In these incredibly miserable times of college applications and stress, there are few things I find solace in. Although embarrassing to admit, the New York Times games have become some of the best parts of my day. So as you all seek refuge from an assortment of stressors, I hope this list can help guide you in the ways it guided me.
To give a little more insight on my opinion of the games, I’ve decided to break my ratings into my three most important categories, each scored out of 10.
The first, is how easily you can compete with others. This includes things like built in sharing features, metrics for improvement, and how easily performance is measured.
Next, I’m looking at how easy it is to pick up. This category addresses things like features of the game, how easy the help menu is to understand, and the overall learning curve.
Lastly, the most important metric in my opinion, how fun the game is. I don’t care how good I am at a certain game, if I don’t find it fun, I am just not playing it.
So, here are my top 5 New York Times games:
#5 Digits
Perhaps a controversial pick, I have Digits at number 5. I’ll be completely upfront, it is just math. With 5 different target numbers to solve that get progressively more difficult, there is plenty of opportunity for competition. You are scored based on how close you get to the number, and there are countless solutions to each one. On top of that, using only the four basic operations makes this game relatively easy to pick up. But, because the game is mental math and New York Times indefinitely discontinued it, Digits sits on the lower end of this list. 20/30, they could do better.
#4 Crossword
With an oldie but a goodie, we have the grandfather of New York Times gaming. The original Crossword. Although a little tragic to see it so low in the top 5, there’s a method to my madness. With a built in timer, nuanced and clever prompts, and a huge variety of topics, this is undoubtedly an amazing game. But, its downfall lies in its difficulty. Because of how hard it is, the game is harder to pick up, less fun, and less competitive. As much as I love the New York Times games, I could probably write a college supplemental essay in the time it would take me to finish one of these puzzles. 22/30, good for a rainy day.
#3 Wordle
At 3rd place, we have the Wordle. One of the golden trio of NYT, I play this everyday. Some might be angry to see it as the worst of the three, but it is a universally shared opinion to have it somewhere in the top 3. With a perfect performance metric, data on past performances, and an effective way to share your results, this game deserves a 10/10 in the competition category. Coupling that with countless strategies in letter placement and vowel count, this game is a competitive masterpiece. The only points lost here are in a relatively higher learning curve and the limitations of your own vocabulary. With an impressive 24/30, this is a must-play.
#2 Connections
Although recently released, Connections is at 2nd place. With its youth, Connections is the golden child of NYT. This game is the perfect combination of clever, competitive, and straightforward. Given 16 words, you need to group them into 4 groups of 4, each with a common theme. The catch is that some may fit into other categories as well, forcing you to exploit the process of elimination. With a wide range of topics, the game is guaranteed entertainment, and easy for anyone to pick up. At a high 25/30, this is a masterclass.
#1 The Mini Crossword
In first place this is the big one, or more accurately the small one. The Mini Crossword is a generational phenomenon in entertainment. Quite literally a small bundle of joy, this is a 10/10 in the fun category and one of the best parts of my day. With time as a reliable measure of performance and a built in leaderboard, this game also scores well in competition. The only points are lost in its learning curve for the same reason as the original Crossword: the topics can be very obscure. At a 28/30 this game has changed my life.
So there it is, my top 5. This is my daily rotation, my comfort zone, and what I look forward to in a day. I hope you all can find comfort in the same games that I have, and I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors.
For anyone else curious, these are my full ratings:
| Game | Competition | Fun | Ease of Pickup | Total |
| Mini | 10/10 | 10/10 | 8/10 | 28/30 |
| Connections | 9/10 | 8/10 | 8/10 | 25/30 |
| Wordle | 10/10 | 8/10 | 6/10 | 24/30 |
| Crossword | 7/10 | 7/10 | 8/10 | 22/30 |
| Digits | 7/10 | 6/10 | 7/10 | 20/30 |
| Sudoku | 8/10 | 4/10 | 7/10 | 19/30 |
| Spelling Bee | 5/10 | 5/10 | 7/10 | 19/30 |
| Flashback | 8/10 | 2/10 | 8/10 | 18/30 |
| Tiles | 2/10 | 6/10 | 4/10 | 12/30 |
| Letter Boxed | 5/10 | 1/10 | 5/10 | 11/30 |
| Vertex | 1/10 | 3/10 | 5/10 | 9/30 |
I think this is a great list. I hate to admit this, but the New York Times games have a strong grasp on my time. Everyday, at 9pm when the mini comes out, I’ll sit down and set aside 10 minutes to do it, the wordle, the connection, and infrequently, the spelling bee. My one gripe with your list is the placement of Spelling Bee. A 5/10 in competition? I’ll often compete with my grandmother to get more words, and I find it much more fun that a “5”. Nevertheless, good post.
To be completely frank, I suck at word games. I never found interest in Wordle or many of the New York Times games, with the exception of Sudoku, which I took some offense at when it didn’t even make the top 5. I love how you use the word games to de-stress about college applications. You always show me your standings in math class and truthfully most of the time I do not know which game you are talking about. I was wondering which games you play consistently and which games you are the best at. I also think that this topic goes very well with your blog theme as a whole encompassing the simplistic and almost code like vibe – the format of the NYT games are also very simple and clean. Great list and I am doing the Wordle right now on my phone.
