Free puzzle games in your browser: why a monster hotel is so addictive

A good browser puzzle game fits into a five-minute break, makes sense without a manual and still makes you think. GhoulStay was born from those three rules, and a hotel full of quirky monsters turned out to be the most fun way to follow them.

Open and play

The biggest barrier in a game is not its difficulty, it is everything before the first round: stores, downloads, permissions, accounts. GhoulStay opens in your phone or computer browser and your game saves itself in that same browser. An account is optional and only takes your hotel to another device.

Rules you can see

Almost nothing in GhoulStay needs reading. Each guest’s bubble shows, in pictures, the rooms they accept. Rooms that work glow green and the rest go dark. If two neighbours hate each other, the warning pops up over the door. The game explains itself and the challenge is in thinking, not decoding.

Something new every night

The twenty levels of the Dusty Manor add pieces little by little: first the order of the line, then neighbours who can’t stand each other, a smaller waiting lounge, the mummy who costs double, the slime trail, locked doors, the baby dragon’s heat, the demon rocker’s noise... all the way to the Countess VIP, who wants everything at once.

The challenge is perfection

Beating a level is easy. Three stars means not one mistake and every monster in their favourite room. That is why you want to replay: the second time you know who is going to cause trouble.

Genuinely free

Every level can be played without paying. Gems are earned by getting three stars for the first time and from the daily gift; anyone who wants to go faster can buy them, but nothing in the game is locked behind a payment.