Online games to play with friends with nothing to install

What you really need

To play Mini G you need a modern browser on a computer, phone or tablet and an internet connection. There is nothing to download and no account to create: pick a name (24 characters at most) and you are in. The game is free.

If you play on a phone, remember to keep the volume on for the games where listening matters, such as Invisible Hunt.

How to enter a room

One person creates the room from the home page and becomes its host. The room has a 4-letter code. The others can enter in three ways:

• typing the 4-letter code on the home page;
• opening the invitation link, shaped like minig.app/room/CODE and copied with the «Copy invite» button inside the room;
• choosing the room from the list of open public rooms, if there are any.

How many people can play

Each room can hold up to 8 people. Seven games can also be started alone (Classic Quiz, Copycat King, Aim Arena, Color Match, Flash Memory, Eagle Eye and Invisible Hunt), while Draw and Guess and Bomb Relay need at least 2 players and Impostor, Broken Telephone and Fill the Gap need at least 3.

Where to start

If it is the first time and the group is mixed, choose a game that makes sense in an instant. Classic Quiz and Aim Arena have no rules to explain: a question with four answers, a target to tap. To break the ice, Fill the Gap and Broken Telephone are the best fit, because the fun comes from other people's reactions more than from skill.

After a couple of light games you can move on to something more demanding: Impostor if you like talking and suspecting, Flash Memory or Color Match if you want a concentration challenge.

What to expect from the first match

When the host starts a game, all participants play the same challenge at the same moment. The simplest games make sense as soon as you watch the first round; for the others it is worth reading the rules page first, which explains each game in a few lines.

There is no hurry to do well on the first attempt. Many games have several rounds precisely because the first one helps you understand the mechanics, and score differences are decided over the course of the match, not in a single moment.

At the end of a match the host can choose the next game and set its options. Changing games often is the best way to keep the group engaged.

A first fifteen minutes, as an example

A concrete example with four friends: one creates the room and sends the link, the others open it and pick a name. The host proposes Classic Quiz with a few questions, so everyone sees how a match flows without effort; then they move on to Fill the Gap or Draw and Guess, where the fun comes from the group's reactions.

After two games the room ranking, which adds up the results of all the matches, already shows who is ahead. At that point you can raise the difficulty or switch to a more competitive game such as Aim Arena.

When something goes wrong: the most common problems

Almost every problem in the first few minutes has a simple cause:

• “This room is no longer available”: the room may be closed, full (the limit is 8 people) or made private. Ask the host for the code or a new invite link.
• The code is not accepted: check the four letters again. Codes never contain the letters O, I and L, so if you think you see one it is probably a zero or a one.
• You joined after the match had started: you can watch it as a spectator and you play from the next match.
• You cannot hear any sound: open the audio panel, which has two separate volumes, one for game effects and one for the background music, and also check your phone's silent switch.
• The interface is in the wrong language: change it from the flag selector, which is a personal choice; the language of the content of games with texts, instead, is chosen by the host.

Small tips for a good start

• Let everyone into the room before choosing the game: the host can start when everyone is ready.
• If someone leaves by mistake, they can come back from the same tab: during a match the server keeps the seat for a short interval.
• If someone is disruptive, the host can remove them from the room. The removed person cannot re-enter the same room for 15 minutes.
• On privacy, remember that the name you choose is visible to the others in the room; the details are on the Privacy page.