16 Ways to Get Paid to Play Games
These days you can actually get paid to play games and it doesn’t even matter if you’re not much of a gamer.
Learn how to make money in your spare time with the following online games.
In This Article
How to Make Money Playing Games
This first section reviews sites that award you cash to play games that you might play on your tablet or smartphone for fun.
Some games are tournament-based while others allow you to play alone and earn rewards after completing specific objectives or challenges.
1. PlayerUp
PlayerUp is another P2P video game account marketplace. They pride themselves on being “the first company devoted to legally protecting Player-2-Player Account Transactions.”
If you desire to ensure you get paid for your hard work securely, this can be a good site to use because of their payment protection guarantees.
Trustpilot Score: 4.6 out of 5
2. Play and Win
Another popular gaming site is Play and Win. You can play arcade games, bingo, puzzle games, matching games, card games, and multiplayer games.
You can also enter tournaments and challenges to earn additional rewards points.
When it comes time to redeem your rewards points, you can receive PayPal cash or enter sweepstakes.
Trustpilot Score: 4.5 out of 5
3. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is more than a platform to play games online.
You can also get paid to surf and search the web, watch videos, and take surveys.
With each activity, you get paid rewards points called “Swagbucks.” There are a few free games that allow you to earn Swagbucks.
There are memory games and also action games where you guide a character to jump over pits and obstacles to gain points.
If you do “pay-to-play” online games on GSN, Swagbucks will pay you up to 18 bucks per $1 spent on games ranging from the various slots games, Bejeweled 2, and games based on shows like Super Plinko from The Price is Right game show.
Whether you win or lose, you can earn a little extra money by playing on GSN using Swagbucks.
You can spend the accumulated bucks on gift cards to nearly any restaurant or retail store. A second option is to exchange for PayPal cash.
Trustpilot Score: 4.3 out of 5
Learn More: Swagbucks Review
4. QuickRewards
QuickRewards is another multi-faceted option to earn rewards from playing games or performing additional tasks such as watching videos, taking surveys, visiting websites, shopping, and completing offers.
This site is more flexible in rewards payouts than some of the others as you can get paid for cash rewards with a balance of one cent or redeem your points for gift cards starting at $5.
Trustpilot Score: 4.1 out of 5
Related: QuickRewards Review: Is it Legit?
5. InboxDollars
You can also earn extra cash by playing games online with InboxDollars.
There are free games and paid games offered through GSN where you earn extra reward dollars when you play through InboxDollars.
In addition to getting paid for playing games, InboxDollars will also pay you for taking surveys, entering contests, performing web searches (they have their own search engine like Google), shopping online, or redeeming coupons.
You can get a bonus of $5 when you sign-up with InboxDollars and can cash out once you earn $40 in rewards.
Trustpilot Score: 4.2 out of 5
Learn More: InboxDollars Review: Is it a Scam or Legit?
6. Mistplay
Mistplay is an Android app that pays you to play games. When you download the app, you’ll get a mixlist that has new games for you to play.
As you play the games on your app, you’ll start earning points. You can use your points to get gift cards to Visa (i.e. cash!) Amazon, Starbucks and more.
The app also has a chat feature where you can chat with other gamers. And you can earn points when you invite friends to download and play.
Looking for a little competition? You can compete with other gamers to rank in the Mistplay leader boards.
Google Play Rating: 4 out of 5
Learn More: Mistplay Review
7. Lucktastic
Lucktastic is a scratch card app you can download on Android in the United States. It’s free to download and play.
However, before you can play there are quite a few ads you have to watch before each scratch card.
You can early daily rewards, play scratch cards, refer friends, and enter contests to earn money tokens. There are also additional ads you can watch and surveys you can enter.
Some scratch cards will reward you with cash and others will reward you with tokens.
Cash can be withdrawn with Dwolla or a check by mail, or you can opt for a Visa, AMEX, or gift card from Amazon.
Tokens can be redeemed for gift cards to lots of different places, including Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, restaurants, and more.
Google Play Rating: 3.9 out of 5
Learn more: Lucktastic Review
8. Player Auctions
You can also make money by selling your account info online at Player Auctions. This site has been helping gamers swap account information since 1999.
After doing the hard work of beating the game or earning all the available badges or coins, you can reap your cash rewards by selling it to the highest bidder.
It’s possible to sell your accounts for a variety of games from sports games, action games, and RPG franchises like Runescape or Final Fantasy.
Trustpilot Score: 3.9 out of 5
9. Twitch
Twitch is a YouTube alternative that is dedicated to video games. By creating your own channel, gamers can watch you play a video game live and also talk with you.
By becoming a Twitch Partner, it’s possible to earn money from advertisement based on the length of your videos and the number of views.
