10 best games on the family friendly Nex Playground games console

Cloud-based, collaborative gaming is no big deal unless you’re a parent. As the mom of a 6-year-old, I don’t want her interacting with strangers online. Even though gaming systems have parental controls to prevent this, tech-savvy kids know how to override them. This is why the Nex Playground cube console is a happy compromise for parents of younger kids.

This closed-loop gaming system doesn’t allow internet access or chatting with strangers. The platform is certified KidSAFE by COPPA, so data mining isn’t required. Like the now-discontinued Kinect from Xbox, your body is the controller, and most games support up to four simultaneous players. Here are the 10 best games on the Nex Playground for gamers of all ages.

Do I need a Nex subscription?

The Nex Playground is a closed-loop gaming system. Titles are preloaded through the console’s proprietary cloud connection. On startup, the home screen refreshes to show current titles. You don’t need a subscription for the Nex, but you’re limited to the five games in the starter pack without it. With a quarterly or annual subscription ($49 and $89, respectively), you can access the current game catalog and new titles as they’re added to the platform.

10

Fruit Ninja

Slice and dice your way to a high score

The Nex Playground system comes with five preloaded games as part of the starter pack, which is great for all ages, and Fruit Ninja is one of the five free-to-play titles. Like the mobile app, players must slash fruit and avoid the bombs that deduct 10 seconds from the countdown clock. The only drawback is that this isn’t a head-to-head multiplayer game, so you’ll take turns.

9

Party Fowl

Go head-to-head in silly games to score points

From mimicking animals to pretending to spray each other with soda, Party Fowl is a starter pack game with a two-player challenge format. It’s perfect for kids or families to challenge each other during play dates, rainy days, or family game nights. After it’s activated, choose from more than 20 mini-games, like Cat Stack, Viking Volleyball, and Cookie Catastrophe. This whole body game is full of cute animations and is more challenging than you might expect since you must time your movements precisely to make the required on-screen actions.

8

Starri

Show who’s got the best moves

Starri is another mobile-turned-console game that merges your favorite tunes with activity goals. Also part of the starter pack, Starri helps you rack up active minutes by requiring you to follow the prompts to move and touch checkpoints during gameplay to earn points. Fans of classic music-based movement games like Dance Dance Revolution or Just Dance should have no trouble adapting to Starri.

7

Bowling Strike!

It’s never been easier to score a strike

This multiplayer game supports up to four players and is a classic bowling game with straightforward gameplay. Your hand is the controller. The harder you swing, the speedier the bowling ball flies down the lane. I like that the built-in camera in the Nex is sensitive enough to detect your side-to-side movements and shifts the visual perspective for shot accuracy. Making strikes is easier in this game than in real life.

6

Tennis Smash Racketville

Game, set, match

Play solo or with a partner in this tennis game as you compete in a tournament to unlock special avatars, characters, skins, and more. Your hands are the rackets, and prompts and guides help you aim or achieve strokes if you aren’t a tennis player. As with other sports games, the harder you swing, the more speed each shot achieves.

5

Hungry Hungry Hippos Move ‘N Munch

Snack your way to victory

This is the game’s virtual version if you’ve played Hungry Hungry Hippos in the analog world. However, instead of smacking a hippo’s backside to eat the marbles, you use your hands to gobble up as many treats as possible. This game is more challenging than you’d expect. There’s a learning curve as you figure out how to move to reposition your hippo and keep snacking to score points.

4

Candy Land Sugary Sprint

The ultimate sugar rush

If you can’t take one more round of the board game version of Candy Land, Candy Land Sugary Sprint is for you. This stealthy fitness game pits up to four players against each other as they race to be first across the finish line. The faster you run in place, the quicker your character progresses down the path. Along the way, you’ll jump to avoid obstacles and move from side to side to gobble up the sweet treats and score the most points.

3

Family Fitness Challenge

Challenge each other and other families

This in-your-face fitness game allows up to four players to compete in four challenges. Designed to encourage families to exercise together, you’ll try your hand (or feet) in relay races and hurdles and test your speed and agility on obstacle courses to gain more points. While you can’t interact with other Nex Playground users, this is one of the few games with a cloud-based leaderboard system where you can compete against other teams on the network.

2

Active Arcade

Have fun, break a sweat, and earn points

This one-player and two-player game encourages full-body movement with challenges that make you jump, lunge, and break a sweat to earn points in the game and on a fitness tracker in real life. Choose from 15 mini-challenges, including posing, avoiding hazards, and aiming at targets.

1

NexGym Fitness

A full-body workout in your living room

You can still get a solid workout at home if you sometimes can’t get to the gym. This is ideal for people who are just starting or might not be ready for the social pressure that sometimes comes with the gym experience. The 15-Day Routine Program is a nice feature. Use it to create a customized fitness journey incorporating strength training, cardio, and targeted workouts. Plus, you’ll have the help of a virtual coach.

A simple gaming console for the whole family

The Nex Playground is compact, offers an easy TV set up in under 15 minutes, and is preloaded with fun games for all ages. The brand promotes its growing catalog of games for ages five and up. While the system is new (launched December 2023), it has 30 titles that run the gamut of popular mobile games and franchise characters like Sesame Street, Peppa Pig, and Miraculous Ladybug.

It even has fitness games to get everyone up and moving (more fun than your everyday fitness apps), and you can download them to the cube. However, you can’t access these titles from other devices. Expect more titles, including popular franchise character debuts, to drop during the holiday season. However, you need to use the subscription service to access these games. If you don’t want to, you still have the starter pack, which has a few good games, but you need to opt in to get the full Nex Playground experience.