Google Messages in-chat games: Chess, Cup Pong, Basketball

Google Messages is adding built-in games — including Chess, Cup Pong, Basketball, and Word Scramble, as part of an internal project codenamed Midnight, according to strings found in the app’s latest open beta build: messages.android_20261002_00_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic. The feature is not yet live, and Google has not confirmed whether it will ship or when.

But the code references 10 distinct game types, all designed for two-player interaction inside a chat thread. No multiplayer infrastructure or backend support is confirmed. Only the UI scaffolding and game names are present so far. This would bring Messages in line with iMessage and Facebook Messenger, both of which have supported in-chat games for years.

It’s not a hardware story. It’s not a Gemini launch. It’s a quiet, unannounced shift in how Google is positioning its default SMS app, away from pure utility and toward lightweight social engagement. The timing lines up with broader Google moves: agentic Gemini tasks rolling into Gmail, a GIF editor coming to Photos.