We researched more than two dozen play-to-earn mobile gaming apps and found a handful of legit options that pay via PayPal. We researched over two dozen play-to-earn mobile gaming apps and found only a few legit options that pay via PayPal.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®

• Updated July 25, 2024

The following apps can be downloaded and played for free. However, rewards are usually tied to achieving certain milestones in the game. To reach these milestones faster, in-app purchases are often necessary. It’s important to keep track of these milestones and estimate how long it will take to reach them. Remember that the aim is to make money, not lose it!

Note: The user review data cited throughout this article was collected on June 9, 2024. We update this article periodically throughout the year to keep the data current.

#1. Mistplay

A free app that allows you to earn rewards by playing games and providing feedback to developers.

Mistplay, which is only available for Android devices, is a standalone get paid to play games app. In other words, there’s no cash-back shopping or survey aspect — it’s 100% a gaming app.

The app is commonly used by game developers to get feedback on games they’re working on. You then earn points for playing the game and sharing valuable feedback.

Not all games have a feedback requirement, however. Often, it’s as simple as logging time playing the game. The more experience you have playing an individual game (and with the app overall), the more you earn.

Your points (which Mistplay refers to as “Units”) can be cashed out for PayPal money or used to purchase gift cards to major retailers.

The games that are available to you depend on your location. Raid, Words With Friends 2 and Yahtzee are some of the more popular options on the platform.

Download Mistplay.

#2. Swagbucks

A comprehensive rewards app with the ability to earn points by playing games (when you reach certain milestones within those games).

Swagbucks is one of our favorite overall reward sites.

In our in-depth Swagbucks review, we found 20+ ways to earn money on the platform. This includes making money with surveys, cash-back shopping and of course, playing games.

Users earn points (called SBs) that can be redeemed for PayPal cash, prepaid Visa cards, and gift cards to major retailers.

There are multiple ways to earn money by playing games on Swagbucks. The most popular is by achieving a certain milestone within a game.

For example, you can earn 8,000 points (equal to $80 in value) through the game Evony: The King’s Return, if you’re able to upgrade a general’s star to level five (as shown in the screenshot below).

Reaching in-game milestones can lead to lucrative payouts, but keep in mind that these milestones sometimes require paid upgrades or in-app purchases. Games that allow you to earn rewards like this are located in the Swagbucks Discover section.

Swagbucks does have the option (but not the requirement) to earn points by making in-game purchases.

Download Swagbucks.

#3. Freecash

A rewards platform offering both free and paid games, with opportunities to earn from simple tasks. Payout options include PayPal, cryptocurrency, and gift cards.

You’ll need to complete a small subset of games, before unlocking other options. | Google Play Rating | iOS Rating | Minimum Payout | Minimum Age | |—|—|—|—| | 4.3 with ‎68,179 votes | N/A | $5 | 13 |

FreeCash offers various ways to earn money, including free and paid games. It has a 4.5-star rating on Trustpilot and over 75,000 reviews.

In our review of Freeacsh, we found the gaming offers to be comparable to those of Swagbucks. However, they often don’t give as detailed instructions on milestones or hide key details until after downloading the game.

Also, upon signing up, you’re allowed to choose from a small selection of games.

The more you play, the more games you unlock.

Payout options include PayPal, cryptocurrency, and gift cards, with a minimum payout threshold of $5.

Visit Freecash.

#4. Swagbucks Daily Trivia

A free live trivia game that allows you to win cash prizes.

Formerly called Swagbucks IQ, Swagbucks Live is a real-time trivia game that’s open to the public. You need a Swagbucks account to play.

How it works is that contestants try to answer a total of 10 questions correctly. Those who answer all 10 correctly split the day’s pot, which can get up to $1,000.

If you guess an answer wrong, you’re kicked out of that game and must wait until the next day’s show to play again.

Fortunately, you still earn a few points (credited to your Swagbucks account) for participating and getting answers right.

Download Swagbucks Live.

