The Catalyst / Tori Carlson

A student plays Wordle, a popular New York Times game, to try and solve a five-letter word in six guesses.

During passing periods, lunch or collaboration, many NDB students can be seen playing New York Times (NYT) Games. This set of games consists of daily, addicting puzzles that can take anywhere from just five minutes to a couple of hours for puzzle geeks who play several of the games offered by NYT. Some of the most popular games are Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee and the Crosswords.

Wordle was adopted by original creator and software engineer Josh Wardle in 2022 after gaining immense popularity from players globally. To play, players get a maximum of six tries to solve a five-letter word. With each guess, the boxes surrounding the letters will change colors depending on whether the letter is contained within the word or not.

Connections has also become quite popular and is a tricky puzzle that involves putting sixteen words into four groups of four. The game is all about finding a common connection, hence its name, between a set of words. Since its beta release in June 2023, it took just a couple of months for millions of players to become addicted to NYT’s latest game.

Players earn points on Spelling Bee for figuring out as many words as possible with just seven letters. However, there are six letters surrounding a letter in the middle and that center letter must be used in every word found. The most challenging, but fun part is finding the pangram, a word that uses all seven letters at least once.

The Crossword has been a classic for NYT since 1942 and continues to be a fan favorite while the Mini Crossword was introduced to the public in 2014.

“I think they’re addicting because they update every day, so…you want to solve each daily one before a new one shows up,” said junior Rhea Vishnoi. “I like to do…them my friends because then we can work together, especially on the more difficult ones, like Connections or Mini Crossword.”

Though most of the games have been around for many years, some even decades, it still seems to be a common topic of discussion with friends and family. These games are the perfect way to keep oneself occupied during their free time instead of spending time scrolling on social media. Though some games, like Spelling Bee and Crossword, require NYT subscriptions that cost either $1.50 per week or $50 per year, there are still plenty of ways to get involved and play their free games like Wordle, Mini Crossword and Connections.

Playing games like Crossword helps people learn fun facts and new information that they were not previously aware of. Spelling Bee can increase vocabulary, especially when playing with friends who find unusual or more challenging words. It is also beneficial to develop a daily routine of playing these games. NYT games give one something to look forward to every day and are perfect for a quick five-minute break in between homework or study sessions.

“I have been playing…Mini [Crossword] for years and started because it’s a nice break in the day to do a quick puzzle. It’s also great that it provides immediate feedback and can provide a letter if stumped,” shared NDB parent Jennifer Ziskin. “I started playing Wordle when it gained popularity in the news and similar to the Mini, it’s fun because it’s a quick challenge with immediate feedback.”

The New York Times continues to provide daily puzzles for people to play and bond over and there is no doubt that these games will become even more popular for many more years to come.