GUIDE / QUAKE I, II AND III ONLINE, AND THE 1996 CAMPAIGN / UPDATED OCTOBER 15, 2026
Short answer: yes, all three, free, with nothing to install. Pieter Levels runs public servers for Quake, Quake II and Quake III Arena that you join from a browser tab at q1.pieter.com, q2.pieter.com and q3.pieter.com: type a name and you are in a deathmatch with whoever is on. For the original single-player game, mrdoob's Three.js port plays the free 1996 shareware episode. Pick by what you want: Quake III for the busiest server, Quake II for bots when nobody is on, Quake I for the lightest download, the Three.js port for the campaign. Quake belongs to id Software and ZeniMax (Microsoft); these are unofficial fan projects, and we link to them rather than host them.
Real players, no account: each server asks for a name and drops you into a match. The text chat is open, with only a filter for banned names.
Quake III Arena online: type a name and you are in a public deathmatch on the demo maps, The Longest Yard (q3dm17) included. About two dozen people were playing when we checked. Runs on Q3JS, ioquake3 compiled to WebAssembly. About 76 MB the first time, cached after.
The original Quake as QuakeWorld deathmatch on the FTE engine: the start map and episode 1 (e1m1 to e1m8), up to eight players. Twelve were on when we checked. About 24 MB, the lightest of the three.
Quake II deathmatch on the original maps (q2dm1 to q2dm8), five capture-the-flag maps and a custom map, up to eight per server with bots filling empty slots, so there is always a match. About 81 MB. Pieter says he made this one with AI.
The 1996 campaign as id released it for free, and a tiny homage.
The 1996 single-player game: the free shareware Episode 1 with the original menus, nailgun and grenade launcher, ported to Three.js by mrdoob (who created Three.js) with Claude. If you own the full game, you can load your own pak file for the rest. About 22 MB.
Not Quake itself but a homage that fits in 13 kilobytes: two levels, five enemy types, three weapons and dynamic lighting, made for the js13k jam in 2021. Open source.
What each one plays, what your browser downloads before the first match, and whether it works by touch. Filter by phone, players or download size.
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| Play it | Original | What you get | Download before play | Phone | Players |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quake (q1.pieter.com)PLAY ↗ | Quake (1996)id Software | Online deathmatch on the episode 1 maps, up to 8 players | about 24 MB | Yes, by touch | Online, up to 8 |
| Three.js QuakePLAY ↗ | Quake (1996)id Software | The single-player shareware episode, rebuilt on Three.js | about 22 MB (shareware pak0.pak 19 MB) | Not checked | Single player |
| Quake II (q2.pieter.com)PLAY ↗ | Quake II (1997)id Software | Online deathmatch and capture the flag, topped up with bots | about 81 MB | Yes, by touch | Online, up to 8 with bots |
| Quake III Arena (q3.pieter.com)PLAY ↗ | Quake III Arena (1999)id Software | Online deathmatch on the demo maps, The Longest Yard included | about 76 MB, cached after the first visit | Yes, by touch | Online multiplayer |
Yes. As of October 15, 2026, Quake, Quake II and Quake III Arena all have online deathmatch servers you join from a browser tab, and the original single-player shareware episode runs on Three.js. All free, no download and no account.
For a busy match right away, Quake III Arena (q3.pieter.com): about two dozen players were on when we checked. If nobody is around, Quake II (q2.pieter.com) fills its servers with bots. On a slow connection, Quake (q1.pieter.com) loads in about 24 MB. For the 1996 campaign, monsters and all, play Three.js Quake.
Pieter Levels' (levelsio) web version of Quake III Arena: a public server you join from the browser. The engine is Q3JS, ioquake3 compiled to WebAssembly by lukathedev, and the maps are the free demo set: q3dm1, q3dm7, q3dm17 (The Longest Yard) and q3tourney2. q1.pieter.com and q2.pieter.com do the same for Quake and Quake II on the FTE engine.
No: there is nothing to buy or install, and each one loads in the tab. If you own the full original Quake, the Three.js port lets you load your own pak file for the rest of the game beyond the free first episode.
The three online servers have on-screen touch controls; a keyboard and mouse is still the way to win. The Three.js port and Q1K3 need a keyboard and mouse. More in our guide to browser games on your phone.
Unofficial: the pieter.com pages call themselves non-commercial fan projects, and Quake belongs to id Software and ZeniMax (Microsoft). The landing pages ask for permission to send notifications as they load (you can say no), the chat is open, and these are violent 1990s shooters, so not for young kids.
Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Half-Life (whose engine grew out of Quake's) and Counter-Strike 1.6 on live servers.
Doom's shareware Episode 1, Knee-Deep in the Dead, rebuilt on Three.js by mrdoob with Claude and Codex.
Doom's shareware episode in a browser tab, with online multiplayer for up to four players over a shared game link.
Wolfenstein 3D, the 1992 shooter that started the genre, rewritten from scratch in Rust and running in a tab with the free shareware episode.
Half-Life in a browser tab on the Xash3D engine: the free Uplink, Day One and deathmatch demos start in a click; bring your own files for the full game or CS 1.6.
Counter-Strike 1.6 in a browser tab: join the same public community servers as the Steam version and play Dust2, Inferno, Italy and the rest.
Every classic with its download size: classic PC games ported to the browser. Looking for Black Ops? What happened to the Call of Duty browser ports.
