Nex Playground Review: My New Favorite Way to Play Video Games

This little Rubik’s Cube–shaped video game console allows kids and adults of all ages to play active, motion-based games together, with minimal fuss and frustration.

The Nex Playground is a 3-inch cube that you can easily tuck away in a cabinet when you aren’t using it. And unlike other, major game consoles, it doesn’t require players to use controllers or strap on wearable remotes to play games. Instead, it employs a built-in camera with AI image processing to track your motions and gestures. This means you can demolish fruit in Fruit Ninja by simply slicing the air or shoot hoops in Basketball Knockout just as you would in a real arcade. Each game has a tutorial to walk you through the motions and goals, and the system comes with a minimalist, TV-like remote that you use to select games and navigate menus.

Although I live in a house of adults, the Nex Playground is made with children in mind. It comes preloaded with five games, and you can access the rest of the game catalog via a single subscription, called Play Pass. The Play Pass catalog includes more than 45 games at this writing, and the company adds at least one new title to Play Pass each month. The subscription costs $49 for three months or $89 for the full year, and every game on the platform is approved by the kidSAFE+ COPPA certification program, which means that all the content and data practices are safe for children under 13. Had the Nex Playground been around when I was a kid, I imagine that this subscription would have saved my parents from having to do a lot of research and to tolerate my tireless begging for new games.

Still, the console has been a hit with my adult friends and family. We’ve enjoyed scrolling through the catalog and trying out new games on a whim, without having to wait through long installations or loading screens to get started. My mom has trouble using a controller even to launch Switch Sports on my Nintendo Switch, but she navigates the Nex Playground’s menus and jumps into each game with ease. My family especially enjoys games such as Connect 4 Bounce and Bowling Strike, which call for extremely natural and intuitive motions.

The Play Pass catalog has a diverse selection of games, from competitive arcade classics to cooperative adventures. Most of the kids I know would likely go ballistic for the Bluey game, but you can also find plenty of other games based on popular shows, such as Sesame Street, Care Bears, and Peppa Pig. My personal favorite is a dancing game called Starri, which feels close to the arcade staple Dance Dance Revolution. And when I feel like getting a surprisingly intense arm workout, I’ll go for a few rounds of Whac-a-Mole.

Though the Nex Playground’s games are motion-based, it’s important to note that many of the games are accessible for wheelchair users and those with limited mobility. When you select a game, the menu denotes the level of movement intensity with star levels, and you can toggle the difficulty for each individual player.

We reached out to Matthew Barker, an adapted physical education (APE) teacher in Virginia who works to make physical education inclusive for students with a range of disabilities and who wrote about using the Nex Playground with his students. After using the Nex Playground with his own kids at home for about a year, he brought the console to one of his middle school classes, and, he told us, it was a huge success.

“I’ve used an old Xbox Kinect in my APE classes before, but the Nex Playground is on another level,” Barker said. “It’s far more portable, easier to set up, and once the games are downloaded, it doesn’t require Wi-Fi — something that was always a challenge in school settings. My kids love it, my students love it, and I love that it keeps everyone active, engaged, and smiling.”

The Nex Playground’s built-in camera can register up to four players at a time, with most games supporting two to four players. For the most part, it tracks movements quickly and accurately. But it isn’t always perfect, and sometimes you have to wave your arms around to recalibrate your own position, or swap places with the person next to you if it gets confused about which player is where. I’ve run into a few issues due to the limitations of my living space — my TV stand is tall, and my living room is shallow, so I can’t back up far enough for the Playground’s camera to see below my knees. For most games, the arrangement works out fine, but it’s harder for me to take advantage of fitness titles like NexGym Fitness, where it rarely registers my squats or lunges properly. If you have a full party of four players, make sure you all have ample room to move — I’ve often thought it would be nice to have a bigger space to reduce the risk of my family members hitting one another during some of the wilder games.

The camera might also cause concern. At first, I was hesitant about it. But the console comes with a magnetic cover, and the camera has a light to indicate when it’s on. Nex also confirmed that all video-capturing data is processed locally, rather than sent to the cloud. But if you’re still uncomfortable with the camera, you can easily unplug the console and store it in a cabinet — it takes up almost no space at all.

Compared with every other game console I’ve seen, the Nex Playground is the most affordable, all-in-one option for families who want to play games together. While the Nintendo Switch has long been a great family-friendly option, even motion-based games on the platform, such as Switch Sports, require some level of interaction with a controller. Nintendo is also slower to release multiplayer games, the extra accessories are costly, and the newest games are rising in price — this year’s Mario Kart World launched at a whopping $80 just for the game alone. In contrast, the Nex Playground is painless to set up and use, the Play Pass subscription is convenient and well priced, and it’s been a blast to watch my less-experienced friends and family members jump in with ease. Gone are the days where I would sigh with impatience and yell at my gaming partners to hurry up and figure it out. (For the most part.)

This article was edited by Signe Brewster and Caitlin McGarry.