Getting started
What Cognivo is, how to start a game in seconds, and where everything lives. No account needed.
Last updated
Cognivo is a free website of strategy and thinking games. Everything plays in your browser, with nothing to install and no account to make.
Pick a game
Open Games and choose one. There are three kinds:
- Board games and puzzles: chess, checkers, reversi, Connect Four, Nine Men's Morris, Ultimate tic-tac-toe, Hex and Dots and Boxes, plus Spy Games' cipher missions.
- Arcade games: Ember, a small platformer, and Delve, a cave crawl. You play them on your own, with the keyboard or touch.
- Lessons: every game has a lesson on Learn, with rules, strategy and history you can try on the board or listen to.
Three ways to play
- Against the computer. Every board game has an easy, a medium and a hard opponent, and you choose who moves first.
- Against a friend. Pick a game in the lobby and send the private link it gives you. The first person to open it takes the other seat.
- In a tournament. Open a room in the lobby, share its link with a group of 3 to 32, and the host starts the bracket.
There are no accounts. A name in a live game is optional, and lasts as long as the room.
Where things are saved
Your preferences and progress are kept in your own browser: your board theme, best times, lesson progress and the levels and art you make in the Labs. They stay on this device and this browser only. Clearing your browser's site data clears them too.
Live games and tournaments run on Cognivo's server, so a friend can play you from anywhere. For exactly what is kept and why, see Privacy and Cookies and tracking.
Two addresses
| Address | What is there |
|---|---|
cognivo.digital | The games, lessons, live play and tournaments |
labs.cognivo.digital | The Labs: the tools for making arcade levels and art. They are experimental. |
The arcade games open on both addresses, so a level or picture you make in the Labs can be play-tested straight away.
Phones, tablets and computers
Cognivo works in any up-to-date browser, on phones, tablets and computers. The arcade games show touch buttons on touch screens. Voice moves in chess use your browser's own speech support, so they work in some browsers and not others.
When you need help
- Help answers questions about the site, and lets you report a problem.
- FAQ covers the common questions.
- Accessibility explains keyboard play, screen readers and reduced motion.