Mini Games October Update: 5 New Games, Tappables and More Free Play
By Josh5 min read
October has been a big month for Mini Games. Five new games arrived, along with a hub of 50 quick tap games for Echo Show, a slime-filled makeover for Rock Paper Scissors and twice as many free games a day.
Here's everything that's new, and how to try it.
Free Players Now Get 10 Games a Day
Good news for everyone first. Since the middle of October, free players can play up to 10 games a day, up from 5. Nine games can now be played twice a day instead of once: Rock Paper Scissors Minus One, Penguin Curling, The Imposter, Pizza Perfect, Dad Joke Duel, Blob Battle, Piggy Bank, Rap Robot and Sumo Wrestling.
Want to keep going after that? Unlimited Mini Games removes the daily limits altogether.
Three New Games: Potion Class, Royal Bluff and Snowball Fight
On 7 October, three brand new games arrived together.
Potion Class
One of your four classmates is secretly a spy from Grimwood Academy, and potions keep going BOOM. Work out who was there each time, ask the Truth Toad if you need to, and catch the spy before the Grand Potion, or the headmistress gets turned into a frog.
Royal Bluff
Bluff your way to the Queen's crown. Everyone holds two secret crests, everyone makes claims, and you decide who's telling the truth. If you're new to it, the game teaches you as you go, and it even slips in a practice bluff during your first games so you can learn to spot one.
Snowball Fight
Build your snow fort and splat the other streets. Maple, Pine and Oak will offer you deals, but one of them is secretly a traitor, so work out who before the sun comes out and the biggest wall wins.
We'll have a full guide to each of these three over the coming weeks.
New: Escape the Mansion
A storm drives you into a creaky old mansion, and the door slams shut behind you. Lord Mortimer, a ghost who badly wants to be scary, has locked you in. To get out, look around each room, find useful things and put them together: light a candle, use a key on a door, crack the code.
Stuck? Jinx, a sarcastic black cat, gives you a nudge first, then the exact words if you still need them. Every answer is just a word or two, which makes it a great pick for younger players.
The mansion opened on 11 October with five rooms, from the Hall to the Attic. Two days later the East Wing opened its doors, adding ten more, including the Laboratory, the Dungeon, the Ballroom and the Clock Tower. Each room is one escape, and the game remembers which room you're up to.
Try it: "Alexa, ask Mini Games to play Escape the Mansion".
New: Alien Invasion
Christmas night, 2032. An alien attack has knocked out every signal, screen and voice in London, and the last survivors are hiding in forgotten tunnels and abandoned stations. Then Alex and Robin dig an old handheld radio out of the rubble, and it's picking up a signal.
Alien Invasion: Signal Decoders is a radio play in five chapters, with puzzles you solve out loud. Turn high and low tones into letters, count the notes, follow the signal through the tunnels and decode Morse code. Get one wrong and you'll hear a hint, so nobody gets stuck for long. Each chapter is one play, and next time you come back the story carries on where you left it.
Try it: "Alexa, ask Mini Games to play Alien Invasion".
Tappables: 50 Quick Tap Games on Echo Show
If you play on an Echo Show, look for the new Tappables tile at the end of the games. It opens a hub of 50 quick games you play by tapping the screen: bonk the critters popping out of their holes (but not Granny), pop the balloons and miss the spiky ones, hop a bunny over logs, stack a cake as high as it'll go, and plenty more.
Six are free for everyone, with 10 free rounds a day: Balloon Pop, Bonk Bonk, Bunny Hop, Cake Stack, Sky Catch and Brick Smash. The other 44, from Pancake Flip to Firework Show, unlock with Unlimited Mini Games. Every finished round earns you a coin, and each game has its own world top 10 to climb.
Rock Paper Scissors Moves to the Slime Pit
Rock Paper Scissors Minus One has a new home: the Slime Pit. You and Gloopy, a cheeky slime monster, stand on trapdoors over a tank of slime. As before, you each throw two hands, then keep one for the showdown. Lose a throw and you may have to spin the slime wheel, and whoever loses the best-of-three match drops into the tank.
Gloopy remembers what you picked last time and tries to read your mind ("Hmm... I remember what you picked last time..."), so keep him guessing. A loud game-show host now calls every hand, too.
Penguin Curling Gets a Rival
Penguin Curling is now a head-to-head match against Captain Penguinius ("Heh heh! Nobody beats Captain Penguinius!") and his team of sneaky sliders. Each match has a target to aim for and every throw has its own wind, you pick the power from 1 to 10, and a good sweep can make all the difference. Collisions pack a punch now, too: hit one of the Captain's penguins and you'll knock it clean out of the way.
More Updates
- Rank ups: going up a rank now gets its own moment in every game, with a fanfare and your new rank just before "play again". On an Echo Show, a Rank Up! card shows how far you are from the next one.
- Fire, Ice, Water: before every throw, the wizard's Crystal Ball tells you the odds of his next move.
- Piranha Tower: a fresh new look, and the General now has his own voice on Echo Show.
- Number Snake: redesigned, with a new blocky snake and logo.
- Granny Quest: a new animated intro, with Granny tottering in to tell you she's lost her knitting again.
- The Imposter: when a player is voted out, the next round starts straight away.
- Emoji Game: one guess per puzzle, and a wrong answer now reveals the right one.
- Dad Joke Duel and Fart Game: new intros on Echo Show that play in time with Alexa.
How to Try the New Games
- Say "Alexa, open Mini Games".
- Pick your team if it's your first time.
- Say "play" and the game's name, for example "play Escape the Mansion".
On an Echo Show you can also tap any game in the lobby, and Tappables is the last tile.
New to Mini Games? Start with the games added this year, or find out how teams work.
