If you’re going to play games online, you may as well use the game apps where you can win money. There are several game apps out there that will either straight-out pay you for playing or give you the chance to enter drawings to win serious money.
Many of these apps mentioned here are free, but some do require you to purchase.
Top Game Apps To Win Money
Here are some of the most popular games apps that will offer you cash and prizes for playing.
1. Mistplay
Mistplay calls itself the #1 loyalty program for mobile gamers. This site lets you create a Mixlist library of games that you love most. Just find a game you like and start playing.
The more you play and the longer you play each game, the more units you earn.
Then you can use the units you earn to get free gift cards to Amazon, Visa, Google Play, and other retailers. To date, Mistplay has given away over $10 million to players.
Mistplay has weekly and monthly cash drawings you can enter as well. And you can earn badges for completing missions within games. Each badge you earn rewards you with more units.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android only
2. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is among the longest running apps to help you win money playing games. Here’s how it works.
You start by signing up for a Swagbucks account (it’s free to do so). After you sign up, you can earn points by randomly playing games as directed on the site.
Or you can earn points by making in-game purchases through Swagbucks partner GSN. From there, you can use the points you earn to get free money from PayPal or free gift cards to your favorite retailers.
One cool thing about Swagbucks is that you can earn points in other ways too. You can earn by completing surveys, browsing the web, watching videos, and more.
Swagbucks has paid out nearly $500 million to users so far, so you know it’s a legit game app.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
3. InboxDollars
InboxDollars is another very popular get-paid-to (GPT) app. It’s paid out over $50 million since its inception. When you play games with InboxDollars, you earn cash to use on whatever you want.
InboxDollars has both free and paid games you can earn with. You choose which games you play and that determines how much you earn.
Like Swagbucks, InboxDollars will pay you for other activities too. You can earn by taking surveys, shopping online, watching videos, and more. You can earn cash back when you shop online through the InboxDollars portal as well.
When you’re ready to get paid you can choose a retailer or Visa gift card. However, InboxDollars will also mail you a check for your earnings if you prefer.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
4. Boodle
Boodle is an app that will pay you in Boodle coins when you try out new games and apps. As you try out more and more games and apps, you can earn more coins.
You can use your coins to get free gift cards from retailers such as Chipotle, Amazon, Burger King, Nike, and others.
Bonus: Boodle lets you earn coins for other activities as well, such as taking surveys and engaging with well-known companies.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android only
5. Gamehag
Gamehag offers free-to-play games that can earn you rewards called Soul Gems. The site offers a lot of different games for all different gamer interests.
As you earn your rewards, you can use them to buy gift cards from retailers like Amazon or prepaid Mastercards to spend on whatever you want.
You can also use your rewards to purchase other video games. Oh, and you can earn rewards in other ways too, such as taking surveys or creating videos. You can even earn for writing articles on the site.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
6. Bananatic
Bananatic is a site that will pay you for playing and testing out games. The site is used by game and app developers to help them make better games.
After you play or test out a new game, you’ll earn (points) bananas when you leave feedback on the game. Then you can use those points to get cash, steam wallets, gift cards from retailers, and more.
The Bananatic site has other options for earning too, such as shopping with their retail partners. Use the Bananatic forum to interact and share experiences with other gamers.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android only
7. Skillz Games
Skillz is a gaming company that pays you money when you compete in tournaments and win.
The app has dozens of games you can compete in:
- Solitaire games
- Block games similar to Tetris
- Bubble shooter games
- Word puzzle games
- Sports games
- Board games
And more. Note that it’s free to join Skillz, however, you will have to pay some money if you want to join in tournaments that have cash prizes.
Prices for joining tournaments start at $0.60 and go up. You can withdraw your cash winnings at any time.
Skillz does have an option to earn Bonus Cash which is in essence points you can earn to help cover the cost of entering tournaments. See the site rules for more details on earning and using Bonus Cash points.
Cost: Free to join, varying prices to play in tournaments
Availability: Android and iOS
8. Strike! By Bowlero
Strike! By Bowlero is an eSports bowling game that you can play alone or with others. Bowlero works hard to make the classic 10-pin bowling app as much like the real game as possible.
You can choose between classic and blacklight lanes, participate in tournaments complete with leaderboards, and more.
If you participate in tournaments you have the chance to win physical and virtual prizes. You can even choose your own bowling ball color.
And you can win gift certificates to bowl at real Bowlero locations as well. Note that some states don’t allow user participation in prize tournaments.
This is a fun game if you’re a bowling fan and want a way to play the game when you’re not at the bowling alley.
Cost: Free
Availability: iOS only
9. Dominoes Gold
Dominoes Gold puts a twist on the classic board game by allowing you to compete for cash prizes. The person with the highest score before time runs out wins!
You can compete against other players or against the computer. The games are fast-paced and allow for quick building of your playing skills.
As with similar apps, there is an entry fee for playing in cash prize tournaments. The entry fees are often small but do vary in size based on the cash prize you’re playing for. Be sure to read the fine print for details.
Note that these faster paced games can get quite intense at times. And the app store site says it’s “insanely addicting”.
Cost: Free to join
Availability: iOS only
10. The Q Live Game Network
The Q Live Game Network is an app that offers continual live trivia games. You’ll participate with a live host and with other players from around the world.
The trivia subjects cover a variety of categories to cover all kinds of expertise levels. When you upgrade to one of the Q VIP levels you get extra rewards such as bonus lives.
