Have you ever considered adding game plugins to your WordPress website? Online games are a popular way for many internet users to pass their free time. And providing an outlet for popular pastimes is a great way to boost the number of visits to your website.
The games that can be added to a WordPress site are usually simple, but they can be fun for visitors. They are also an attractive lure to get people to visit your website even when you haven’t added new content. It’s a win/win situation.
Today I will share with you five free game plugins that you can install and begin using today. They will add a puzzle or gaming element to your WordPress website that your visitors will love.
Why Install Game Plugins In WordPress?
Online games are enjoyed by people of all ages. In 2018, over 164 million adults played video games in the United States. Three-quarters of all Americans have at least one gamer in their household.
79% of gamers report that video games provide them with mental stimulation, and 78% use them for relaxation and stress relief.
While video games have become more refined and elaborate over the years, simple games are still a strong draw. Short games that can be played for a few minutes are very popular, especially on mobile devices. For many of us with a long commute or even a few minutes to spare, games can fill the time.
Using WordPress plugins, it’s easy to host simple, captivating games that visitors can play on your website.
Free WordPress Game Plugins
Luckily, when it comes to WordPress, there are a lot of free game plugins you can choose from. As you might expect, the free games are quite simple, and typically consist of word games like crossword puzzles.
That said, they can be great additions to some sites. Here are some of the best free game plugins for WordPress:
1. PuzzleMe for WordPress
When it comes to classic game types, Word Finds, Crossword Puzzles, and Sudoku, are some of the most popular options. These games provide simple puzzles to users and are still wildly popular today.
You can add all three of these and more to your WordPress site with the PuzzleMe for WordPress plugin. You are required to create a PuzzleMe account to use it but can do so for the first thirty days without making one.
Simply put, you build the puzzle on their website using the tools provided and the site will generate a shortcode you can use in WordPress. simply paste it where you want the game to appear and you are good to go.
2. Crossword Compiler Puzzles
The first crossword puzzle appeared in a New York newspaper in 1913. The puzzles quickly became a hit, and soon nearly every 20th-century newspaper ran a daily crossword puzzle. In some cities, the crossword puzzle was the main reason people bought the paper.
The most famous (and arguably the most difficult) is still the New York Times crossword puzzle.
The decline of the printed newspaper caused some to worry that the crossword puzzle would die out. But they survived by moving online and may now be even more popular than they were in their heyday.
The Crossword Compiler Puzzles plugin makes it easy to add custom crossword puzzles to your website.
All you need to do is visit https://www.crossword-compiler.com and create a crossword for free. After that, add the Crossword block to a post or page and you will be prompted to enter the URL of the crossword you created. Do that and you’re good to go.
Get creative by using clues and words that complement the kind of content you produce. That’s a great way to engage your audience while promoting terms that are relevant to your brand.
3. Chessgame Shizzle
How many 1,500-year-old games can you think of that people still love today? That’s a trick question because there’s only one game that fits that description: chess.
Chess is, without a doubt, the most popular and enduring game of all time. Known as “The Game of Kings,” you can’t go wrong adding it to any website. Of course, if the focus of your blog is chess, adding this game is a no-brainer.
The Chessgame Shizzle plugin can add a full chess experience to your website. On top of providing a fully playable chess game, there are multiple board and piece themes that you can choose from.
4. Dinosaur Game
If you have ever investigated the various easter eggs in Google products, you may recognize the Dinosaur game. You’ve seen it whenever you’re using the Google Chrome browser to visit a website but are disconnected from the internet.
You can add it to your WordPress website with the Dinosaur Game plugin. It is what’s known as an “infinite runner” game.
You jump and duck under obstacles while attempting to travel as far as possible. The dinosaur is kind of a pixelated Mario (you know, if Mario was a dinosaur), and almost as addictive.
5. Quiz Cat
Quizzes have become an online staple. You can’t escape them on Facebook, and at least one site, BuzzFeed, has built an online empire on quizzes.