You can also earn money if other Twitch members choose to buy a monthly subscription to your channel because you get a portion of those proceeds.
Trustpilot Score: 3.2 out of 5
Learn More: Twitch Review
10. Gamesville
Gamesville is another way to get paid to play games and has been around for a long time. It was created by Lycos (if your memory goes back that far in Internet history).
With Gamesville, you can get paid in two different ways. The first way is through free tournaments for just about any game, including bingo.
A second way to earn money is to play individually in games where you race against the clock. Some games even have progressive jackpots.
When you win a game, you are awarded GV Rewards. The rewards can be entered for prize drawings. They also have a cash tournament section where you do not receive GV Rewards.
Trustpilot Score: 3.2 out of 5
11. SecondLife
If you played The Sims, then SecondLife is an interesting parallel that allows you to earn money. You get paid real cash by creating a digital business on the SecondLife platform.
Other users can pay you to buy clothing, furniture, or other material goods. It’s also possible to make money by renting or selling real estate and creating experiences such as amusement parks or nightclubs.
A third way to make money is to get a job on SecondLife by being a salesperson at a digital store or a DJ at a club for example.
Any way you can make money in real life allows you to earn Linden Dollars on SecondLife that can be exchanged for real dollars.
In fact, one person became a real-life millionaire from playing and selling digital goods on SecondLife.
There are over 2 million SecondLife users. Each user creates their avatar that they control to explore the city and participate in activities.
You can earn Linden Dollars by selling products, real estate, and getting a gig.
SecondLife also has different activities like searching for gold coins on the map or fishing for coins to build currency.
These activities are also a great way to friend other users who eventually might buy a product from you or hire you for their business.
Trustpilot Score: 2.4 out of 5
12. YouTube
This option allows you to earn money by creating a personal YouTube channel. Teens and adults look for video walk-throughs to get through difficult levels and boss battles that seem all but impossible.
Their primary help resource is YouTube where they can watch videos from others who have beaten the game. You can be that person who shows them how to win.
You can earn money in two different ways. Ads and affiliate links that you post in your videos. Regarding affiliate links, you might include a link to your favorite headset or controller.
If the person buys that product after clicking your link, you earn a small commission. This option can take some time to start earning money with YouTube because you need to build an audience.
Unlike other methods where you only get paid each time you play a game, you only have to play it once while recording the video and upload that video to YouTube.
You can literally earn money from ads and affiliate links three or four years after you originally posted the video if people continue to play that game and refer to your video for help.
Trustpilot Score: 1.7 out of 5
Other Ways To Make Money With Games
Here are a few alternative ways to make money online with games.
13. Become a Video Game Coach
A term that’s becoming more common is “esports.” Video game tournaments are a growing trend that doesn’t appear to be going away.
It might only be a matter of time before we have the equivalent of a Heisman Trophy or Olympic gold medals in esports.
How can you capitalize on this growing trend? Become a video game coach.
This is one of the most exciting online side hustles for teens and avid video game players. Full-time video game coaches can make more than $50,000 a year!
That’s a full-time salary just for teaching others how to play games online and win.
Parents pay for video game tutoring sessions for their children to become expert players.
Several online places are hiring online video game coaches including GameCoach.
You will need an internet connection, headset, and video capability to teach your students how to master the game.
14. Game Testers
You can get paid to test video games with Game Testers. There is a small amount of work involved before you can get paid to play.
There is a test to pass before you can become a tester, and there are different testing position needs.
Testing a video game is more than determining if the game is fun or boring. Some testers test the game for bugs and glitches while others analyze the spelling for any errors.
Others test the game for compatibility on a particular device or operating system configuration.
If you get selected to be a game tester, you can earn anywhere from $50 to $150 per hour. That is not bad pay, especially since it is a part-time job.
15. Build a Blog
In addition to creating a YouTube and Twitch channel, creating a blog can also be a good way to earn money by helping others play games through your experience.
Your blog can focus on a franchise of games like Call of Duty where you provide guides, reviews, and videos of how to beat the game or show special secrets.
You can earn affiliate income from your blog by recommending various consoles, games, and accessories.
The best places to get traffic when you are starting out are from social media channels like Facebook and Youtube.
16. eBay
You can always sell your game credentials on eBay too. It can be another way to reach players that don’t necessarily know that the other P2P (Player-2-Player) video game sites exist.
When selling on eBay, you can do a “Buy It Now” sale with a fixed price or an auction where your account goes to the highest bidder.
Auctions can be more exciting and generate more enthusiasm, but you are not always guaranteed the highest selling price.
Summary
As you can see, there are several legit ways for you to get paid to play games.
Whether it is playing bingo or solitaire, downloading featured mobile apps, or joining high stakes casino games, people make money each day by playing games online.
You can make money in your spare time too.
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