Connections

Learn more about the New York Times game Connections including access, how to play, and answers to common questions.

About Connections

Connections is a word game that challenges players to find themes between words.

Players are given 16 words and find groups of four items that share something in common.

For example: 

  • FISH: Bass, Flounder, Salmon, Trout
  • Things that start with FIRE: Ant, Drill, Island, Opal  

Each group is assigned a color (Yellow, Green, Blue, or Purple), with Yellow being the easiest category and Purple being the trickiest. 

Each puzzle has exactly one solution and is meant to be tricky by having words that could fit into multiple categories. 

Words and categories are curated by editors using the Oxford Dictionary. 

Currently, you do not have to register or sign in to play as Connections is free to play on all platforms. We do recommend creating a New York Times account or signing in with an existing New York Times account so you can play Connections across devices or platforms while retaining your progress.

Where to Play

You can play Connections in the Games app, at nytimes.com/games/connections, or in the Play tab of the New York Times News app.

 
 

When to Play

The daily Connections game is released daily at midnight in your timezone.

 
 

Connections Statistics

Your Connections progress and statistics will automatically link to your New York Times account. Your Statistics page displays key statistics based on the puzzles you have played from June 15, 2024, and onwards

After you complete a Connections puzzle, your stats will appear on the same page you share your Connections results. You can also view your stats during a game by selecting the bar graph icon at the top right of the page.

Your Statistics page contains:

  • Puzzles Completed: The total number of puzzles you’ve completed, including those you solved under 4 mistakes and those you failed.
  • Win Rate %: The percentage of puzzles won by completing in under 4 mistakes out of the total number of puzzles you’ve played.
  • Current Streak: The number of consecutive wins. Puzzles must be solved before midnight local time to be included in the current streak.
  • Max Streak: The highest streak you’ve held of consecutive wins.
  • Perfect Puzzles: The number of puzzles you've solved with 0 mistakes.
  • Mistake Histogram: A graph showing the number of puzzles you've solved with 0 to 4 mistakes.

Note: If you finish a puzzle after midnight local time, your streak will be broken and a new streak will begin.

 
 

Connections Archive

The new Connections archive allows All Access and Games Subscribers to play the full archive of Connections puzzles from as far back as June 12, 2023!

There are a few things to note about Connections archive:

  • Progress and play history on archived Connections puzzles is only available if you have a New York Times account. 
  • Playing Connections puzzles in the archive will affect your Connections Stats (Puzzles Completed, Win Rate %, Perfect Puzzles, and Mistake Distribution).
  • Playing Connections puzzles in the archive will not affect your streaks – both Current streaks and Max streaks. Streaks are only counted based on the puzzle you play on the day of release.
  • Completed Connections puzzles cannot be replayed.

Subscribers can access the Connections archive:

  • On a web browser at nytimes.com/crosswords via the navigation menu.
  • In the Connections Archive section in the Games app.
  • The archive is not available in the Play tab of the News app.

Puzzle progress:

  • An outlined gray box - The puzzle has not been started.
  • Purple lines - The puzzle is in progress. The number of purple lines  indicates how many guesses you have made on that puzzle.
  • Filled purple star - Completed puzzles in which all 4 categories have been guessed correctly.
  • Unfilled purple star - Completed puzzles in which no more guesses are available.

Progress Illustration (1).jpg

 
 

Share Your Results

To share your Connections results: 

  • When you select Submit on your last guess, the statistics page will pop up showing you how you did and giving you the option to Share Your Results
  • Depending on the device you are using to play Connections, you will see a selection of options you can use to share your results.

If you copy your results using the copy button, you can  paste your Connections result into any text field to share (e.g. X, formerly known as Twitter, Facebook, email, text message, etc.).

 
 

Connections Companion

Connections Companion is a community forum page where you can receive puzzle support when trying to solve the daily Connections puzzle. 

The forum is available to everyone to read hints, leave comments, and view the difficulty score. 

Comments may contain spoilers - Players are encouraged to complete their Connections game first or scroll at their own risk. 

Connections Companion is not available through the Games or News app and can only be found on the Gameplay page.

 
 

NEW Connections Bot

Connections Bot is a daily tool that will provide personalized stats of a player's Connections Game. 

Connections Bot will tell you:

  • Difficulty — how difficult today’s puzzle was for others, and how you compared.
  • Your Ratings — your skill score and the uniqueness of your solution.
  • Categories — how hard each category was to find and in what order people solved.
  • Mistakes — the most common mistakes today, with A.I.-generated descriptions 
  • Guess by Guess — For devoted fans, we’ll break down each of your guesses.

This tool is available in the News app for iOS and Android, and on the web - Connections Bot

You can find more information about Connection Bot in the article, Connections Bot F.A.Q.

 
 

Connections: Sports Edition

Connections: Sports Edition is the sports version of the word game Connections, brought to solvers by The Athletic. The same rules apply to both versions of Connections to solve the daily puzzle.

There are a few things to note about the Sports Edition:

  • It is only available via the web at nytimes.com/games using the navigation menu in the top left corner of the page
  • There is a  community forum page for the Sports Edition called Connections Coach
  • It does not have an archive
 
 

Was this article helpful?

Can't find what you're looking for?