Fun and games
Cards, jokes, trivia, dog photos and Pokémon
Fun APIs give your app or game something to play with: shuffled decks of cards, jokes, trivia questions, dog photos and Pokémon data. They are popular for learning to call an API, demos and side projects, and most need no key.
Deck of Cards API
The Deck of Cards API simulates decks of playing cards: shuffle one or more decks, draw cards, put them into named piles, shuffle piles and return cards to the deck. Each card comes with its value, suit and an image. Handy for ...
Dog CEO Dog API
The Dog API by Dog CEO serves thousands of dog photos sorted by breed and sub-breed: get a random dog image, random images of one breed, or the full list of breeds. Responses are JSON with image URLs. A fun, simple API that is ...
JokeAPI
JokeAPI serves jokes in several categories, such as programming, puns and miscellaneous, in single-line or setup-and-punchline form and in several languages. Filters let you exclude unsafe topics (safe mode), search jokes and ask ...
Open Trivia Database
The Open Trivia Database is a free, user-contributed collection of thousands of trivia questions. Ask for a number of questions by category, difficulty and type (multiple choice or true/false), and use a session token to avoid ...
PokéAPI
PokéAPI is a complete database of Pokémon data: every Pokémon with its types, abilities, moves, stats, evolutions, sprites and game appearances, plus items, berries and locations. It is popular for learning to work with REST ...
Compare the fun and game APIs
| Service | API key | Formats | Free use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deck of Cards API | Not needed | JSON | Free, no key needed. |
| Dog CEO Dog API | Not needed | JSON | Free and open source, no key needed. |
| JokeAPI | Not needed | JSON, XML | Free, no key needed, with a limit of about 120 requests per minute. |
| Open Trivia Database | Not needed | JSON | Free, no key needed; the questions are licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA. |
| PokéAPI | Not needed | JSON | Free and open source, no key needed. |
Questions
Which free fun and game APIs work without an API key?
Deck of Cards API, Dog CEO Dog API, JokeAPI, Open Trivia Database and PokéAPI work without a key, according to their documentation. Most keyless services ask you to keep the number of requests reasonable, and some ask for a User-Agent that names your app.
Are these fun and game APIs really free?
The services here can be used without paying, at least on a free plan or free tier, often with limits such as a number of requests per day or non-commercial use only. The table above quotes what each service says about its free use; check the provider's own terms before you rely on it.
How up to date is this list?
The address of every service is checked about once a week, and services that stop working or stop being free are removed. This list last changed on November 8th, 2026.