REVIEW: From Wordle to Vertex: Finding the best New York Times minigame
By Chip Downes-Le Guin ‘25
Photo by Chip Downes-Le Guin ‘25
The New York Times (NYT) is well-known for its investigative journalism and quick releases of breaking news, however, students may be even more familiar with its daily minigames.
While puzzles like the Wordle or Mini crossword have given immense popularity to these short, daily games, many of you might not know that there are even more out there.
Although I don’t support playing games in class, the daily NYT minigames are an integral part of my daily routine whether I have class first period or not. Having played many of these games every day for multiple years, I feel prepared to play each game with a critical eye and rate them based on (1) entertainment, (2) difficulty, and (3) duration. This list seeks to shed light on the (maybe) under-utilized minigames and rank the NYT minigames from worst to first.
7) Vertex:
Vertex game before (left) and after completion (right).
Photo by Chip Downes-Le Guin
Entertainment: ★★☆☆☆
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Duration: ≈3:20 minutes
Vertex is a simple connect-the-dots game where the player tries to create triangles eventually resulting in an image. Each dot has a number in it corresponding to how many different lines it will have to create triangles, with every correct triangle being immediately filled in. This means that any mistakes in triangle creation will have minimal consequences and be short-lived, leading to a low difficulty rating.
Vertex can be an entertaining way to numb your brain after a long day because of its minimal challenge but lacks replayability due to having essentially the same gameplay for each playthrough. If you are to play the Vertex multiple times in a row on a computer I feel sorry for you because the amount of clicking and dragging on your touchpad is cripplingly difficult for my pointer finger.
6) Tiles:
Tiles palette.
Photo by Chip Downes-Le Guin
Entertainment: ★★☆☆☆
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Duration: ≈2:40 minutes
The premise of Tiles is simple: match different parts of tiles to make the longest combo possible. Each tile looks similar with a couple of layers of defining patterns on each one which help you match them. By continuously matching tiles and working through every layer you can reach the coveted maximum combo of 45.
In addition to this overarching and somewhat difficult goal, Tiles also have different tile sets or palettes as they’re called at the NYT which gives the game a refreshing variety between rounds. Unfortunately, not all palettes are created equal, with the De Stijl-inspired board nonsensically being a way more difficult set than the rest.
Tiles De Stijl-inspired board.
Photo by Chip Downes-Le Guin
Regrettably, Tiles is also held back by, like Vertex, requiring a lot of clicking, but a tougher goal and less repetitive gameplay are each factors that give Tiles a slight edge over Vertex for me.
5) Wordle:
Wordle game before (left) and after completion (right).
Photo By Chip Downes-Le Guin
Entertainment: ★★★☆☆
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Duration: ≈1:30 minutes
The recent poster child of the NYT minigames, the Wordle was acquired by the NYT in 2022 and continues to be a fan-favorite to this day. Each day, players are given six guesses to find what the five-letter word of the day is. Letters in the correct place turn green, while letters still in the word but in the wrong place turn yellow.
With this simple format, the Wordle takes little time to complete, however when trying to guess the word in as few guesses as possible players may take some more time to strategize than I do. One of these strategies will include starting with a word with a lot of vowels like “Audio” or “Adieu”, but real Wordle nerds will know that MIT researchers found the optimal starting word to be “Salet”.
There was a time when Wordle had a chokehold on my family, who, like many other families, would send the results of our daily Wordle on a group chat, competing to see who could get the lowest score. For that, the Wordle will always have a special place in my heart but playing now whether you start with “Salet” or not, the puzzle itself is not very straining, and the community aspect that made it so fun has faded away.
4) Letter Boxed:
Letter Boxed board.
Photo by Chip Downes-Le Guin
Entertainment: ★★★☆☆
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
Duration: ≈5:00 minutes
Letter Boxed challenges players to complete a box by spelling words that connect letters around the square. The game can be played simply as just finishing the box using any number which can be rewarding in itself, but attempting to do it in as few guesses as possible is where the truly difficult part begins.
Each day players are given a sort of “par” to reach - for example, “try to solve in five words” - a seemingly easy goal that for me who tries to complete games as fast as possible, makes me slow down and think more than other games on the list.
Far from simply reaching the par, many Letter Boxed connoisseurs will attempt to beat the game in two words - a number that is possible for every board but immensely difficult.
Letter Boxed can be frustrating if you try to use as few words as possible, but the reward of finishing gives the game a sense of satisfaction that few minigames can reach, lending it a much higher ranking than I first expected.
3) Connections:
Connections board before (left) and after (right) completion.
Photo by Chip Downes-Le Guin
Entertainment: ★★★★☆
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Duration: ≈3:30 minutes - the entire day
The newest member of the NYT minigame collection is also one of its best. The name of the game is to make connections between words, culminating in four groups of words that relate to each other in some way, with each group being assigned a different level of difficulty (yellow being the easiest, then green, blue, and purple).
The satisfaction after finding the commonality between four of the hardest words cannot be understated, however, the difficulty of each puzzle as a whole can be very inconsistent. Some days, each category seems to fit into place perfectly resulting in a disappointingly short experience, while others can be exceedingly tricky, lasting me throughout the entire day.
Either way, the game remains enjoyable, but the greater variation in entertainment results in a slightly lower entertainment score.
2) Spelling Bee:
Spelling Bee board.
Photo by Chip Downes-Le Guin
Entertainment: ★★★★☆
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
Duration: It’s up to you
For my money, the most underrated NYT minigame is the Spelling Bee. In the Spelling Bee, players are given seven letters to try to create as many words (of at least four letters) as possible with the catch being that every word must contain the center letter. Each day also has at least one pangram (a word that uses all seven letters), a fun milestone to work towards.
Another milestone system in the Spelling Bee is the ranks you gain as you guess more and more words ranging from Beginner (0% of all words) up to Genius (75% of all words). This system not only gives the player short goals to work towards but also grants a level of competition when trying to find who can get a higher rank.
Unfortunately, only paying subscribers to the New York Times can access the Spelling Bee past the Solid rank (only the fifth rank out of nine), a privilege that is not included in the NYT school accounts given to students.
Completed Mini Crossword. By Chip Downes-Le Guin
Entertainment: ★★★★★
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
Duration: ≈30 seconds - 1 minute
For me, the Mini Crossword is the best minigame offered by the NYT. The Mini Crossword (otherwise known as the Mini) represents a much smaller version of a traditional crossword with boards generally being from 5x5 to 7x7.
A smaller size compared to the larger Crossword makes the goal of the Mini a race to finish more than just completion for many. This means that the Mini is a great competition with friends one reason that gives the Mini such a high entertainment score.
With clues ranging from elderly celebrities to sports to geography, the Mini’s unmatched variety in each game in addition to its timed, competitive, and fun concept are the main reasons for its number one spot on my list.
While the NYT might be best known for its journalism, its daily games have become an integral part of many people’s lives as well. While each game might not be created equally, they all offer some break from the stresses of life; whether that be mind-numbing stimulation or even a sense of community. From Vertex to the Mini Crossword, the NYT minigames section offers entertainment for everyone to enjoy so the next time you have a break, consider giving a new minigame a try.