games are fun for all the family to join, the limitation of voice as the primary means of interaction does place a few limitations:
- Voice interaction can sometimes be inaccurate with complex answers to Trivia Games proving hard to recognize.
- Interaction can sometimes be slow, this affects quick fire games such as 60 seconds.
- Images and graphics are none existent. This can severely restrict the gameplay options. However, this is the novelty of the platform.
Where Alexa really comes into its own is with Music games. Alexa Music Trivia apps combine popular music from across the decades with general knowledge.
Conclusion
While we have reviewed Amazon’s top 10 trivia games in this article there are over 10,000 games available on Alexa. Watch out for some of the most popular ones from across the years such as Who wants to be a millionaire? and Trivial Pursuits. These classics are perfect to play with alexa, but some will require paid subscriptions for the best questions.
Whatever floats your boat, Amazon Alexa Gaming is here to stay. Trivia Games will lead the forefront of voice gaming for decades to come. Alexa Music games are the 2019 on demand equivalent of Name that Tune.