The VIP levels do cost money, ranging from $4.99 to $14.99 per week, and you can get free trials for the VIP levels at times too. Read the fine print before signing up for any of the VIP levels.
Cost: Free for the basic app
Availability: iOs only
11. Swagbucks Live
Swagbucks Live is a live trivia game created by the makers of Swagbucks. With SwagIQ you can challenge your family and friends to live games, or you can join in live games from around the world.
The games are very fast-paced: You need to answer all questions correctly and you only get ten seconds to answer each question.
The games are short–only ten questions long–and pay out thousands in Swagbucks’ SB points. SB points can be converted to prizes ranging from PayPal payouts to retailer gift cards from thousands of popular retailers.
There are “second chance” and other drawings where you can win additional prizes too. And you may even find a chance to buy back into a game after you’ve lost and been eliminated.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
12. HQ
HQ Trivia is a long-running trivia game where you can play for free and win real cash prizes. It’s a live game show concept where you can win money when you answer trivia questions and solve word puzzles.
This trivia game is wildly popular and sometimes features celebrity guest hosts like The Rock and Gordon Ramsay. HQ Trivia debuted in 2017 and became quite popular quite quickly.
The app has hit its share of bumps in the road, including being shut down for a spell at the beginning of 2020. But it started back up less than a month later and still has millions of players.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
13. FN Genius App
The FN Genius app is a Fox Network owned trivia game app. It’s a live, interactive mobile trivia game that gives away real cash prizes.
You can win money if you make it through all of the questions successfully. This app debuted in the summer of 2018 and is wildly popular but does seem to have a lot of down time according to reviews.
Cost: Free
Availability: iOS only
14. That’s Right GameShow App
The That’s Right GameShow app has trivia games you play on your own or trivia games you can play against others.
One fun thing about the cash prizes here: The winner of each trivia game wins a prize. But all participants in the game get an entry into a cash drawing at the end.
The more correct answers you get, the more entries into the cash drawing you get. Along with cash prizes, you can also win coins which allow you to buy the chance to skip questions or eliminate answers.
Cost: Free
Availability: iOS only as of this writing
15. Lucktastic
Lucktastic offers instant win scratch off cards and various contests you can enter to win money. The Lucktastic website says they give away up to $1 million at a time.
You can also win other prizes with Lucktastic, such as meet and greets with famous celebrities. Or you can win tokens which can be redeemed for retail prizes or gift cards to popular stores and restaurants.
Most of the rewards and prizes are small, but they have bigger jackpots often.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
17. Brain Battle
Brain Battle is an app that pays out cash prizes for participating in educational quizzes. The quizzes are generally math quizzes that range in difficulty. Speed is key here; you’ve got to answer the questions before you run out of time.
Winners get tickets that can be used to enter cash drawings. And according to the store website, there are several chances throughout games to win other cool prizes too.
If you’re good at math or want to improve your math skills, this could be a fun game for you.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
18. Lucky Day
Lucky Day offers scratch cards, daily and monthly raffles, and jackpot lotteries you can win money from. The site has other casino games as well.
There’s a daily giveaway of cash, but even if you don’t win you earn points that can be used to get retailer gift cards or other prizes.
Or you can use your points to purchase additional entries into sweepstakes and other contests. This app requires you to be a legal adult in your state in order to play.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android only
19. PCH Games
You might remember PCH (Publisher’s Clearing House) cash giveaways from when you were a kid. Now the company has PCH apps and games that give away money daily.
PCH has quizzes, slots, scratch offs, and dozens of other games for you to choose from.
The company gives away daily cash, prizes, gift cards and more. Some games include Surprise Treasures that you can open too. These surprises contain other bonuses.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
20. Big Time Cash
Big Time Cash pays out cash just for playing video games. When you play any of their hundreds of video games, you earn a ticket. Each ticket goes into a drawing for frequent cash giveaways.
You can earn as many tickets as you want for as many entries as you want into each drawing. The more people that play, the bigger each cash drawing amount is.
There’s no cost to play or enter games with this app, and there are no in-app purchases either. It really is totally free.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
21. Long Game
Long Game is a fun gaming app with a twist: It helps you save money! Every time you save money in your Long Game bank account, you earn the chance to win games. Then you can play those games to earn cash prizes.
Some Long Game contests give away up to $1 million, and there are lots of games to choose from. You can even use the app to set customized savings goals to help motivate you.
Your Long Game bank account is safe and insured by the FDIC. It’s issued out of nbkc bank in Kansas. You can withdraw your money at any time, too.
If you want to increase your savings balance while earning money playing games, you could try Long Game.
Cost: Free
Availability: Android and iOS
Summary
As you can see there are dozens of game apps to win money out there. The ones we’ve mentioned here are some of the most popular, but there are so many more to choose from.
As you’re perusing through gaming apps that pay money, be sure you’re reading the fine print. Some gaming apps do cost money. Others have some free games and some paid games.
You’ll just want to know what the obligations are–if any–before you sign up to play. That way you won’t lose money instead of earning money.
Have you ever earned money with any of the gaming apps mentioned here? Or, do you have other favorite gaming apps that pay money? Share your experiences in the comment section.
Laurie is personal finance writer and a licensed Realtor. Her goal in blogging is to help others find their way to financial freedom, and to a simpler, more peaceful life.