Play Octopus Review: Earn Extra Money While Driving

You can easily earn up to $100 per month by doing nothing extra but allowing a company called Play Octopus to put a free tablet in your car for your Uber / Lyft passengers. If that sounds good to you, keep reading for our review of Play Octopus. We had RSG contributor Chonce Maddox Rhea check out Play Octopus and share readers thoughts and tips below.

While it’s true that the more Uber and Lyft trips can often be a good thing for your earnings, advertising companies are willing to pay you to show their ads to your passengers. But you’re driving obviously, so you probably don’t have time to market other companies.

No worries! There are many passive ways to make money by showing ads in your car, and Play Octopus is one of these options.

A lot of rideshare drivers have been using Play Octopus to earn extra money by allowing passengers to play games and watch ads on a tablet during the trip. In addition to earning extra money with Play Octopus, Play Octopus can also increase tips, reviews and reduce backseat driving.

In this Play Octopus review, we’ll break down exactly how this program works, the pros and cons, and compare feedback from drivers who already use it.

Quick links:

What is Play Octopus?

Play Octopus is a tablet-based advertising and entertainment platform geared toward your rideshare passengers. You’ve probably been to restaurants before that have tablets or devices on the table that you can use to play games while you wait on your food to come out.

Play Octopus is very similar to this only it allows your passengers to keep busy and entertained by playing trivia games in your car during the trip.

The free trivia games offer riders the chance to win Amazon gift cards, and there are also ads shown between games and certain levels. This is where you can start to make money passively simply by having a Play Octopus tablet in your car.

play octopus in actionHow Does Play Octopus Work For Drivers?

Play Octopus doesn’t cost drivers anything, and you can use it for any rideshare platform. This means if you drive for both Uber and Lyft, you don’t have to remove the tablet when you switch apps.

As long as you are consistently driving 25+ trip per week or 10+ hours per week, simply apply for their program and receive a free tablet to put in your car.

Setting up the tablet and accessories only takes a few minutes. You’ll earn money when the tablet is on in the backseat of your car. Passengers engaging with the games provide even more money!

Of course with the more trips you complete, the more you’ll earn with Octopus, and you’ll potentially get better tips too (see driver comments below).

Worried about people touching the tablet and having to clean it? Octopus now has a touchless trivia game where passengers can play along with their phone.

Get started with Play Octopus here.

How Much Can You Make?

Play Octopus states that full-time drivers can earn up to $100 per month, but it really all depends on how many trips you do and how many passengers use the tablet.

Drivers receive 1 point for every ride they give whether the tablet is played or not, as long as the tablet is on and properly mounted. You can track your payments on your dashboard.

You can also earn $25 for each driver you refer to sign up and use the tablet in their car.

Shaun P. is a rideshare driver from the RSG community who’s been using the tablet in his car since June of last year.

“I use the Play Octopus Trivia Tablet and earn around $20 per month as a part-time driver. Most of my passengers really like it and it has increased my Uber ratings as well.”

Reader Recommendations for Using Play Octopus

Wondering what other drivers think about Play Octopus? In a recent email, Harry asked anyone who’s used Play Octopus to voice their honest opinions about the program, and a few of you responded with your feedback and tips.

Kevin Girad has been using the program since July 2019 and likes it overall but feels they could make a few tweaks to improve things.

“Apart from the extra income, I feel like Play Octopus makes my car seem more ‘fancy or ‘futuristic’ (according to passengers) and it gives them an option to do something besides playing on their phones or making awkward conversation,” Kevin says.

“There are only two things I can think of that I dislike about it. First, the points that you earn from using the tablet are only updated twice daily so it’s hard to tell if you’re getting as many points as you’re supposed to.

Second, the mount that comes with the tablet wraps around one of your headrests, which makes it harder to access from 2/3 of the backseat, and harder to check the screen from the driver’s seat. An extendable swivel mount is available from the Play Octopus store for $22; not expensive, and worth every cent! But annoying that it’s not the standard mount.”

Update: Since posting this, Play Octopus has updated their mount options for drivers! You can now purchase a mount through the Octopus store, which goes in between the front seat. This mount allows drivers/passengers to choose where they want the tablet – either on the back of the seat or in between the driver and passenger seats with 360 degree rotation.

Octopus now also offers velcro-mounting options for partitions.

play octopus in the carDarryl Stewart drives in Las Vegas and has been using Play Octopus for about a month.

