In 2024, the New York Times games section experienced a significant increase in popularity, with 11.1 billion puzzles solved throughout the year. Everdeen Mason, the editorial director of NYT Games, shared this data, highlighting the enormous engagement with the games offered by the newspaper. Of the 11.1 billion puzzles played, 5.3 billion came from Wordle, a word puzzle game that gained immense popularity during the year. However, one particularly challenging day on Wordle ended 5.6 million streaks for players when the word “corer” proved difficult for many to guess within six tries.
One memorable day in 2024 was April 23, which saw the most played game in Wordle during that year. The chosen word for that day was “rover,” attracting a large number of players to participate. Additionally, the 1,000th Wordle puzzle ran in March, with 2.8 million people using the same starting word every day, “adieu,” being the most popular choice. Connections, a game where players must find common threads between four groups of four words, emerged as the second most-played game after Wordle, with the most popular puzzle occurring on April 1.
On June 20, Connections presented its most difficult puzzle of the year, and the most shared puzzle was on Jan. 11. An interesting observation from players was the common mistake of combining words like “bolt,” “nail,” “nut,” and “screw.” Spelling Bee, another popular game in the New York Times games section, had a total of 535 pangrams in 2024, with the longest pangram found on Jan. 8 being “Nationalization.” Throughout the year, players achieved “Genius” status or higher 154 million times, with only 46 solvers managing to find every pangram in 2024, showcasing the challenge and appeal of the games offered.
The Mini Crossword game was particularly popular in 2024, with a total of 2.1 billion plays. Additionally, Strands, a game that joined the New York Times games app in 2024, garnered 1.1 million plays, further expanding the diversity of puzzles available to players. The Mini Crossword was introduced in 2014, followed by the digital version of Spelling Bee in 2018. Wordle became a sensation for the Games app after it was acquired in 2022, leading to a surge in engagement with the platform. Connections was introduced in 2023, offering players a unique challenge, and Strands, the newest game added to the app in 2024, contributed to the continuous growth and success of the New York Times games section.
