The games have to be legitimately free – no free trials that turn into pay for play. Selecting the 50 Best Free Online Games for Kidsīest Kid Stuff wants parents to feel safe and secure as possible about the games they let their kids play, so for our 50 Best Free Online Games for Kids ranking, we had some specifications. Pay to play, hidden fees, games you can’t win without investing, and insidiously addictive mind tricks – it’s a minefield (even Minecraft). Online gaming is still a rough world, though, with all kinds of supposedly free online games designed for nothing more than to part kids with their (and their parents’) dollars. So for parents in the 2020s, it’s not a question of whether kids should be allowed to play video games – it’s how to steer them toward the best video games for kids. By some estimates, more than 90% of tweens and teens play some video games regularly, whether on a computer, a console, or a smart device. With smartphones, tablets, live streaming, and all kinds of tech the arcade wizards of the early days could hardly imagine, video games are central to the lives of kids. But there’s never been anything quite like the 2010s. The video game industry has gone through its ups and downs, but its highs have been high indeed, from Atari and Nintendo fever and the buzzing mall arcades of the 1980s to the console wars of the early 2000s.

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