The best free games that pay on Android

The best free games that pay on Android are the ones you’d install anyway: short, colorful puzzles that are fun from the first level. Install them from Google Play through Playout, and every level you finish adds coins that turn into PayPal cash or gift cards. You never pay a cent: the games are free, Playout is free, and cashing out is free.

We’ve picked a favorite for every mood. All of them are on the Playout shelf right now.

How to set up free games that pay on Android

1. Install Playout from Google Play. There’s no sign-up form; your account is tied to your phone.
2. Open the shelf on the Home tab and tap a game. It installs from Google Play like any other app.
3. Wait for Playout to confirm the install, which usually takes a few minutes. This links the game to your account.
4. Play. Every finished level adds coins, and every four hours your coins become real money in your balance.

For a wider look at earning on Android, see make money playing games on Android.

Best for quick sessions: Crown Crush

Crown Crush is a spinning tower, a crowned ball and one thumb. Hold to smash down through the plates, let go when a dark section comes around. The levels are short, so one bus stop is enough for a few of them. If you have two minutes, this is the one to open.

Best for relaxing: Mahjong Smart

Mahjong Smart is classic Mahjong solitaire with no timer. Match free pairs, clear the layered pile, use hint, undo and shuffle whenever you like. The large, easy-to-read tiles make it a favorite for players of any age, and there are daily puzzles to come back to.

Best for chain reactions: Domino Blast

Domino Blast looks like a classic 8x8 block puzzle until you clear a line with a standing domino in it. The domino topples across the board, smashes blocks and knocks over the next one, and chains can even turn corners. One placement can clear half the board.

Best for color sorting: Hexa Pop

Hexa Pop is a hexa sort puzzle on a honeycomb board. Drop chip stacks, watch matching colors hop together, and burst towers of 10 or more chips. It has no in-app purchases, more than 1,000 levels, and a fresh board and sky every 25 levels.

Best for aiming: Candy Cannon Sort

Candy Cannon Sort puts a cannon under the ball sort puzzle. Fling candy into glass tubes, fill one with four of a color, and it erupts and knocks loose balls from its neighbors. No in-app purchases, more than 1,000 levels across five candy worlds.

Best for combos: Jelly Jam

Jelly Jam is a parking puzzle with wobbly jelly cars. Send three cars of one color out in a row and they fuse into a Jelly Truck that plows a lane. Keep the trios coming and your combo climbs toward MEGA and GIGA trucks.

Best for satisfying cleanups: Bolt Out

Bolt Out is a screw puzzle where you pull bolts, pack them into crates by color, and watch plates drop away once their last bolt is out. If you love this kind of puzzle, Screw Blast! is a great second pick, with wooden boards, pins and nuts to sort.

Best for thinking it through: Block Bus!

Block Bus! is a block puzzle with buses to fill. Clear lines and blocks of the bus’s color climb aboard. There’s no timer, so you can study the board for as long as you need before every placement.

Best for logic lovers: Mines & Meows

Mines & Meows is a cozy, cat-themed logic puzzle in the Minesweeper family. The clues always give you enough to work out which cells are safe, so careful thinking wins instead of guessing.

Best for strategy: Arrow Survival

Arrow Survival is about building power. Match and merge arrows into stronger types, choose your upgrades, and take on stages that grow tougher as you go.

Best for coffee breaks: Tile Tap!

Tile Tap! is the most laid-back game on the shelf. Tap and match tiles to clear the board, in levels short enough for a coffee break.

Free from start to finish

Every game here is free to install from Google Play, and you never need to buy anything to earn. Playout itself has no premium tier, no unlocks and no fee to cash out. When your balance reaches the low minimum, set per currency and shown in the app, you cash out to PayPal, an Amazon gift card or a Google Play gift card. Payouts usually arrive within minutes.

Make every game pay a little more

• Finish five levels a day in any game to grow your daily streak. Your best streak sets a coin boost that stays with you.
• Answer the daily quiz and check the daily event on the Home tab.
• Invite a friend. They start with 2× earnings for 48 hours, and you both unlock rewards. See inviting friends.

What to expect

These games pay modest amounts: gift-card money for time you’d spend playing anyway, not a second income. Our full ranking of the best games to earn money has more detail on each one.

Playout is available worldwide on Google Play for Android. Install it, pick your mood, and start playing.

Google Play is a trademark of Google LLC. Playout is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.