Cardboard is Google’s do-it-yourself gateway into virtual actuality, leasing you strap your Android phone into a cardboard shell (with a couple of lenses) and immerse yourself in 3D worlds. It’s pretty cheap and easy to get started, and there are dozens upon dozens of compatible apps. If you’re just getting ongoing with Cardboard or you’re looking for fresh ways to apply Google’s entry-level VR solution, these are the first 15 apps and games worth experiencing most of which are free. And remember, the divided images are stitched into a single scene once it’s in your face.
Cardboard
Google's Cardboard starter app serves as a nice hub for the overall experience, collecting the compatible apps you've downloaded and pushing you towards others, even giving you a little taste of the 360-degree experience within the menu. But it also has fun demo experiences that aren't found elsewhere.
The Google Earth demo is especially neat, although very lo-fi: you can fly around cities, which are roughly rendered and have flickering textures, making it unintentionally dreamlike. Tour Guide lets you view Versailles with narration, Exhibit shows off cultural artifacts that you can see from all over, plus you can view any videos or photospheres you have saved locally.
Cardboard (Free)
Cardboard Camera
Google’s own Cardboard Camera is an anomaly on this list: while most Cardboard apps simply want you to experience their VR creations, this app lets you build your own. The easy-to-use app uses your phone’s camera to quickly capture a moment via a panoramic circle around you, and then turns it into a 3D experience viewable with Cardboard.
It’s kind of amazing, given how speedy and straightforward the process is, plus you can add a little bit of narration or background noise for atmosphere. Imagine capturing an immersive look at an old home before moving, a beautiful vacation locale, or an event you never want to forget—simply fire up Cardboard Camera and relive it all over again whenever you please.
Cardboard Camera (Free)
The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience
Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” is instantly recognizable and widely beloved, and Google has used the shape-shifting rock classic to provide one of the most imaginative Cardboard apps to date. The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience delivers a 360-degree dreamscape that bounces from scene to scene, but it’s a little bit more interactive than a regular music video.
With a mix of cartoonish band member performances, small bits of archival footage, and some surreal moments, the VR experience spans the nearly six-minute song and gives you something neat to see all around. And since some of the animated elements response to how you move and look around, it’s worth enjoying multiple times.
Jaunt VR
Jaunt was one of the first big content producers for Cardboard, turning out apps with live 360-degree concert footage from artists like Paul McCartney and Jack White. Now they’ve pulled those early apps off of the Play Store and replaced them with a single Jaunt VR app, which acts like a hub for its myriad video experiences.
Those concert clips are still available (along with others), but Jaunt VR now offers more than 100 different Cardboard VR experiences, including immersive sports and travel footage, brief documentary scenes, and quite a bit more. Along with the previously-listed Within, it’s a one-stop destination for taking in a whole lot of free 360-degree VR video content.
Jaunt VR (Free)
Within
Amongst VR apps designed to dazzle, Within (formerly known as VRSE) is one of the best around. Evolution of Verse, the star attraction, is a short film full of surreal imagery: a train chugs through a lake until it smashes into your position, and then bursts into thousands of winged creatures that again transform into confetti. It takes a weird twist at the end, and the video is just a few minutes long, but it’s worth watching a couple times and sharing with friends.
And the app has added a fair bit more since being one of the earliest Cardboard standouts: there’s a Mr. Robot VR Experience, some mini-documentaries, U2 and Muse music videos, and more. All of it is free, too.
Within (Free)
Proton Pulse
Easily the most fun I’ve had with a Cardboard game, Proton Pulse essentially puts a 3D spin on Breakout—or “one-player Pong” if you haven’t played the old classic. In this case, you’ll move your head to shift the translucent paddle in front of you, and use it to bat a bouncing ball to clear the blocks floating around the play field.
It’s a simple concept, but for a game that relies entirely on head movements, it’s a lot of fun. Credit that in part to the super crisp, vibrant graphics, which expertly depict the depth of each stage and really show the benefit of gaming in VR. But mainly, Proton Pulse is just a classic, tried-and-true gaming premise that’s smartly tuned for headset play. And it’s a blast.
Proton Pulse ($1.99)
Star Wars
With the success of The Force Awakens under Disney’s command, Star Wars is utterly inescapable again—and if you consider that a very good thing, then you’ve got some Cardboard action to look forward to. Simply fire up the official Star Wars app and hit the Jakku Spy menu for some brief, Force Awakens-inspired immersion.
You’ll find a handful of clips inspired from the film, including sights of rolling droid BB-8 and the Millennium Falcon, all viewable in 360 degrees by looking all around you. They’re very short and don’t really serve an important narrative purpose within the film or universe, but it’s a neat way for fans to get a first taste of Star Wars in VR.