#5. KashKick

A rewards app with a wide selection of games that allow you to earn money by reaching milestones within the game.

An example of some of the games available on KashKick. | Google Play Rating | iOS Rating | Minimum Payout | Minimum Age | |—|—|—|—| | 4.1 with 3,473 votes | 3.9 with ‎934 votes | $10 | 18 |

KashKick rewards you for reaching certain milestones within a wide selection of games. In-app purchases often allow you to reach these milestones faster, but they’re not required to earn. One benefit of KashKick is that they do pay in cash, not in points or virtual currency.

KashKick functions similarly to Swagbucks, with earnings coming via in-game achievements. So we analyzed the different earning milestones for games available on both platforms.

For example, with Monopoly Go, where the milestone for earning is reaching certain board levels, Swagbucks gives you more time to reach the board levels, but KashKick offers higher rewards.

For Yahtzee, KashKick again offers more payout potential ($100 compared to $58 on Swagbucks), but only gives you 10 days to reach the milestone (as opposed to 14 with Swagbucks).

In other words, if you devote a lot of time in the short term, or are willing to pay to reach the highest level, KashKick has the chance to be more rewarding.

Also, like Swagbucks, KashKick allows you to earn via surveys and offers. However, we found KashKick’s payouts to be lower on average than Swagbucks.

Download KashKick or read our KashKick reviewto learn more.

#6. Cash Giraffe

A popular free Android-only app that rewards users with gems for time spent playing new mobile games.

Cash Giraffe is a free Android app where users earn gems by playing new mobile games, which can be converted to PayPal cash or gift cards.

It’s one of the most downloaded apps in the gaming category, with over 5 million downloads on Google Play.

The app introduces one game initially, offering more as users achieve playtime milestones.

Your Cash Giraffe earnings are determined by the total time you spend playing games rather than by achieving specific levels within those games.

This earning model is tied to display ads during gameplay, which serves as a monetization strategy for app developers and Cash Giraffe.

The app also includes options for earning through surveys and offers.

Download Cash Giraffe.

#7. InboxDollars

A general rewards platform that includes the ability to earn money by playing free games with the chance to earn more via in-app purchases.

These are some of the games available on InboxDollars. | Google Play Rating | iOS Rating | Minimum Payout | Minimum Age | |—|—|—|—| | 4.2 with 150,449 votes | 4.5 with 199,106 votes | $15 | 18 |

InboxDollars is owned by Prodege, the same company that owns Swagbucks (which we discussed earlier in this article).

There are a lot of similarities between InboxDollars and Swagbucks, in that they’re comprehensive rewards apps with multiple ways to earn.

One of the biggest differences — which is especially important for those who plan to earn only through games — is the $15 minimum cash-out.

While $15 is attainable if you take advantage of all the ways to earn on InboxDollars (e.g., surveys and cash-back shopping), it will take you many hours to reach that mark by only playing games.

There are two ways to earn by playing games on InboxDollars.

First, the platform has many free browser-based games that you can play on your smartphone. These free games include titles like Solitaire, Monkey Bubble Shooter and Candy Jam. InboxDollars shows you ads while you’re playing these games.

With these browser based games, you can make money in that each time you reach a certain milestone within the game, you’re entered into guaranteed scratch-and-win sweepstakes with prizes ranging from 1 cent to $100.

The second option is to download specific gaming apps. You’ll learn about these opportunities inside the InboxDollars app.

At the time of publication, the app has an offer to earn $25 for downloading Clockmaker and reaching a certain in-game milestone. No purchase is necessary.

You can earn $25 from InboxDollars by downloading Clockmaker and unlocking House 15. Download InboxDollars.

Note: For those in the U.K., there’s InboxPounds. The Canadian version of InboxDollars is Daily Rewards. The same company owns these three apps and function nearly the exact same.

#8. Drop Rewards

A cash-back shopping app with the opportunity to earn points by playing games within the app.

Drop is a rewards app that provides cash-back on purchases, but it also features limited gameplay (which pays in rewards points) within the app. The games, including simple ones like pop-a-shot basketball and snake, are designed to engage users briefly, encouraging app logins.

