How To Play Games With Your Voice
Voice controlled games use your microphone as the controller. There is nothing to install and no hardware to buy beyond a microphone you almost certainly already have. This guide covers what you need, what is actually happening under the hood, and what to do when it does not work.
What you need to get started
A device with a microphone, a browser, and a room that is not too noisy. Any built-in laptop or phone microphone is enough; a headset helps in noisy rooms mainly because it sits closer to your mouth. The first time you open a game, your browser will ask for microphone permission, and you have to allow it or nothing will respond.
The two kinds of voice game
The distinction matters more than it sounds. Word games recognise what you say and need a speech recognition engine, which is built into Chrome, Edge and other Chromium browsers. Volume and pitch games only measure how loud or how high your voice is, so they work in almost any browser, including Firefox, and they respond faster because nothing has to be transcribed.
Which browser to use
We recommend Chrome or Edge on desktop and Chrome or Safari on mobile. Firefox has no built-in speech recognition, so word-based games will not work there, though the shouting and singing games still will. If a game seems completely deaf, the browser is the first thing to check.
When it mishears you
Speak at a normal conversational volume rather than shouting, since clipping the microphone makes recognition worse, not better. Close other tabs that are playing audio, because game music and video bleeding into the microphone is the single most common cause of missed words. Check that your operating system is using the microphone you think it is, which catches out anyone with a webcam and a headset both plugged in.
Using your phone as the microphone
On a TV or a large screen, shouting across the room works badly. Open a game on the TV and it will show a QR code; scanning it with your phone turns the phone into the microphone while the game stays on the big screen. This is also the more comfortable setup for party games.
Common questions
Do I need to download anything?
No. Everything runs in the browser tab. There is no app, no plugin and no install step.
Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes, most games do. A few of the bigger games need a wider screen and will tell you if your display is too small.
Is my voice being recorded?
Volume and pitch games never transcribe anything; they read a loudness or frequency number in the browser. Word games use your browser's speech recognition to turn speech into text, and we only receive the recognised words, not stored audio.
Can I play without a microphone?
Not meaningfully. The microphone is the controller, so without one there is no way to give input.
Pick a category to start with
- Voice Controlled Party Games
- Speaking Practice Games You Play Out Loud
- Voice Controlled Brain Training Games
- Voice Training Games: Pitch, Volume and Control
- Voice Quiz Games: Answer Out Loud
- Language Learning Games You Play By Speaking
- Screaming Games: Shout To Control The Screen
- Voice Controlled Word Games