Free trivia games, no download needed, for your next desk break

If you are searching for free trivia games no download required, the best ones load in a browser tab faster than your build finishes. Start with Quiz Compass on Mayavoo: no install, no account, and a timer you can switch off when the standup runs long.

Installing a quiz app on a work laptop means a ticket, an admin prompt or a quiet word from IT. A browser game skips all of that. Here is what to open on your next break, and how to keep it to a break.

The short list

Quiz Compass

Quiz Compass is general knowledge trivia shaped like a sailing race. A compass spin picks the subject (nature, history, science, geography, arts or sport), you choose one of four answers, and each right answer earns a badge. Six badges and you dock at the next island. Three wrong answers and you sail back to try that leg again.

Three computer captains race you along the same route, which turns a quiz into a contest without needing coworkers to join. Questions were written and fact-checked by the creators, so you will not lose a crown to a typo in the answer key.

Keyboard players get full control: Space spins, 1 to 4 answers, R drops two wrong answers, T adds ten seconds, S swaps the question, M mutes, Escape pauses.

Common Thread

For people who like spotting connections, Common Thread asks you to sort sixteen tags into four hidden groups. Red herrings fit two groups, the hardest links are wordplay, and a daily exhibit gives you one more reason to come back tomorrow.

Out of the Box

Out of the Box is a riddle box where the answer might be hiding in the question's own words, the picture, or the lid. Good for anyone who reads every tooltip.

Why the browser beats an app for this

Keeping a break a break

• Mute it. Quiz Compass and Common Thread both let you turn the sound off.
• Turn the timer off in Quiz Compass if a message pings mid-question. You can also set 20 or 30 seconds.
• Pause with Escape when someone walks over. No judgement.
• Play one island. A single leg of Quiz Compass is a natural stopping point.

When to skip these

If your team wants a live quiz with a host reading questions to everyone at once, a hosted quiz tool such as Kahoot handles that better. These picks are for playing on your own.

Where they live

All three are on Mayavoo, a free site for browser games made by independent creators. The team plays each game and checks its files and network behavior before it goes live, and games run in a sandboxed frame away from your Mayavoo account. A short Google ad may show before a game starts or when you leave, but none while you play. You only need to sign in, with Google or GitHub, to like a game or comment.