Just as chess.com overtook the student population last year, there seems to be a new obsession among the student body: the New York Times Mini Games.  From the widely known Wordle to the mini crossword puzzle to the new Connections game, it’s hard to get bored on a website with such a wide variety of enriching activities.  The games have brought people together and given them something to bond over. “Did you get the Connections today?” or “What was the Wordle?” are commonly heard phrases in the hallways.  It seems as though the games have spread over the school even more now, as teachers are also involved in the craze.  

With puzzles that are newly refreshed every day, the New York Times games offer users a plethora of fun yet intellectually stimulating activities, so you hardly realize that you’re actually solving a brainy puzzle.  There are Spelling Bee and Letter Boxed games that challenge you to make as many words as possible with a given set of letters, each word earning a different amount of points,Wordle, a game in which you have six chances to guess the mystery word, Connections, a game in which a player is given sixteen words and four chances to correctly categorize them into groups of four, and a mini and regular sized crossword puzzle.  If you want to take a break from the games with words and letters, however, there’s also a new game called Tiles, a puzzle solely using colors and patterns.  

 Through the New York Times Games app, users also have access to archived puzzles, themes and packs for crosswords, personal game stats, and even leaderboards.  Though some of the features aren’t free, the default settings on the app still give players so much to choose from.  Another feature allows anyone to send in a crossword puzzle to be solved by other users.  

Since playing daily, many have found that they understand more culture references and have broadened their vocabulary.  They find that if they are going to spend time on their phone playing games, it might as well be an educational one.