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The New York Times Games

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The New York Times Games (NYT Games) is a collection of casual print and online games published by The New York Times, an American newspaper. Originating with the newspaper's crossword puzzle in 1942, NYT Games was officially established on August 21, 2014, with the addition of the Mini Crossword.[1] Most puzzles of The New York Times Games are published and refreshed daily, mirroring The Times' daily newspaper cadence.

Developer(s)The New York Times Company
Publisher(s)The New York Times
Platform(s)Newspaper
Web
iOS
Android
ReleaseAugust 21, 2014
Genre(s)Various
Mode(s)Single-player

The New York Times Games is part of a concerted effort by the paper to raise its digital subscription as its print-based sales dwindle.[2][3] Since its launch, NYT Games has reached viral popularity and has become one of the main revenue drivers for The New York Times.[4][5][6] As of 2024, NYT Games has over 10 million daily players across all platforms[7] and over one million premium subscribers.[8] According to one member of staff, "The half joke that is repeated internally is that The New York Times is now a gaming company that also happens to offer news."[9]

History

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1942–2014: The New York Times Crossword

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This section is an excerpt from The New York Times crossword § History.[edit]

Although crosswords became popular in the early 1920s, The New York Times initially considered them frivolous, calling them "a primitive form of mental exercise", and did not run a crossword until February 15, 1942, in its Sunday edition.[10][11] It was published under a pseudonym Farrar occasionally used, "Anna Gram".[12]

The motivating impulse for the Times to finally run the puzzle (which took over 20 years even though its publisher, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, was a longtime crossword fan) appears to have been the bombing of Pearl Harbor; in a memo dated December 18, 1941, an editor conceded that the puzzle deserved space in the paper, considering what was happening elsewhere in the world and that readers might need something to occupy themselves during blackouts.[11] The puzzle proved popular, and Sulzberger himself authored a Times puzzle before the year was out.[11]

The New York Times has used video games as part of its journalistic efforts, among the first publications to do so,[13] contributing to an increase in Internet traffic;[14] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, The New York Times began offering its newspaper online, and along with it the crossword puzzles, allowing readers to solve puzzles on their computers. This marked the beginning of a digital expansion that would later include a variety of games beyond crosswords.

2014–2022: Release

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In 2014, The New York Times officially launched The New York Times Games with the addition of the Mini Crossword. In the same year, The New York Times Magazine introduced Spelling Bee, a word game in which players guess words from a set of letters in a honeycomb and are awarded points for the length of the word and receive extra points if the word is a pangram.[15] The game was proposed by Will Shortz, created by Frank Longo, and has been maintained by Sam Ezersky. In May 2018, Spelling Bee was published on NYTimes.com, furthering its popularity.[16] In February 2019, the Times introduced Letter Boxed, in which players form words from letters placed on the edges of a square box,[17] followed in June 2019 by Tiles, a matching game in which players form sequences of tile pairings, and Vertex, in which players connect vertices to assemble an image.[18]

2022–present: Acquisition of Wordle and further growth

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In January 2022, The New York Times Company acquired Wordle, a word game developed by Josh Wardle in 2021, at a valuation in the "low-seven figures".[19] The acquisition was proposed by David Perpich, a member of the Sulzberger family who proposed the purchase to Knight[9] over Slack after reading about the game.[20] The Washington Post purportedly considered acquiring Wordle, according to Vanity Fair.[9] At the 2022 Game Developers Conference, Wardle stated that he was overwhelmed by the volume of Wordle facsimiles and overzealous monetization practices in other games.[21] Concerns over The New York Times monetizing Wordle by implementing a paywall mounted;[22] Wordle is a client-side browser game and can be played offline by downloading its webpage.[23] Wordle moved to the Times's servers and website in February.[24] The game was added to the NYT Games application in August,[25] necessitating it be rewritten in the JavaScript library React.[26] In November, The New York Times announced that Tracy Bennett would be Wordle's editor.[27]

In March 2023, the NYT Crosswords app was renamed to NYT Games to address the application's other games, including Wordle, Spelling Bee, Tiles, and Sudoku. According to Jonathan Knight, chief executive of The New York Times Games, the Times was concerned over how the application would rank in search results for "crossword".[28] In July 2023, The New York Times introduced Connections, in which players identify groups of words that are connected by a common property.[29] In April, the Times introduced Digits, a number-based game; Digits was shut down in August.[30]