Matthew,
I’m surprised that I didn’t know that you did these each day, because, well, I do too. I literally can’t go to sleep without first doing the Wordle, Connections, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword (in that order). I’m absolutely horrible at Letter Boxed and Spelling Bee, and I’ve never dried Digits before, but it seems fun. Although, I’m not sure my brain can handle adding that to the rotation, especially since I do most of these around midnight. I agree with most of your rankings, but I think the “ease of pickup” for some of those has to be a little too generous. It took me forever to figure out how Spelling Bee really worked, and even after I figured it out, I wouldn’t say it was easy for me to ever “pickup.” Also, if Wordle got a 10/10 for competition, then Connections deserves a 10/10 too.
I recently started getting into the NY Times games. I had done Wordle since it came out, and have been loving it every since. Just got today’s wordle in three tries. However, the daily mini has me hooked. I am slowly, but surely, finishing the puzzle in faster times. I too find the regular crossword a bit tedious and quite difficult, hence why I stick to the mini. I am glad to have started these puzzles as they help me expand my knowledge. I am however surprised by a 4 for the “fun” category for Sudoku. I can see how it may be slightly tedious because of the constant back and forth, but I love Sudoku. I often find myself doing Sudoku to calm me down, or when I am just bored. Great read! Will definitely check out some of the top ranked games soon.
Fun topic! Depending on how well I do, the New York Times games can either be the best or worst part of my day. Once, I played my daily favorites as soon as it was midnight, only to fail the Wordle, fail Connections, get three words on the Spelling Bee, and take two minutes to finish the Mini.
I still agree that it’s something to look forward to, and I think your ranking makes a lot of sense, for the most part. For my personal top three, I would probably switch the Wordle and Connections. I really enjoy being able to see my statistics, and I find Connections to be pretty frustrating sometimes because I’m somehow always “one away…” (I just failed today’s puzzle and I’m mad.)
I also think Spelling Bee might make my top five. I don’t pay for NYT Games, which makes it a lot less enjoyable, but I really like word games and it’s my way of recovering from a Wordscapes addiction.
What do your Wordle stats look like? Even after playing it 545 times, I’ve still never guessed a word on my first try.
I’ve heard complaints about my rankings for spelling bee. In response I say, it is just spelling and I can’t even try my best at the game without paying money. But here are my Wordle stats (I have no where near the numbers you have)
1: 0
2: 4
3: 32
4: 53
5: 35
6: 16
Matthew, I think this was a great idea for a blog post! I completely agree that the New York Times games are an amazing stress reliever amidst this busy senior year, and it’s great that you’ve found something that is relaxing for you. I also love the New York Times games, and have recently made completing all of the NYT games (except for the spelling one because I’m so bad at it) a part of my daily routine, and it become one of my favorite tasks of the day. I align with your love for the Mini crossword, Wordle, and Connections, but the Connections would have to be my favorite. I’m getting a lot better at the Mini, so hopefully after some time I can get faster at it. I haven’t tried the Digits yet, but that will be one that I’ll add to my list. My other favorite games are the Tiles and the Sudoku, you should definitely give those a try if you haven’t already!
Hey machu,
Hope your day has been going well.
I just read your blog, and I really like your rankings. I love your explanations!
Having played some (ok well most) of these games myself, I can definitely say I agree with your rankings. But I think the wordle deserves higher praise; it’s a game that I’ve never seen before, and makes me rack my brains (however small) for some lost word I’ve never used in centuries (I was born year 1506).
All in all, great blog! Looking forward to seeing more from you.
Have a great day!
Andy T
Although I personally have never been too fond of the NY Times games, I enjoyed reading your ranking list. With having you added on the Mini Crosswords, I know you saw my 1 minute averages per day. I recall improving in small increments last year and I loved the competitiveness but after seeing constant displays of the graduated class of 2023’s remarkable 11 second finishes, I gave up hope. I’ve generally experimented with most of the games on the app and all weren’t enjoyable to me with the exception of Digits, which I found myself doing on the bus before every track meet. I also do not agree with your list. To be completely honest, I think that Wordle should be moved up into second place – I’ve tried connections and in my opinion, it was one of the easier but also the least fun games out of the group. This is my personal but also biased opinion because Wordle was my day-one since sophomore year. Here’s my Wordle stats:
1: 0
2: 1
3: 0
4: 2
5: 1
6: 0
– I recently linked my account
I find it amusing, yet relatable that you say that playing the New York Times games are some of the best times of your day. I think it speaks to the mounting pressures of what it means to be a teenager in the modern era that something so small and seemingly insignificant could be some of the most stress free and joyous parts of your day. This makes me think of how we should all make an effort to enjoy the little things in life, like your beloved New York Times games.
Though I have not had the pleasure of playing myself, I liked how you made your rankings very scientific and easy to understand. I think it is nice that you made the process of ranking the games unbiased and points based. I think it is important that you factor accessibility / difficulty into the rankings, as a game that only a few very skilled players can play is not really a great game after all no matter how fun it may be.
Nice job here, I enjoyed the list of games. I have engaged in one of them. Nice job on the table at the end. Thanks for sharing.