Should you spend a part of your day attempting to resolve Wordle, Connections. Strands and different puzzles from The New York Occasions, now you can add one other temptation to the listing. (CNET offers daily answers for Wordle, Connections, Strands, the Mini Crossword and Connections: Sports activities Version.)
On Wednesday, the New York Occasions’ Video games division launched Crossplay, an app-based sport similar to the board sport Scrabble. NYT Video games stated Crossplay is its first two-player sport, playable in opposition to one other participant or the pc. It is out there at no cost on the New York Occasions Crossplay app on iOS and Android units.Â
Crossplay joins a NYT Video games portfolio that features the extraordinarily widespread Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Strands and others. The publication purchased Wordle from developer Josh Wardle nearly four years ago, and the sport was performed greater than 4 billion occasions in 2025. Connections, created by the NYT’s Wyna Liu for launch in 2023, was performed greater than 1.6 billion occasions in 2025.
The Occasions stated that “gamers around the globe solved greater than 11 billion puzzles throughout New York Occasions Video games” final yr.
Do not miss any of our unbiased tech content material and lab-based opinions. Add CNET as a most well-liked Google supply.
New York Occasions Video games head Jonathan Knight stated Crossplay is an “formidable enlargement” of the app’s present sport choices.
“Our gamers already come to us day by day for good, unique phrase video games, and Crossplay builds on that basis by introducing real-time competitors and social play in a method that shares the enjoyment of traditional phrase video games, however is designed to be distinctive,” Knight said in a press release. “Crossplay was constructed to be centered, intuitive and genuinely pleasing from the second you open it.”
Tips on how to play
Should you’ve performed Scrabble, Crossplay is straightforward to select up. Gamers take turns creating phrases by including letter tiles to a shared gameboard. Some tiles are price extra factors relying on how uncommon the letter is, and level totals may be doubled or tripled relying on the sq. on the board the place you play the tile.Â
Crossplay is just like Scrabble with some tweaks.
Detailed guidelines are listed here, together with directions on organising and navigating the app.
If Crossplay appears just like Scrabble — invented by Alfred Mosher Butts in 1931 — nicely, it’s. However there have been many different knockoffs through the years.Â
Scrabulous had a two-year run as a Fb app earlier than Hasbro, which holds the US and Canadian rights to Scrabble, and Mattel, which holds the worldwide rights, sued, forcing the builders to take away it in 2008.Â
Words with Friends, a multiplayer pc sport, can be just like Scrabble, however letter and premium squares have totally different level values.
A consultant for the New York Occasions Video games part stated that Crossplay differs from Scrabble in structure, factors and tiles.
Uncommon addition
Puzzle-solver and content material creator David Clamage, who goes by Rangsk on his YouTube channel, stated Crossplay “seems like an uncommon addition” to the NYT Video games’ suite of video games.
“It is coming into an already crowded market of comparable head-to-head phrase video games, and it would not profit from both the shared each day expertise or the NYT’s robust puzzle creation, enhancing and testing sources,” Clamage instructed CNET. “As a content material creator, it is tougher to create content material round a sport when gamers should not all reacting to the identical each day puzzle.”
Clamage stated that one of many largest strengths of NYT Video games is the shared each day expertise, which he says appears to be missing right here.
In-game chatting
You’ll be able to, nevertheless, share your gaming in different methods. Crossplay opponents can talk throughout a sport by way of a chat perform.
And so far as opponents go, you may play in opposition to household and associates, or problem individuals you do not know. The Crossplay app will match you in opposition to different gamers with related talent ranges. You’ll be able to have as much as 30 totally different video games operating without delay.
AI has a hand in Crossplay. There is a characteristic referred to as Cross Bot, which might present a postgame evaluation after you’ve got matched wits with one other participant. This evaluation will spotlight key moments and strategic insights from the sport to assist gamers enhance their abilities.