In March 2024, The New York Times introduced the beta game Strands,[31] a word game in which players connect letters in a grid to reveal a group of words sharing a common theme.[32] It left the beta stage and became a full game in late June 2024 while also being added to the NYT Games app.[33] In August 2024, it was announced that Vertex would be discontinued at the end of the month.[34] In September 2024, The Athletic, in partnership with The New York Times Games, launched a sports edition of Connections in beta.[35][36] The next month, Zorse, a phrase guessing game where every puzzle is a mash-up of two phrases, entered beta in Canada.[37]

List of games

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Current

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Active

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Current active New York Times Games
Name Description Subscription requirement
Daily Archives & additional
 

The Crossword

The Crossword is a daily crossword puzzle both online and in newspaper, syndicated to more than 300 other newspapers and journals. The puzzle is created by various freelance constructors and has been edited by Will Shortz since 1993. The crosswords are designed to increase in difficulty throughout the week, with the easiest puzzle on Monday and the most difficult on Saturday.[38] The larger Sunday crossword, which appears in The New York Times Magazine, is an icon in American culture; it is typically intended to be as difficult as a Thursday puzzle.[38] Typically, the standard daily crossword is 15 by 15 squares, while the Sunday crossword measures 21 by 21 squares.[39][40] Yes
 

The Mini Crossword

The Mini Crossword (or simply The Mini) is the smaller version of the Crossword by Joel Fagliano, which is 5×5 Sunday through Friday and 7×7 on Saturdays, and is significantly easier than the traditional daily puzzle. No Yes
 

Spelling Bee

Spelling Bee is a word game in which players are presented with a hexagonal grid of 7 letters arrayed in a honeycomb structure. The player scores points by using the letters to form words consisting of four or more letters. No until "Solid" rank; Yes after Yes
 

Wordle

Wordle is a web-based word game created and developed by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle. Players have six attempts to guess a five-letter word, with feedback given for each guess in the form of colored tiles indicating when letters match or occupy the correct position. The game was acquired by The New York Times in January 2022 for an undisclosed seven-figure sum; the game was moved to the Times website in February 2022. No Yes
(for archive)
 

Strands

Strands is a word game in which players connect letters in a grid to reveal a group of words sharing a common theme.[32] No —
 

Connections

Connections is a word puzzle in which the player has four attempts to clear a grid of sixteen squares. They must select four squares at a time that fit under a specific category (e.g., dog, cat, fish, and parrot for the category "Household Pets"). It was released for PC on June 12, 2023, during its beta phase. As of 2023 it was the second most played game published by Times, behind Wordle.[41][42][43] No Yes
(for archive)
 

Letter Boxed

Letter Boxed is a word puzzle that requires players to create words using letters around a square. No Yes
(for unlimited play)
 

Tiles

Tiles is a visual game in which players match identical shapes or backgrounds in every tile. No Yes
(for unlimited play and Zen Mode)
 

Sudoku

The New York Times Games also provides Sudoku in the app and online, with puzzles split into three levels of difficulty and refreshing daily. No Yes
Variety Puzzles In addition to the Sunday crossword, a weekly variety puzzle appears in The New York Times Magazine. This rotates every other week between an acrostic (long written by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon) and other kinds of crosswords (cryptic, puns and anagrams, diagramless, etc.) and word puzzles of other formats (Split Decisions, Spiral, Marching Bands, etc.).[44] The variety page also includes three smaller puzzles: a Spelling Bee by Frank Longo (different from the one online), one of several word puzzle formats by Patrick Berry, and a series of Japanese-style logic puzzles by Wei-Hwa Huang and others.[44] —

Betas

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Current beta New York Times Games
Name Description Subscription requirement
Daily Archives & additional
 

Connections: Sports Edition

Connections: Sports Edition is the sports edition of Connections which requires knowledge of teams, athletes, coaches, records, and trivia across various sports. The game was launched in beta on September 24, 2024, in collaboration with The Athletic.[35][36] No —
 

Zorse

Zorse is a phrase guessing game where every puzzle is a mash-up of two phrases. The game's name itself references zorse, the offspring of a zebra and a horse. It entered beta in October 8, 2024 in Canada.[37] No —

Former

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Former New York Times Games
Name Description
 

Digits

Digits was a number puzzle in which players used six provided numbers and basic arithmetic (add, subtract, multiply, or divide) to reach as close to the target number as possible. Each number can only be used once. The game was launched in beta on April 10, 2023, and was shut down on August 8, 2023.[45][46] Several publications commented on Digits' similarity to the "numbers" round of the British game show Countdown and its original French version, Des chiffres et des lettres.[47][48]
 

Vertex

Vertex was a subscription-only visual game in which players draw lines between points to create triangles, eventually revealing a hidden image. This game was retired in August 2024, with the last playable game August 29.[34]