Star Wars (Free)
YouTube
Nearly everyone with an Android phone has YouTube installed, but did you know that the video giant also now has proper Cardboard support? Google recently updated the service with full Cardboard functionality for 360-degree videos, which means you can view a video, look freely in all directions, and see the footage with added depth.
Granted, only supported videos have the free-look and depth, and it’s a rather select few videos that are compatible at this time. But there’s really interesting stuff on there, and the list is only going to expand—and anything that isn’t specially encoded can still be viewed in Cardboard via a digital wall projected into your makeshift headset.
YouTube (Free)
NYT VR
The New York Times clearly sees a future with immersive storytelling, as the company sent out more than a million Cardboard viewers to subscribers—and launched its own VR app at the same time. NYT VR still tells the kinds of enrapturing stories the newspaper is known for, but does it primarily by letting the subjects tell their own tales as you soak in the surroundings.
For example, you’ll see the Paris vigil to the November 2015 terrorist attacks that gripped the city, as citizens describe why they visited; or follow three refugee children in a documentary about the worldwide crisis. It’s not always “fun” subject matter, like most VR stuff tends to be; but with content this powerful, you won’t want to look away.
NYT VR (Free)
Caaaaardboard
Not to be confused with Google’s Cardboard app, Caaaaardboard is a VR conversion of the entertaining AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!, an awkwardly titled indie game about freefalling through score gates while spray-painting the buildings on the way down.
It’s easy to see why it makes for an engaging VR experience, and it truly is effortlessly entertaining. You don’t have to tap anything or use a controller: it’s all about subtly shifting your gaze as you fall, which you’ll do to avoid smashing into buildings or try to rack up a chain of score boosts. It looks great, it’s a lot of fun, and it’ll also test your balance if you opt to play standing up. Bonus!
Caaaaardboard ($2.99)
Titans of Space
Virtual reality is an amazing tool for experiencing things we may never easily see with our own eyes—and what’s more unlikely than a trip into the outer reaches of the solar system? Titans of Space kicks your planetarium’s stiff models to the curb, delivering a guided tour that zips you between planets and moons.
The pulsing, slightly haunting music adds drama to this quick quest, which looks great and helps you not only learn about the configuration of the solar system, but also the comparative sizes of each planet and/or moon. You can even purchase optional narration, if you please, which can only make this star cruise even more appealing.
Titans of Space (Free)
Google Street View
Most of us know Street View as the best way to scope out a Maps destination from eye level, but Google has expanded the feature to become something akin to virtual tourism—and it has its own Android app. With Google Street View, you can pull up tours of all sorts of worldwide locales and view them as 360-degree photospheres with Cardboard.
The sights are often spectacular, whether it’s exploring Yosemite, scoping out the Miniatur Wonderland model railway in Germany, or viewing other famous and familiar sights from all around the world. You can even share your own photo sphere captured in the moment, and check out other user creations around the map.
Google Street View (Free)
Vanguard V
Here's another VR game that's fantastic for the mere minutes it lasts, as it's simply a demo for a still-in-development project. From the same developer of Proton Pulse comes a space shooter akin to Star Fox and others of its ilk, only now you're controlling the armored heroine by subtly moving your head.
Visually, it's the best thing I've played in VR: everything moves fluidly, with lots of effects and pulsing lights hooking you into the world. There isn't much to the gameplay here, however, as you're simply staring at threats to shoot them out of space—and even then, it didn't feel like the shots always came when I expected them to. But it's an enrapturing demo that I'll play again and again until the full version eventually releases.
Vanguard V (Free)
Sisters
Well, this is unsettling. If you’re fond of shock-value horror films, then you’ll surely get a kick out of Sisters. It’s a brief experience set in a room during a thunderstorm, and the pair of young girl dolls might grab your attention. Especially when one disappears and the door opens. And then the other goes missing. And then surely when… look, I’m not going to ruin it for you.
It’s designed to freak you out, and you better believe that having a headset on your face amplifies the effect—even when you’re expecting an eerie surprise. Based on how effective Sisters is, you can bet that the Play Store will have many more lightly interactive VR scare sessions like this in the future.
Sisters (Free)
War of Words VR
Many of the VR apps available for Cardboard right now are more demos of what could be rather than full-fledged experiences, and that’s definitely the case with War of Words VR. It’s also the shortest of the immersive worlds showcased here, but it makes a strong impression within just a minute of your time.
War of Words builds a small scene around “The Kiss,” a Siegfried Sassoon poem written during World War I, and acts out the floating text’s grim subject with a rifle and a few soldier silhouettes. Watching the bullet whiz from the chamber to its target as you spin around helps drive home the message in a very visible way, and the app shows a lot of promise for what could be done with more elaborate works.
War of Words VR (Free)
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