Play the Secret Basketball and Chess Games in Messenger

Two fun reasons why you might want to switch to Facebook Messenger instead of WhatsApp as your main app to chat with your friends.

Aside from its messaging and video call features, Facebook’s Messenger app also has a couple of hidden games you can play with your friends. Here’s how to access them.

FACEBOOK MESSENGER BASKETBALL

To play the hidden basketball game on Facebook Messenger, make sure you have the latest version of the app, and open it on your iOS or Android phone. High scores are saved and the player with the current high score will be shown in game. Every time you or your friend  plays, your  scores will be displayed in the main chat window.

1. Start a chat with a friend.

2. Open the emoticon keyboard.

3. Look for the basketball emoticon and send it.

4. When the message has been sent, tap the basketball emoticon in the main chat window to launch the secret basketball game.

5. To shoot the ball, do a swiping gesture from the ball to the hoop. After reaching 10 points, the game gets harder as the hoop starts moving from side-to-side.

FACEBOOK CHESS

If you’re looking for something a little more intellectual you can even play a game of Chess with a friend.

1. Open a chat window and type “@fbchess play”. This works in both the Facebook Messenger app, as well as Facebook’s chat windows on the website itself.

The board will be shown and you’ll be randomly assigned to either black or white (alternatively type “@fbchess play white/black” to pick a color).

2. Make a move by selecting a piece and using the letter/number grid in standard algebraic notation. K = King, Q = Queen, B = Bishop, N = Knight, R = Rook, and P = Pawn. So for example, to move your Pawn to e5, type in “@fbchess Pe5”. For cases where there’s no ambiguity between pieces, you can save time by just typing in the space you want to move to.

To castle type “@fbchess 0-0-0” or “@fbchess O-O”. To promote a pawn to a queen type the position of the pawn and =Q, e.g. “@fbchess e8=Q”. You can ask to undo a move by typing “@ fbchess undo”

3. You can offer a draw by typing “@fbchess draw offer”. Your opponent can accept the draw by typing the same thing. Alternatively, you can claim a draw through 3-fold repetition by typing “@fbchess draw claim”.

Resign from a game by typing “@fbchess resign”. If you’ve forgotten the current position of the board, you can always type “@fbchess show” to show it. To see the game stats between you and your friend, type “@ fbchess stats”. To see a full list of commands, type “@fbchess help”.

BONUS

If you’ve got ultra competitive friends and gaming becomes too stressful, try typing @dailycute as a command in your Messenger chat box instead.