Popularity and impact

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Since its inception, The New York Times Games' player base has grown rapidly. In 2020, more than 28 million people played at least one game. Within one year from October 2022 to 2023, the number of average daily active users in the Games app tripled from 886,000 to over 2.6 million,[9] while as of 2024, Games has over 10 million daily players across all platforms, both app and website.[7]

NYT Games has had major impact on popular culture and discourse, including online.[49][9] Social media in particular contributed to its rising popularity, with users posting their NYT Games' puzzle results en masse thanks to Games' ease of sharing. Wordle results were shared 1.2 million times on Twitter (now X) between January 1 and 13 of 2022,[50] while Connections results similarly trending.[51] On TikTok as of May 2024, 140,000 videos with the hashtag #wordle were present, with videos about Connections "regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views".[52] Accounts dedicated to solving NYT Games' crosswords and puzzles amassed millions of followers,[49] with several figures converting these accounts into full-time jobs.[52]

Thanks to its popularity, some NYT Games' editors reached celebrity status. Will Shortz, the NYT Crossword editor since 1993, is an American cultural icon and has a large dedicated following,[53] while other puzzles' editors like Sam Ezersky (for the Spelling Bee) and Wyna Liu (for Connections) get tagged frequently on Twitter by their subsequent game's "die-hard" fan base, albeit sometimes negatively due to complaints about the day's puzzle construction itself.[9]

Games has become one of the main revenue drivers for The New York Times.[4][5] As of 2023, NYT Games has "over one million" premium subscribers,[8] with then chief product officer Alex Hardiman credited Games as one of the large factor in the Times' overarching news subscriber growth, mentioning "a lot of people are actually buying the bundle through our Games product."[9] In an SEC filing, Games has more popularity and interaction than any other products The New York Times offers, including its core news offering.[3] According to one member of staff, "The half joke that is repeated internally is that The New York Times is now a gaming company that also happens to offer news," as reportedly "[p]eople who engage with both news and games on any given week have the best long-term subscriber retention of any product combination".[9] First-party advertising campaigns on NYT Games website have above-average level of awareness, attributed to "the brief nature of the Times’ puzzles, which are designed to be completed in a matter of minutes, [which] also means they elicit a heightened level of focus from players".[8]

