Google seems to think that some of us will be having some downtime this holiday season and with that in mind has rolled out a new collection of games for their smart displays. As per usual just ask your smart display to play a game and you will be presented with a new “collection of puzzles, word games and even virtual pets”.
“Hey Google, Let’s play a game”
The new games use Google’s Continuous Match Mode where the microphone is kept active so that you can speak freely without needing to use the hotword every time. Today’s new addition of 10 new games brings the total to 30 available games on your smart displays.
Games are ranked on cards based on either Featured games, top games and recently played with the ability to scroll through each card before settling on a game that looks enticing. The new games include:
- Horizontal crosswords which is “a fast-paced game that gives you fresh puzzles every day. You’ll see a series of clues and need to speak your answer before time runs out”
- Game of Words which gives you six letters and you need to reassemble them to make as many words as possible with the longer words attracting more points
- Voice Quest is a game where you play a mage who uses synonyms to power spells and your voice to cast magic and defeat your enemies
- Power of Words is a game where your missions is to save peaceful warriors from evil trolls and you battle monsters by guessing the hidden words
Aside from these daily games there are also problem solving puzzles such as Daily Brain Trainer which includes daily puzzles to test your memory, reaction times and pattern matching skills and Brainwash Puzzle where a series of images flash across the monitor and you have to find the common theme as quickly as possible before advancing to the next level.
There are also games for kids including My Smart Pet which is a range of virtual pets that grows to understand you the more you speak to it. Similarly there will also be a virtual aquarium called Hey Fish where you can customise the fish bowl and take care of the fish inside it and a Hello Kitty virtual pet where your pet heads out into the world and you decide where it goes and who it meets.
More kids educational content has been added including more songs, books and videos with the experience personalised based on the child’s age through Family Link.
The new games are rolling out from today so if you do end up having some down time this year be sure to check them out — apparently using our brains keeps them young and healthy.
