Try Gaming with your Contacts for a Terrific Time!

Set you and your friends up and play all kinds of fantastic games right from the comfort of your favorite chat apps! There's more to chatting than just chatting!

So you've gotten started in the world of chatting. You've made yourself some friends or connected with older ones. Your online persona is all set, and you're now basking in the all-capable glow of your computer. But now that you're talking to people, you might realize that you don't share everything in common. Maybe some of your friends watch all the latest movies, some of them listen to the same music as you, but everyone is different in their way. And if you talk to someone all the time, you're bound to run out of topics.

Now what? You don't want the experience to end here after you've worked hard enough to get here.

And that's where it gets even better. Sure, chatting is cool, meeting new people is fun, finding people with similar interests never gets boring, but there's so much more to this cosmos of communication.

Did you know that there are also hundreds of games available online? And I don't mean games you need to buy or download, like on game consoles or your phone. I mean, right there, in some of your favorite chat apps! Many people aren't aware that there's so much more to these apps, and they're just sticking to chatting! So if you ever start to feel bored, just pop open a game with a friend, challenge them to beat your scores, or ask them for help with any task you want! Best of all, if none of your current friends want to play, you can always invite people from all kinds of communities dedicated to these games!

Let's have a look at the major chat apps and the types of games they offer.

Facebook Messenger

One of the most popular chat apps of all time, the classic Facebook Messenger also has one of the biggest libraries for games to play with friends. It essentially pioneered the world of online social games, with titles you may have heard of, like Farmville, Backyard Monsters, and Happy Aquarium. But that was long ago. While these games are still very active with millions of players monthly, the popularity of Messenger games has grown immensely for its simplicity and better social value.

The games in Facebook Messenger can be quite simple, and many of them are even based on mobile games you may already play. One of the most popular games is Everwing, a game where you play as a dragon trainer shooting all kinds of monsters out of the sky. It allows you to invite your friends to play with you and help you fight bosses, but it also lets you play in your group chats so that everyone can help you out simultaneously. There are always new updates and new content so that you can talk about that as well with your friend group!

And once more, this isn't the only game available on Facebook Messenger. There are TONS, which focus on simple ideas, such as tossing a basketball into a hoop or scoring soccer goals by shooting it into the net. These games are great for killing time, but they also double as a great way to challenge your friends and prove to them how great you are. You can read all about different Facebook Messenger games over at Techcrunch, and find the right games for you and your friends!

Kik Messenger

There are games in Kik Messenger as well. If you already use Kik, then you probably know about bots, since they will show up when you try to find new friends. Bots are another great way to have fun, whether they try to hold a conversation with you or take you on a text adventure. But many people don't know that you can also add bots to your group chats.

Depending on the bot you add to your chats, there may be some weird interactions and bugs since many bots are made for handling one conversation at a time. But many bots are explicitly designed for group chats as well, which will help you play games with all your friends! These games can also be quite simple, such as trying to guess a number, but there are also bots made for trivia or truth or dare. Or, you could even start up a round of Connect Four if you want. There are all kinds of Kik bots you can use for games, browse over the games section at ChatBottle to find something you're interested in. Set up a Games night for your Kik group chats and go nuts!

Discord

Discord is an app meant for gamers to use as an alternative to other voice comms. So, naturally, games are a major part of the community, and you should never have any trouble finding people to game with. But while it was meant for gamers, it does not have any games built into it. So instead, people started inventing ways to play games on Discord through the use of Discord Bots. If you're part of any large Discord servers, you may be aware of the bots available. While staff members like moderators or admins use them for keeping the server in check, there are also all kinds of features available to regular users as well.

On bigger servers, there will likely be a channel for Bot Commands or Bot Games. To figure out what a bot can do, they usually have a help command of some sort. It will often be in the status of the bot, something like "!help", or "?help". And once you send that command, it will automatically reply with a list of commands you can use. There will usually be a section with all sorts of games, and some of them are lots of fun.

There may be games like trivia, where it shows a character from a TV show or movie, and you must reply with their name. Or, to play with friends, whoever can answer the quickest wins. But it doesn't stop there since many bot games also have rewards for a unique credits system. Some bots also have an item shop and profiles, which you can customize, or find different ways to use your credits. Only looking over the available commands will show you all kinds of cool features that the bot may have. And remember, each bot is different, so there might be more options than you think! For the best list of fantastic Discord bots, be sure to check out Discordbots.org and find the best bots to add to your servers!

Google Play

Ah, the classic social media and chatting platform by Google. Google has all kinds of services, but their Play network is seamlessly integrated into all sorts of games on the Play Store. If you use any of Google's chat services, like Hangouts, then you might already be aware of Google Play Games.

When you download an online game to your Android phone (or even just in a web browser), you may be prompted to log in with your Google account. This gets you all set up with Google Play Games, allowing you to keep track of your achievements and scores, as well as allowing you to sync across multiple devices. Based on the typical Google+ social media, you'll automatically have all your contacts added so you can challenge or invite them to the games you play.

Since Google Play Games uses games from the Play Store, the games are often a lot more fun, a bit more complicated, and there is a much larger variety. If you already play some top-rated games from the Play Store, then you won't need to make any adjustments to your current style, and log into your Google Play Games to connect with all your friends.

Conclusion

To summarize, there are tons of opportunities for you to play all kinds of cool games with your friends across all your favorite chat apps. There is no limit to it since new games are released for the apps daily. There will always be something new to try out, and that can make your chatting experience a lot more fun.

But remember, you don't always have to only use the games in the apps, you can always ask your friends if they want to play a game away from the app, or invite them to a different app to play. Or, they might ask you to join somewhere else. It's a great way to discover new communities, new games and make lots of new friends, so don't miss out on all the opportunities you get!