“It’s really added an extra benefit to my riders and gives them something to do when I’m driving,” Darryl shared.

“Tourists seem to use it mostly as well as older people. Business travelers don’t really interact with it much. The late-night crowd also seems to enjoy it and I get a lot of comments and compliments when passengers rate me. Still, it takes me a little while to accumulate the points needed to get the $25 offer. I don’t really use the referral codes as I haven’t met very many drivers.”

Gary F. is a Lyft driver who has been using Play Octopus in his car for about 4 to 5 months.

“I average about $25 per month in passive earnings from it,” Gary says.

“The headrest part was using the mounting equipment sent with the tablet – it sucks plain and simple. I spent $12 of my own money and bought a simple but good mount for it that attaches to the headrest bars holding the headrest in position that looks clean and works nice. [This is a good option if you’re looking for a cheap but functional headrest mount holder!]

Riders seem to really like it. The tablet improves the rider’s overall experience and I think it has led to a small improvement in my tips too.”

Michael C. is another driver who feels Play Octopus attracts a certain type of passenger.

“I love the program and it is great when you have a group leaving a bar or going to a party. However, it’s annoying to the businessmen and women as I have heard them say it hurts the eyes and the background music is annoying.

But I just remove it if I hear someone say a negative word about it.”

Marie says overall, she loves using the Play Octopus tablet, but has some words of caution for drivers:

I love everything about the play octopus tablet.
I don’t like the fact that in the past unscrupulous drivers have been able to manipulate the score to win the cash prizes, from what I understand, Play Octopus has taken a pretty good control of stopping that.
The most common gripe I hear from customers is “the highest score of the day”  just too high. So either there’s some really exceptional riders that are getting everything correct in record time, or something’s up. But I still encourage my pax to keep trying and I tell them that my highest pax score was 23 which it was…
The music it uses is cheesy and annoying It’s like carnival music, but otherwise it’s very popular with riders.
The crew at Play Octopus are fantastic, they constantly have incentive competitions, and gifts, they have T-shirts giveaways, they are very rah-rah, they send out referral cards when you need them, they stay in touch with you, they remind you when your battery is low through a text, they also check up on you if they haven’t seen it active for a while. But give up virtual badges they tell you when your passages have won prizes…
Note:  you have to do a hundred rides a month to be eligible for it.

Note about music: The Octopus music is mutable, and there are now dimming capabilities that both the driver and passenger can access if it’s annoying.

Pros of Using Play Octopus

  • Play Octopus offers free returns – if you don’t want to keep the tablet, send it back for free at no cost!
  • Play Octopus is free for drivers and helps you earn passive income. I like that Play Octopus doesn’t charge you anything to join their program and use their tablet. They may not pay a ton of money, but at least you don’t have to incur and added costs. The company also states that if the tablet ever gets stolen (which is super rare), drivers can file a police report and they will waive the tablet loss fee.
  • Entertain passengers and possibly get higher ratings. It seems like most passengers actually feel the trivia games enhance their experience during the trip and others may not mind it. If using the program improves your driver ratings and tips, this could be win-win.
  • Earn points whether passengers engage or not. The key to earning more with the program is to have passengers engage with the tablet. However, I like how you can still earn points with every trip you complete.
  • Free equipment replacement – Charger or mount break? Play Octopus offers free equipment replacement!

Cons of Using Play Octopus

  • You may need to buy new mounting equipment. It sounds like the mounting equipment that comes with your Play Octopus tablet is not the best so keep in mind that you may have to get something better. This swivel mount looks like a great option!
  • The program may not be available in every city just yet. Play Octopus is expanding fast – take a look at all of the locations below.

You can sign up with Play Octopus in the following cities:

  • Atlanta
  • Austin
  • Baltimore
  • Boston
  • Chicago
  • Dallas
  • Denver
  • Houston
  • Las Vegas
  • Los Angeles
  • Miami
  • Minneapolis
  • New York
  • Philadelphia
  • Phoenix
  • San Antonio
  • San Francisco
  • San Diego
  • Seattle
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Washington D.C.

How to Get Started

To apply for your free tablet with Play Octopus, just head here to create an account and submit an application.

Using this platform won’t make you rich, but it can be a pretty effortless way to earn some extra money and keep passengers entertained when you’re driving for Uber or Lyft.

Readers, what do you think of Play Octopus? Is this something you would try?

-Chonce @ RSG

Resources: