the best games for your evenings with friends

You may not know it, but your connected speakers and other virtual assistants are not only used to give you the weather of the day or to launch a playlist. Many of them also offer you a slew of games that can be useful during your evenings with friends or family. If you are bored, it can also serve as an improvised animation. A real alternative to traditional board games, discover in this file a selection of the best games on Google Home and Amazon Echo (Alexa).

Google Home: Tell me a joke

We start our selection with our favorite. Google’s joke feature lets you just have the occasional laugh, or have a lame joke contest with your friends. The operation is simple, say “OK Google, tell me a joke”, the first one who laughs has lost and is awarded a pledge, at the winner’s choice of course.

Do you have the chance of the winner

This game is the one that most resembles a board game. After launching the chance of the winner, Google asks you and your opponents general knowledge questions, and whoever answers the most questions correctly wins. Everything is embellished with sound effects and music that makes you experience the game as if you were on a television set. To start the game, all you have to do is say “Have you the chance of a winner”.

Hits quiz

If you are rather good at blind testing, quickly discover that of Google. In partnership with Universal Music, Hits quiz offers you a myriad of more or less recent songs from its entire (huge) catalog. Get ready, you might be surprised by your own culture. To get started, nothing could be simpler, say “Play Hits quiz”.

Questions for a champion

Knowing the TV show of the same name, you’ve already done half the job. The Google version uses the same principle of general knowledge questions, divided into rounds with specific rules. Don’t lose your temper, the bar is often set a little high, which is pretty normal for a game where you usually win dictionaries. To play, say “Speak with Questions for a Champion”.

Drawings to guess

As its name suggests, you are dealing with Google’s Pictionary in which you will have to guess a series of images that take shape before your eyes. To do this you have the choice between three levels of difficulty and a few seconds on the clock. The faster you guess the drawing, the better it is for your time. To assert your answer, nothing could be simpler, you just have to say it out loud, Google will listen to you all the way. To start the game, say “Play Guessing Pictures”.

Amazon Echo: Harry Potter Quiz

We now move on to Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa. On your Echo devices, you can launch a slew of games, some of which have already been mentioned on Google Home. However, you will find interesting exclusives such as the Harry Potter Quiz. As its name suggests, you will have to answer a series of questions about the HP universe and answer as best you can. An excellent game to test your knowledge, and that of your friends, and why not have a battle of houses? As the film saga celebrates its 20th anniversary, the opportunity is all there.

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One of our favorite games during our evenings with friends, in paper version, online or on Amazon Echo. If you don’t know this game (what was your childhood like?), the principle is simple. You have a letter, randomly given by Alexa, and several categories – city, object, animal, etc. – which you must fill in with words starting with that letter. The fastest wins, and watch out for made-up words, they don’t count towards your score.

You prefer

The last game we offer you is You prefer ? This is a game in which Alexa gives you the choice between two unenviable and totally hypothetical situations. While all you need to do is answer and create a debate for fun, you can also bring your game to life by deciding to do the actions suggested by Alexa, if those are doable (don’t go jumping out of a window just because it’s better than eating feces).

many more

Obviously, this list is only a non-exhaustive selection of all the games you can have on your connected speakers. For Google games, you can use an Android smartphone and say “OK Google, let’s play a game” to access the list of all available games via the assistant, and your smartphone! The good news is that you can also play it on the go or when you’re bored at the office (not my case).

If you don’t yet have a connected speaker, then find the Google range (Home, Nest or Hub) on sale at many retailers, as well as the Echo range (Dot, Show or Studio) from Amazon.