How to Have Fun with Amazon Alexa

Yes, Alexa’s incredibly useful, but she can also be a lot of fun. Let’s talk about how to have a blast with your Amazon Alexa.

(Just a heads up: some of these activities will require you to download skills that hook to your Alexa app. Don’t worry, though—Alexa tells you when she needs a new skill to complete a request.)

Ready to jam? Say, “Alexa, play something you can dance to,” and she’ll find you a song. If you want to request something more specific, like “Baby Shark,” you need a monthly Amazon Music, Spotify, or Pandora subscription. Alternately, you can have Alexa pull up your favorite radio station.

You can also ask Alexa to sing for you. That’s right, not play. Sing. Alexa’s singing is, well . . . it’s something else. But trust us. It's very entertaining.

Alexa can tell you a bedtime story that she made up herself, or she can channel Audible or Kindle to read you your favorites.

If you’re curious about what kind of stories Alexa makes up, we’ve got an example for you. Here’s the opening of a tale Alexa told us.

“You see, there’s a rhythm to it,” said my father as he bounced from one edge of the court to the other, trying to teach me how to play pickleball. “If you think too much about it, you’ll fall apart. It’s like dancing.”

I noticed that my father moved like a much younger man.

Alexa’s stories are short: just a minute or two. But they can be delightfully wacky. (She once told us a story about the life cycle of a can of cranberry sauce.) And, to break up Alexa’s sometimes-monotonous inflections, there are subtle sound effects.

Alexa can read your latest pick through either Audible or Kindle. The Audible app funnels a full audiobook through your Echo. Kindle, on the other hand, reads to you using Alexa’s voice.

At your request, Alexa suggests recipes and orders brunch. You don’t have to open a single app.

Need a recipe? Ask Alexa, and she’ll provide. She can even order the ingredients for you.

Or, if you’re trying to clear out your pantry, you can work backward by saying, “Alexa, find a recipe for olives and potatoes.” Once you’re satisfied with the recipe, Alexa will send it straight to your phone.

If you don’t want to refer back to a device while cooking, Alexa can read you the recipe, step by step.

Alexa’s not just fun; she’s also funny. If you want to crack a smile, you’ve got a few options.

Ask Alexa to tell you a joke, and she’ll gladly oblige. Or you can get more specific and ask for any of the following:

• A knock-knock joke
• A Shakespeare joke
• A Harry Potter joke
• A Disney joke
• A Star Wars joke
• An Avengers joke

(Those are just the ones we’ve uncovered ourselves; there could be more we don’t know of.)

It’s game night! Alexa’s skills let you play oodles of games on your own, with a stranger, or with friends.

When there’s no one to hang out with but Alexa, the two of you can play games like Box of Cats, Twenty Questions, and True or False. 

If you're feeling up to some brain teasers and trivia, Alexa offers a huge selection of games that will test your knowledge. You can ask her to give you a riddle of the day, test your history knowledge, or you can get specific with some Harry Potter trivia.

There’s also Dungeon Adventure. This D&D-style choose-your-own-adventure game requires you to roll for attributes, hit points, attack impact—you name it.

Other Alexa adventure games include Magic Door, Earplay, and Bosch (based on the Harry Bosch detective novels). The sky’s the limit when it comes to Echo-based derring-do.

When you play Price It Right or Song Quiz, you compete with someone else in the world who’s also playing. This is a neat way to connect with another person without revealing your identifying info. (Especially since playing against bots, even a sophisticated AI like Alexa, gets old after a while.)

If you have kids, Alexa has some fun games with them in mind like The Spongebob Challenge, and Hide and Seek. These games are sure to keep them busy and entertained.

Even when you have someone else to hang with, Alexa adds to the fun.

If the board game you got at the thrift shop doesn’t have dice, Alexa will roll virtual dice for you. If you want to play Truth or Dare, Alexa will generate questions. If you want to move around, Alexa can lead you in a rousing game of Freeze Dance or Escape the Room.

It’s hard to have fun if you feel like your life is spiraling out of control. Alexa will help you get organized so you can stop stressing and start enjoying yourself.

Just think of something? Worried you’ll forget it? Alexa can keep track of it for you. You just say, “Alexa, note that the best jalapeño poppers are at that diner on Fifth,” and she’ll take care of it. To retrieve the note, you say, “Alexa, what are my notes about jalapeño poppers?”

Do you keep putting off buying a home security system? Until you take the plunge, you can use Alexa Guard to help secure your home.

On its own, Guard sends you notifications when it hears a smoke alarm or breaking glass. When paired with smart lights, it turns the bulbs on and off to make it look like you’re away.

We wouldn’t recommend Alexa Guard over a full security suite, but it’s a neat way to be safer until you get better security. You can also use it in conjunction with Ring Alarm or ADT home security systems.

One of the most engaging things about Alexa is her many secret voice commands. You can spend hours testing funny questions and requests to see how Alexa responds.

Here are some of our favorites:

• “Alexa, make me a sandwich.”
• “Alexa, what’s the meaning of life?”
• “Alexa, do you wanna date me?”
• “Alexa, who you gonna call?”
• “Alexa, may the force be with you.”
• “Alexa, I am your father.”
• “Alexa, set phasers to kill.”
• “Alexa, beam me up.”
• “Alexa, avada kedavra.”
• “Alexa, alohomora.”
• “Alexa, wingardium leviosa.”
• “Alexa, lumos.”
• “Alexa, do you want to build a snowman?”
• “Alexa, where’s Waldo?”
• “Alexa, find Chuck Norris.”
• “Alexa, meow.”

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