A Review of the NYTimes’ Coveted Games
Since the dawn of existence, people have loved games. The New York Times, a popular newspaper, has adopted this ideology as of recently by implementing games intertwined with the website’s gallery of articles. Although the articles have been the main focus of the website, people can’t get enough of its coveted games. This has been proven by the New York Times’s subscription to only JUST the games. That’s it. So without further ado, let's get into the ranking of the NYT’s games.
Spelling Bee:
The game is centered around a single letter, and then you have to make words from the letter based on the letters around it. For example, if the center letter is “b”, you would have to use “b” in every other word, like “bold” or “oblong.”
This application is extremely addicting, but I am absolutely horrible at the game, so I don’t prefer to play it.
7/10
Letter Boxed:
Create words by connecting letters around a box, using each side at least once. The next word has to start with the last letter of the previous one (YES > SINCE > EVERY)
This game gets me annoyed because of the lack of word availability. Would not choose to play.
5/10
Tiles:
Arrange a set of given tiles into a complete picture or pattern.
The game requires a lot of skill, and takes a LOT of time, which I really hate, but others might like it.
4.5/10
Wordle:
With this word being one of the most popular games, it requires you to find a mystery word from other word guesses (hard to explain but everyone knows it, right?). Grey means the letter is wrong, yellow meaning the letter is right but placed wrong, and green meaning the letter is right in place!
Personally, I really like this game because it is not too time consuming, but requires brains. My type.
7.9/10
The Mini Crossword:
The mini is basically a scaled-down version of the regular crossword puzzle, where clues are given for you to answer, and complete the grid.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the brains nor attention span to complete the regular one, so I resort to this one when I get the chance. Although the game is good, some of the clues are very vague or have dumb synonyms (Clue: : Very one-toned (5 spaces). What I guessed was “white.” Actual one: “empty”). Stuff like this kind of ticks me off, but nevertheless, it's good.
8.2/10
Sudoku:
It's just sudoku…
Fun when I’m in the mood, but seeing my grandma outsmart me in these puzzles is kind of embarrassing.
5.5/10
Strands:
This game is basically a riff off of word search, but you don't have to stay diagonal or straight. All you need is to have them be connected.
Some of the clues are creative, and take a while to understand, but are quick and rewarding once you do understand, and complete the puzzle (Once a clue was “Comes in a dozen.” At first I thought it was about eggs, but all of the solutions were just types of donuts).
8.5/10
Connections:
The objective of the game is to find connections between words in a 4x4 grid. One might be, “Apple Products,” and you would say, “Mac, iPhone, Airpods, iPad.” If you get 4 connections wrong, you lose.
In my opinion, this is the greatest game of NYT games history, and has no flaws whatsoever. It is quick, but requires just the right amount of brainpower to complete.
10/10!!!
Games make up our everyday lives, shown by the following statistic. NYT, in 2013 (the year before games were implemented) had 760,000 subscribers, and now it has 11.43 million, showing that games make a HUGE difference to user experience! If the NYT did not have its games, people would be “depressed,” and also ill-informed.
Signing off,
Akaash Kendale
Sources:
https://nytco-assets.nytimes.com/2020/03/2013-Annual-Report.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/subscription/games
https://nytco-assets.nytimes.com/2025/02/Q4-2024-Earnings-Release-Final-for-Distribution.pdf