References

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  1. ^ Fagliano, Joel (March 26, 2019). "A Mini History of Our Mini Crossword". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  2. ^ "Facing Post-Trump Slowdown, New York Times Eyes $100 Billion Games Market". Bloomberg.com. March 18, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Thanks To Hits Like Wordle, The New York Times Is Now A Gaming Company". Kotaku. April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Fitzpatrick, Alex (January 29, 2024). "Games are helping the New York Times thrive amid media chaos". Axios.
  5. ^ a b Maher, Bron (March 23, 2023). "How games are powering online subscriptions at The New York Times". Press Gazette. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  6. ^ Robertson, Katie (February 7, 2024). "New York Times Co. Adds 300,000 Digital Subscribers in Quarter". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Stenberg, Mark (February 6, 2024). "With Games Advertising, The New York Times Is Pitching Habit". www.adweek.com. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Joseph, Seb (March 22, 2023). "'The next level for us': The New York Times eyes better retention for games in subscription drive". Digiday. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Klein, Charlotte (December 19, 2023). "Inside The New York Times' Big Bet on Games". Vanity Fair. Retrieved May 8, 2024.
  10. ^ (Unsigned Editorial) "Topics of the Times" The New York Times, November 17, 1924. Retrieved on March 13, 2009.
  11. ^ a b c Richard F. Shepard "Bambi is a Stag and Tubas Don't Go 'Pah-Pah': The Ins and Outs of Across and Down" The New York Times Magazine, February 16, 1992. Retrieved on March 13, 2009.
  12. ^ Zimmer, Ben (December 19, 2023). "The Puzzling Story of How Cryptic Crosswords Crossed the Atlantic". Medium. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  13. ^ Gómez-García, Salvador; de la Hera Conde-Pumpido, Teresa (June 2023). "Newsgames: The Use of Digital Games by Mass-Media Outlets to Convey Journalistic Messages". Games and Culture. 18 (4): 451. doi:10.1177/15554120221105461. S2CID 258568580. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  14. ^ Usher, Nikki (2014). Making News at the New York Times. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780472035960.
  15. ^ Amlen, Deb (October 16, 2020). "The Genius of Spelling Bee". The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  16. ^ Lippman, Laura (February 19, 2020). "The NYT Spelling Bee Gives Me L-I-F-E". Slate. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  17. ^ Sarkar, Samit (February 1, 2019). "New York Times develops new word game for crossword section". Polygon. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  18. ^ "Tiles and Sudoku Join NYT Games App". The New York Times Company. May 16, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  19. ^ Pisani, Joseph (January 31, 2022). "New York Times Buys Wordle". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  20. ^ Bruell, Alexander (July 9, 2023). "He Pushed the New York Times to Buy Wordle. Now He Has to Make Sports Work". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  21. ^ Machkovech, Sam (March 25, 2022). "Wordle creator describes game's rise, says NYT sale was "a way to walk away"". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  22. ^ Mukherjee, Supantha; Datta, Tiyashi (February 1, 2022). "Wordle buyout by New York Times draws backlash from fans". Reuters. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  23. ^ Hollister, Sean (February 1, 2022). "Wordle will be free forever because you can right-click to save the whole game". The Verge. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  24. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (February 10, 2022). "Wordle streaks return for some players impacted by NYT migration". Polygon. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  25. ^ Hicks, Jasmine (August 24, 2022). "Wordle snags a place inside the New York Times Crossword app". The Verge. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  26. ^ Orland, Kyle (March 24, 2023). "How The New York Times managed to avoid ruining Wordle". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  27. ^ Orland, Kyle (November 12, 2022). "How "Wordle editor" became a real job at The New York Times". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  28. ^ Peters, Jay (May 30, 2023). "The New York Times' push into games meant a major change for its crosswords app". The Verge. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  29. ^ Morris, Chris (August 15, 2023). "NYT 'Connections', and the company's quest to create the next 'Wordle'". Fast Company. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  30. ^ Peters, Jay (July 18, 2023). "The New York Times is shutting down its math-based puzzle game". The Verge. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  31. ^ Bogost, Ian (March 6, 2024). "The New York Times' New Game Is Genius". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  32. ^ a b Levine, Elie (March 4, 2024). "Putting a New Twist on a Classic Puzzle". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  33. ^ Cooper, Gael (June 26, 2024). "NYT Games Moves Strands Out of Beta and Into the Official App". CNet. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
  34. ^ a b Mason, Everdeen (August 8, 2024). "Editor's Note: Goodbye, Vertex". The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  35. ^ a b Effress, Sarah (September 24, 2024). "What is Connections: Sports Edition? Explaining the new twist on New York Times' viral game". Sporting News. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  36. ^ a b Cooper, Mark (September 25, 2024). "Try playing The Athletic's first game, Connections: Sports Edition, now in beta". The Athletic. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  37. ^ a b Peters, Jay (October 8, 2024). "NYT Games is testing Zorse, a new 'phrase guessing' puzzle game". The Verge. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  38. ^ a b Shortz, Will (April 8, 2001). "ENDPAPER: HOW TO; Solve The New York Times Crossword Puzzle". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  39. ^ "Crossword Puzzle Archive - 1999 - Premium - NYTimes.com". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  40. ^ "New York Times Specification Sheet". www.cruciverb.com. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  41. ^ Valinsky, Jordan (August 28, 2023). "Move over Wordle, the New York Times might have found its next hit game". CNN Business. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  42. ^ Miller, Chance (August 28, 2023). "'Connections' puzzle game comes to NYT Games app on iPhone and iPad". 9to5Mac. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  43. ^ Silberling, Amanda (August 28, 2023). "Connections is The New York Times' most played game after Wordle". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  44. ^ a b Shortz, Will (February 19, 2015). "Good Puzzle News in The New York Times Magazine". The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  45. ^ Amlen, Deb (April 10, 2023). "How We Make Games at The Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  46. ^ Peters, Jay (April 10, 2023). "You can try The New York Times' new math-based puzzle game right now". The Verge. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  47. ^ "Following Wordle success, NYT debuts Countdown-like number game Digits". Eurogamer.net. April 11, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  48. ^ Christopher Livingston (April 10, 2023). "Wordle players should try this new daily puzzle from the New York Times". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  49. ^ a b "A Cultural Phenomenon: The Intellectual Appeal of NYT Puzzle Games | Arts | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  50. ^ Hall, Rachel (January 11, 2022). "Wordle creator overwhelmed by global success of hit puzzle". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  51. ^ Jennings, Rebecca (March 26, 2024). "Connections, the most fun (and sometimes frustrating) game on the internet". Vox. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  52. ^ a b Dazed (May 14, 2024). "Why is everyone so obsessed with puzzle games now?". Dazed. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  53. ^ "Will. Shortz '77. Writes. One. Word. At. A. Time". University of Virginia School of Law. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
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