Whether you use them for entertainment or education, quizzes can be a great (and potentially viral) asset to your site.
You can add a quiz to your WordPress website with the Quiz Cat plugin. It’s flexible and can be a great educational game plugin for your site.
You can create a quiz about anything. Entertainment, mathematics, science, the finer points of raising chickens…literally anything can be turned into a quiz.
In addition to the entertainment and educational value, you can also use quizzes to collect information from visitors.
6. WoPo Minesweeper
Possibly one of the most iconic computer games is Minesweeper, which originally launched as part of the Windows Entertainment Pack 1 in 1990. While it is no longer part of the Windows install, it is available for free in the Windows store.
Many still try to get the best time to this day, and the runs are pretty insane.
You can add this iconic game in WordPress by using the WoPo Minesweeper plugin. And it’s extremely easy to implement as you just need to enter a shortcode into a post or page to add the game.
On a live page, the classic game will appear in its original window, although it is still part of the page or post. This also includes the original three difficulties of Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
It’s a great callback to one of the most iconic computer games from the 90s and may accentuate a 90s retro site.
7. Personal Dictionary
If your website is associated with education and studying habits, introducing a game that can help with that experience is the best option. That’s where the Personal Dictionary plugin comes in.
Users can add their own vocabulary terms and the plugin will generate vocabulary games using those terms. This makes it a great way for students to learn vocabulary in a more engaging way than traditional means.
While it won’t fit into every kind of website, it can be a great way of getting visitors to keep coming back as a study tool. Thus, if you are looking to add free games to WordPress, it is a great choice for any topic.
8. YMC Crossword
YMC Crossword is another excellent choice if you are looking to create crossword puzzles in WordPress. Unlike the other entry on this list, this one does everything from within WordPress, and it is very easy to do.
Creating puzzles just consists of entering the question that users use to identify the word, and the word itself. The plugin will put all of it into the crossword format for you.
To actually place the puzzle, all you need to do is enter the shortcode it generates. With all things said, the plugin is very simple and is a great choice for any site looking to create crossword puzzles.
9. Hangman
Hangman is a classic game where the players will guess a word one letter at a time. If they are correct the letter is added to the word, and they can guess the next, but if they are wrong, a piece of the hangman is drawn in.
If the player fails to guess the word before the man is hung, then they lose. This plugin adds the game to your website by adding the shortcode to the desired location. It even has three difficulties for the player to choose from.
The higher the difficulty, the fewer incorrect guesses a player can make. It’s a rather simple game that I remember playing in elementary school. It’s a nostalgic choice when you want to add free games to WordPress.
Want More Complex Games? Consider Using Premium Plugins
The free game plugins we’ve talked about provide great games and puzzles for your WordPress site. However, if you want better-looking or more technically advanced games, there are some paid plugins to choose from.
For example, there are hundreds of game plugins available for Codecanyon’s CTL Arcade. The games are all built using HTML5, which makes them work well on mobile devices, which is very important. Remember that half of your visitors will be using mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
MyArcadePlugin is another excellent premium option with access to a different group of game developers. It also gives you access to a lot of free (ad-supported) games, something CTL Arcade doesn’t offer.
Give Your Visitors Another Reason to Come Back (Often!)
If most of what you’re doing on your website is blogging, it’s only natural to have gaps between new content from time to time. Games are a surefire way to give your visitors another reason to come back.
Games can do more than just entertain your visitors. I mentioned that quizzes allow you to collect information from your visitors. Most of the quizzes you see on Facebook are little more than email harvesting tools. And they’re quite effective.
Bear in mind, of course, that games are not a substitute for website content. Giving your readers a reason to stop by when there are no new articles is good, but don’t forget your website’s purpose. Assuming that the purpose isn’t to provide online games. 😉
What are your favorite kinds of online games? Do you recommend any other game plugins for WordPress?