Free online games that spawn in a tab.

TabSpawn is a free online games site: a hand-built set of browser games that open in a tab and play instantly, with no download, no sign-up and no app. The name is the idea: tap a link and the game spawns in your browser tab. It works on phones, laptops and Chromebooks, and the games built for this site share one player name and a public Top 10.

Yes. Every game listed here is free to play online in the browser with no account, no download and no payment. The retro emulators are free too, but they contain no games; you supply your own lawful copies.

No. The games are HTML5 and WebGL titles that run in a normal browser tab on desktop and, for most of them, on phones and tablets. A recent version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari is enough.

Instant games start the moment the page opens: nothing to install, no account and no long loading screen. Most games on TabSpawn download under 300 KB before the first move, less than a single phone photo, so they are ready in a second or two on a normal connection.

Tab games are small games you play in a browser tab instead of an app, like the dinosaur game built into Chrome. You open one between two tasks and close it when you are done. Every game on TabSpawn is a tab game, and each one saves your progress in the browser, so a closed tab is not a lost game.

For a minute or two, try Stackrise, Arrowscape or a single Outline level. For about five minutes, a Huesort or Dotweave level, a Dusk Duel match or a Bowfall level. Jetbrawl matches last five minutes or twenty kills, and Apex Rider's time attack is a fixed ninety seconds.

Yes. Because they run in the browser, Stackrise, Dotweave, Arrowscape, Jugnu II and Dusk Duel play on any Chromebook without the Play Store. The emulators also run on Chromebooks, though 3D consoles like the N64 want a faster model. See the guide to games for Chromebook for controls and tips.

Every instant game plays right here on tabspawn.com. The retro lab is different: the emulators and the streamed consoles each run on their own domain with their own servers, so they open in a new tab. All of them are built and run by the same developer.

Progress stays in your browser. The games hosted on tabspawn.com give you a player name on first visit, which you can change, and send your best score to a public Top 10 under that name. Jugnu II does the same with its own leaderboard. The emulators keep save states and memory cards in browser storage on the device you used, so clearing site data clears them.

Instant games open and play immediately. The lab holds emulators and cloud-streamed consoles: they need your own game files, and the streamed rooms need a hosting key because a real console runs on a server for each room.

Yes, in two ways. Ludo (two to four players) and carrom (two players) are played on one device: pass the phone or laptop round, and the computer can fill an empty seat. Over a link, Dusk Duel is a one-on-one fighter, Jetbrawl holds up to eight players in a private room, Airlock is a social deduction game for up to ten, and RetroDeck Live and its PS2 edition give a second player the other controller of a streamed console, with spectators welcome to watch.