Drop’s unique draw is the option to earn cash-back passively through card-linked offers, which require weekly activation. So, it stands as one of our favorite passive income apps. However, the app’s payout rates for games are relatively low. In our testing (see our Drop review), we averaged $0.38 per hour for games.

Think of gaming on Drop as a decent way to top off your points, as you’re unlikely to reach the $25 minimum cash-out based on playing games alone.

Download Drop Rewards and use code kkj8i when signing up to get a $5 bonus.

Best Pay-to-Play Game Apps That Have a PayPal Cash-Out Option

While these apps are free to download and offer a free-to-play version, our testing shows that earning a cash prize is only realistic if you’re willing to pay a small fee to enter tournaments.

You can earn much faster than free-to-play apps by paying to play, but doing so comes with the risk of losing your entry fee.

Important: Pay-to-play gaming apps are not available on the Google Play store, but can be found in the Galaxy Store for Samsung phones through direct download and on the App Store for iPhone users.

Google Play’s policy is that pay-to-play games are considered gambling apps and are subject to certain restrictions, including requiring a gambling license from each state.

Please note that many apps are listed with similar names in the Google Play Store. However, they’re made by different developers and, based on reading the reviews, many seem fraudulent! Always verify the developer’s name before downloading.

#9. Blackout Bingo

A popular pay-to-play Bingo game with entry fees for cash tournaments starting at 60 cents per card.

The premise of Blackout Bingo, from the developer Big Run Studios, is traditional bingo with a twist. You’re given a 5X5 grid of numbers. Bingo games run for two minutes each. The goal is to get as many bingos as possible within two minutes.

Whenever a number on your card is called, you must tap it (called a daub). Tapping the numbers faster allows you to daub more numbers within a game and earn bonuses to daub any square on your card.

In our testing of Blackout Bingo, we found the maximum potential prize for entering a cash tournament is $330.

Download Blackout Bingo.

Note: Cash tournaments are not enabled in the following states: AR, CT, DE, IN, LA, ME and SD.

#10. Bingo Cash

This Bingo game offers a blend of skill and speed, appealing to those who enjoy fast-paced, competitive gaming.

Bingo Cash, developed by Papaya Gaming, is a mobile bingo game where the top three players in a game, typically involving less than 20 people, win cash prizes.

The skill element is based on how quickly players can tap numbers.

Players can practice for free, but entering cash tournaments requires paying an entry fee of at least $1.

The withdrawal process can take up to 14 days, and cash prizes are paid via PayPal.

Download Bingo Cash.

#11. Solitaire Cube

Enter solitaire tournaments for 60 cents and compete against others for cash prizes.

Solitaire Cube, from Tether Studios, is a pay-to-play gaming app that offers cash prizes for winning digital solitaire games. Like traditional solitaire, the objective is to move all your cards into the stack at the top of the screen.

The goal is to finish the game as fast as possible while shuffling through your deck as little as possible. If you shuffle through your deck more than three times, you’ll begin to lose points.

With Solitaire Cube, you’re playing in a league instead of playing in live tournaments. Leagues run for a few days, and those who finish with the most points at the end split the pot.

During our testing of Solitaire Cube, the total cash prize for the league was $72,792.

Download Solitaire Cube.

Note: Tournaments are not enabled in the following states: AR, CT, DE, IN, LA, ME and SD.

Game Apps That Didn’t Make The List

Although many of the game apps below appear on other lists around the web, they didn’t make the cut for us based on our own research and testing.

• FusionCash. While mentioned on many “best game apps” lists, FusionCash doesn’t offer any gaming opportunities within the platform.
• Lucktastic. A sweepstakes app that gave players the ability to earn by playing scratch-and-win games. There was an overwhelming number of negative reviews from users of this platform, which shut down in March 2022.
• MyPoints. While MyPoints is solid as an overall rewards app, earning money playing games is limited to earning cash-back by making in-app purchases. You can learn more about the site in our MyPoints review.

