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Giving Nex Playground is already a win, but giving one that’s ready to play the moment it’s unwrapped? That’s next-level gifting. A little prep beforehand ensures your family (or the lucky recipient) can jump right into the active play without waiting on updates or downloads.
Here’s your simple, step-by-step guide to setting up Nex Playground—quietly, quickly, and without spoiling the surprise. The process is simple (truly, it's an easy setup experience), but downloading the optional Play Pass game library can take 2-3 hours, depending on your Wi-Fi connection. We suggest you do this after the kids have gone to sleep, or while they're at school.
Open the box carefully so you can repack it later. Remove the Nex Playground console, remote, power cable, and HDMI cable, but put the packaging aside for repacking (except the paper wrapping around the console itself... this is difficult to reuse, so you may want to skip that).
Connect the power and HDMI cables to Playground, then plug it into your TV's HDMI port and power it on. Follow the on-screen prompts to get started.
Connect the device to your Wi-Fi, download updates, and activate your Playground.
If you want access to our full game catalog, you need Play Pass. If you already have it, you can enter the code, or purchase one on the system, during setup.
What is Play Pass?
Play Pass is your ticket to unlimited access of the entire game library, growing every month with new ways to jump, move, laugh, and learn together.
Connecting a new Play Pass does start your subscription period. If you don’t want to lose this time on your subscription, you may want to wait to activate Play Pass, but do keep in mind that Playground will need 2-3 hours to download all the games.
Pros of connecting your Play Pass before gifting:
• You can test out the games.
• All games will download and be ready to play.
• You have time to review the games and hide any that you may not want your child playing.
Cons of connecting your Play Pass before gifting:
• You will lose the time between connecting and using. This is a personal decision: is having the system ready for your big day worth the play time you lose?
To activate or purchase Play Pass after setup:
Go to Settings → Play Pass
Once you connect Play Pass, the entire library of 50+ games will automatically download in the background. We recommend leaving the device powered on for 2–3 hours so everything installs smoothly. You don’t need to do anything—just let it work its magic.
Once all games are downloaded, you can hide any in settings that you don't want your kids to see or play. Some parents want to pick age-appropriate games for their younger kids to avoid frustration, or limit the selections at first.
You've completed the setup and the games are downloaded. Next step—jump into a game!
Is everything running smoothly? Great, you're good to go.
Experiencing lag? Try enabling Game Mode on your TV.
Having other issues? Check out our customer service page here.
Once your updates, downloads, and game testing are complete, carefully repack everything as you found it.
Quick Tip:
If your Playground will live on this TV, leave the HDMI cable plugged in and tuck it neatly out of sight. That way, setup on gift-opening day takes less than a minute, and you don’t have to wrangle plugging the cord into your TV again.
Place everything back in the box, add your gift wrap of choice, and you’re officially ready to deliver a “ready-to-play” experience!
Quick Tip:
Do you know where Nex Playground will be used? Clear your space now so you're ready to unwrap, plug in, and play right away.
Our Insider Circle Community is the heart of Nex Playground, where thousands of families share tips, favorite games, room setups, and joyful wins. We’d love for you to hop in, say hello, and share your gift-day moments with us!
Yes, Play Pass starts working the moment you activate it. If you connect your device and activate Play Pass before gifting, you will lose those days while it's still wrapped. But for some families, it's worth the peace of mind knowing Playground is ready to use right away.
Absolutely! If your child is old enough to notice the first-time tutorials are missing or there is progress in the games, we suggest testing it out, and then performing a Factory Reset. Go to Settings -> System -> Reset to Factory Settings.
After resetting, you will need to reconnect your Wi-Fi and Play Pass, and redownload the games. Please take note of which email address you used during setup—this is tied to your Play Pass moving forward.
Play Pass can be activated on 2 different Playgrounds. You’ll need to remember the email used during Play Pass activation to set it up on the 2nd device.
Do you have more technical questions? Visit our support page.
