Strands added to The NYT Games App on Android and iOS

The excellent word search game has been publicly available on NYT’s website since June 2024.

The New York Times seems to have another hit on its hands with Strand. The word search game officially launched in June 2024 and has already garnered quite a following. That following is expected to grow as the publisher has added the game to its NYT Games app on iOS and Android.

Strands joins NYT’s other popular games, including Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, and the NYT’s excellent crossword puzzle in both its mini and full configurations. The game’s inclusion in the NYT Games app has already happened. If you have the app installed, check the App Store or Google Play for an update or you can download the app fresh to check out Strands.

“Strands is currently our third most searched game, behind Wordle and Connections,” the paper said in its press release. “Even before joining the NYT Games app, Strands has grown to be nearly as popular as Spelling Bee, our other word game.”

The paper commented on its high completion percentage as well, stating that 83% of players find the Spanogram—the theme word hidden within the puzzle—each day and the completion rate is around 81%. That puts it on par with Mini Crossword and Tiles.

Game Introduction

The game was first introduced in March 2024 in beta where it stayed until its launch in June. So far, it’s been a rousing success for the US publisher, even if some folks have criticized its occasional Gen-Z slang from time to time. Like several other games before it, Strands was created from the NYT’s annual Game Jam event where people pitch game ideas. Once Strands was chosen, the publisher developed with the help of the publisher’s puzzle creators.

How do you play Strands?

For the uninitiated, Strands is a lot like the classic word search game where you find words in a jumble of letters. There are two primary differences with Strands. The first is that each word in the scramble has a theme and one of those words is the theme itself. So, for example, one of today’s Strands themes was “gnaw-it-alls.” Within the puzzle was the word “rodent,” which acted as the theme word for the puzzle. From there, the goal is to find all of the rodent-themed words.

The other big difference is that you use every letter on the board. There are no dead letters and letters don’t repeat, so each letter is part of one of the words. If you happen to find a word that isn’t on the theme list, you’ll earn progress on a hint bar that shows you where one of the words is. The puzzle concludes once every word has been found.

For a few months, the game has only been available on NYT’s website. The website does work on mobile but it’s a lot cleaner and better on the Games app. Once you finish your game, you can also check out your various stats such as how many hints you needed to find everything.

Sites like the New York Times have seen online gaming thrive over recent years. So, it’s no surprise to see other companies getting in on the act. Even Netflix is trying with mobile gaming and a Sonic game. One name you might not associate with this sort of digital recreation is LinkedIn. However, they have just launched their own equivalent to the NYT Games site. It maight not on the same level right now, but the titles and features show potential.

The concept is similar to NYT Games in that players get access to digital brainteasers that change daily. There will be data on winning streaks and high scores to incentivize players to come back each day and challenge themselves. Each title should be available under the My Network Tab.

The LinkedIn gaming section currently has three options for players to enjoy. They are all different enough that it will be fun to go through all three every day.

Two of the games are word-based with familiar concepts. Pinpoint works through word association. Players get a series of words that appear on the screen and have to figure out the thematic link. The challenging aspect comes from the timer. The words appear one after the other, and the goal is to figure it out in as few clues as possible. This gives the game some similarities with Wordle as players compete with themselves to better their score.

Crossclimb requires a little more problem-solving as there are clues to solve and a word ladder to complete. The words are all one letter removed from the previous entry, but it still takes some thought to get the words in the right order.

The final game is something a bit different because it is more visual. Queens is a play on the Sudoku format, but without so many figures to fit into the board. This time each section of this Sudoku board/chessboard is home to one queen. Those queens cannot be on the same row or collum – just like the Sudoku numbers – and cannot touch.

The games are as simplistic as you can get in terms of their player experience and objective. This has its benefits when bringing in people who aren’t “gamers” but appreciate a good brainteaser. The games are also short enough that you can get through the daily offerings in one short tea break. Whether that’s enough to make the games engaging long-term remains to be seen.

The venture is an interesting development for this social media site. LinkedIn is still largely about making connections with people and has that professional edge over other platforms. Even so, that doesn’t mean users can’t have some fun in their downtime. As this product director, Lakshman Somasundaram, says, it’s a chance to “put fun at the heart” of LinkedIn relationships. An added incentive here is the chance to get competitive with other players within those connections. The site can showcase scores from colleagues and students, even creating leaderboards for that added sense of competition.

Even if the site experiences slow growth, it could pay off. NYT Games has gone from strength to strength over recent years. What started as a way to get access to the daily crossword has evolved into something much broader and engaging. After the acquisition of Wordle, the site brought in a lot more players. In fact, stats show that the games were played over 8 billion times in 2023, and half of those were Wordle alone. Over the past year, the Games app and subscriptions have seen many casual readers become daily visitors.

It’s possible that LinkedIn could develop its gaming site with similar success. With ad revenue dwindling on these social media sites and an ongoing need to keep users on the platform, this could be a wise investment. Members that had fallen away from LinkedIn in favor of other sites may decide to give it a second chance.

As things stand, the gaming feature on LinkedIn is completely free for users. Everyone gets one free play per day, and there are no tiers or any need for subscriptions. There may come a point where this changes – in line with the NYT Games subscriptions – but that’s probably a long way off right now. For now, players can enjoy getting to grips with the new games while catching up with everyone on the social media platform. It should be long before those leaderboards create fierce competition and users make the games a daily habit.