Legit Game Apps That Pay Real Money FAQ

Can you really win real money playing games?Mistplay is a legit app that allows you to win real-world rewards in the form of PayPal payments or gift cards to major retailers.While reward sites like Swagbucks and InboxDollars are legit, games are among the lowest dollars-per-hour tasks on those sites. So, while you can win real money, go in with the expectation of earning about $1 per hour. And understand that to cash-out, you’ll likely need to add in other activities (such as taking surveys or cash-back shopping).

What about blockchain gaming?Blockchain gaming platforms (also known as play-to-earn) aren’t game apps per se, but rather sites that give you the ability to earn cryptocurrencies.While game-playing is involved, your ability to cash-out usually requires a whole other set of skills and knowledge about blockchain technology.If you’re interested in innovation, these games are worth checking out, as early adopters have sometimes made significant money.You can learn more in our in-depth guide on all the ways to get paid to play games.

Are sweepstakes and scratch-off games worth it?Looking at the reviews of these games (such as Lucktastic), users have not had a great experience. While there is an occasional winner, most report never getting enough to actually cash-out, while they’re fed a constant stream of ads.

Are mobile casino games legit?These apps are legit in that many pay out real cash prizes to winners. But just like a real casino, it’s the app companies themselves that are walking away the winners. There are better options to make money from your phone.

How We Selected The Games

Our methodology combines hands-on testing and detailed review analysis to recommend gaming apps that pay via PayPal. We test as many apps as possible (linking to our reviews when available), assessing their functionality, user experience and payout reliability.

For apps we can’t test directly, we conduct thorough research, scrutinizing user reviews and forum discussions to ensure authenticity.

We then consider crucial factors like minimum withdrawal amounts, additional earning methods (like surveys or cash-back shopping), and real user experiences with withdrawals.

Our focus is on presenting playable, enjoyable and reliable apps, ensuring users have a satisfactory experience.

Final Thoughts on Real Money Earning Games That Pay Via PayPal

If you enjoy playing games on your phone, some legitimate opportunities exist. Of course, by “legit opportunities,” we mean making around a dollar or two per hour. In other words, this is a way to earn a few bucks doing something you are already doing.

Fortunately, there are some legit ways to make money playing video games, such as user testing, making money with a Twitch channel and starting a YouTube gaming channel.

These options all require much more work than downloading an app and playing free games. But in the long-term, they’re the better side hustle idea, and can even be parlayed into a career in the gaming industry.

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R.J. WeissR.J. Weiss, founder of The Ways To Wealth, has been a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ since 2010. Holding a B.A. in finance and having completed the CFP® certification curriculum at The American College, R.J. combines formal education with a deep commitment to providing unbiased financial insights. Recognized as a trusted authority in the financial realm, his expertise is highlighted in major publications like Business Insider, New York Times, and Forbes. 148. Great informative article; however- found a questionable rating. There is a “iOS Rating” for MistPlay of 4.2 by 80k iOS users; but then goes on to say it’s “only available on Android devices?” How does that rating work? On what device did “80k iOS users” ascertain their rating? Just curious. Thank you.

Reply 149. Thanks for the head’s up. This was a mistake and it has now been corrected. Mistplay does not have an iOS app.

Reply 150. Mistplay no longer pays PayPal gift cards and the minimum to redeem is five dollars in gift cards not three

Reply 151. Misplay no longer has PayPal

Reply 152. Thanks, Julia. My understanding is PayPal is available only within the U.S.

On their homepage, it mentions PayPal as an option. However, I messaged them to confirm this is still the case.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an Android phone to check. I will update you when I learn more!

Reply 153. You can withdraw to PayPal from mistplay , I just did a few days ago , but I am in the US and also a beta tester so I don’t know if I was able to cash out to PayPal because of location or because I’m running the beta version but I was able to get my payout via PayPal the other day . 154. That’s great to know Sean. Will check back in with Mistplay to see what’s up.

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