If you’re a Connections addict and want to try puzzle games similar to the popular New York Times game, then you’re in luck! There are plenty of word-themed online games that challenge your brain, from PuzzGrid to Red Herring. Read on for the 10 games like Connections that you can look forward to playing daily.
Connections is a daily word game launched by the New York Times in June 2023. The game allows players to find common threads between words. Users must select four groups of four words without making more than four mistakes. However, the game gets tricky when several of the words displayed on the screen fit into multiple categories, appearing to belong together when they might be in a different grouping entirely.
The Times is known for its word and logic games, starting with the launch of The Crossword in 1942. In 2014, the publisher debuted the Mini Crossword, followed by Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Tiles and Vertex. In 2022, The Times acquired Wordle, which is currently the most-played game on the New York Times website. Connections is the second-most played game after Wordle, so it’s no surprise that players are eager for more of this puzzle game.
Keep scrolling for 10 games similar to NYT’s Connections that will take your vocabulary knowledge to the next level.
PuzzGrid is based on the BBC Gameshow “Only Connect.” Like Connections, players must find the relationship between the words and separate the 16 into four groups. Players can access thousands of user-submitted grids, and the website teases that it’s just like NYT Connections but with more red herrings.
The Connections puzzle archive was created by Reddit user r/swellgrafo and has every Connections puzzle since its beta launch. Unlike in NYT’s Connections, players can make as many mistakes as they want. The website also allows users to create their own puzzles for other people to play.
If you’re familiar with Connections, then you also likely have played Wordle. It’s the most popular New York Times game, with roughly two million players per day. The addicting game features a 5-wide by 6-long grid of empty white boxes. Players have six chances to type in a five-letter word. The game is another excellent chance to test your vocab.
Red Herring is a word connections game that you can download from the App Store. Like Connections, players must make connections and group words into categories. At the same time, they must beware of red herrings, which are specific words used to throw players off. Red Herring has 25 puzzles and a free daily puzzle.
Dordle is a free puzzle game in which players are challenged to guess two words at once using two boards. The game is designed to be more difficult than Worldle. It also has an upgrade feature so that the difficulty can be increased in the next round.
If you’re in the mood for a challenging logic puzzle, try Slither Link. In this online game, players must draw lines between the dots to form a single loop without crossings or branches. The numbers on the screen indicate how many lines surround it.
“How many words can you make with 7 letters?” is the question at the heart of another New York Times game, Spelling Bee. The concept of the vocabulary game is simple: Players use a honeycomb-shaped grid of seven letters to form words of at least four letters, including the letter in the center. Each level gets increasingly more difficult.
Play Connections Game Unlimited
Connections Unlimited Game is like NYT’s Connections, but the online game offers unlimited rounds. The concept is similar to the original: rearrange 16 words into groups of four that share a connection between certain words. Players have four tries before they can repeat the puzzle or start a new one.
Another vocabulary game like Connections is Phrazle, a more challenging version of Wordle. Players have six attempts to guess a phrase rather than categories. Simply enter a phrase, and the tiles will change colors, revealing whether you have the correct or wrong letter in the box.
The objective of Semantle is to guess the secret word. The game then lets you know how warm and close you to the secret word by giving it a similarity score. This difficult word game, like Connections, will test your vocabulary range, and you can share your results with friends and family.
