Chromecast wants to help families play during the holidays with some TV gaming action that doesn't require the kids to let go of their smartphones. Google announced it's adding games to the Chromecast app list, including big titles such as Monopoly, Scrabble Blitz, Just Dance Now, Connect Four Quads and Simon Swipe.

Users will now be able to open these games on their televisions and play on the big screen using their smartphones as controllers. For example, if two people want to play Scrabble Bltiz, they both download the smartphone app and open it on the TV using Chromecast. All of the words they spell show up on the TV. The players race to spell as many words as possible. In a game like Just Dance Now, the smartphone is used as a sensor that can tell how you're moving your body and award you points accordingly.

MORE: Best Streaming Players 2014



Chromecast uses Google's Knowledge Graph to bring a game called Big Web Quiz to your TV. The trivia-based game creates hundreds of off-the-wall questions like "how many goats tall is Taylor Swift?" so you'll likely never be left answering the same questions twice. There's also a new Emoji Party, a game that has you guessing movie titles by using only emoji clues to the movie's plot.





TV and movie buffs will be excited to hear that Chromecast has added support for Showtime Anytime and Starz Play. Both services require Showtime of Starz subscriptions, but the apps now being available on Chromecast makes them a bit more accessible for those who don't have an Apple TV or an Amazon Fire TV. It's clear that Google is trying to bolster Chromecast with new features in lieu of massive holiday competition coming from other streaming devices like Roku's Streaming Stick, Amazon's Fire TV Stick and the new Nexus Player. Chromecast is still the cheapest streaming stick out there, costing just $35, and that could keep it on the top of many stocking stuffer lists this holiday season.

Copyright 2014 Toms Guides , a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.