When you think of YouTube, interactive games are probably not the first thing that comes to mind. However, smart creators once came up with many games that you can play on YouTube. Like classic “choose your own adventure” books and interactive fiction games, YouTube interactive games let you make decisions to move forward in the story.
Unfortunately, YouTube made a change that makes almost all of these videos unplayable. Let’s examine why then take a look at the interactive YouTube games that CAN still play today.
Interactive YouTube games died without annotations
Unfortunately, most interactive YouTube games no longer work properly. This is because YouTube removed the annotation feature.
If you are not familiar, the annotations were text boxes that the creators could add to their videos. They were often used to link to a related video, note a correction, or make a joke. However, the annotations did not appear on YouTube’s mobile apps.
This, combined with decreased usage, prompted the company to discontinue them in 2017. And then, in January 2019, YouTube completely removed annotations from all videos.
While YouTube now offers features like flashcards and end screens to replace some of this functionality, the fact that annotations no longer appear means that many interactive videos simply don’t work. They relied on annotations to provide clickable links to advance the narrative.
Some creators have replaced annotations with newer cards or end screens, but this is not the case for most of them. Since many of the popular games were years old, the creators were no longer able to actively manage their channels. You can see an example of this below; the interactive card trick video just doesn’t work as intended without annotations.
Interactive Movies of Chad, Matt, and Rob
As a result, there is a notable YouTube channel that still features interactive games that work: chadmattandrob. While this channel is not active these days, it features some of the best-known interactive movies on the site. The first was uploaded in 2008.
While these videos were initially based on annotations, the endings have been modified to use modern ending screens. Therefore, this channel is your best bet for interactive YouTube experiences.
Let’s take a quick look at the premise of each of these experiences so you know what to expect. We’ve linked the opening videos for each, so start with those and your choices will take you through the narration.
1. The time machine
Chad, Matt and Rob’s first adventure was also one of the first of its kind on YouTube. In this experience, your goal is to safely bring the boys to a meeting. Along the way, they discover a time machine and travel to different time periods while trying to get ahead of the authorities.
2. The murder
During this adventure, Chad, Matt and Rob witness a murder during filming. Compared to The Time Machine, this one features additional branching paths and more possible scenes to watch.
3. The birthday party
Join our heroes on their third adventure, where they must make it to their boss’s birthday party unscathed. During the journey, they encounter many wild scenarios that you might not expect.
4. The teleporter
The channel marks The Teleporter as a “mini adventure”. It is notable for being a branded video; History presents AX products. Other than that, it focuses on guys running away from a UFO.
5. The treasure hunt
The final interactive adventure brings the group to face a veteran treasure hunter as they search for ancient treasure. It was uploaded in 2011.
Interactive YouTube games are a thing of the past
As we’ve seen, the games you can play on YouTube went almost entirely extinct when YouTube removed the annotations. Fortunately, you can still enjoy the videos of Chad, Matt, and Rob, so at least not all of them are gone.
There’s also more good news: Interactive movies are alive and well off YouTube. As you can see with our list of interactive movies that you can control online.
She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.