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The New York Times found an instant hit with the word game Wordle, buying the game earlier this year. It was a good move and added 10 million users to its platform.

But a new game on the block looks set to rival the deliciously frustrating Wordle as the New York Times launches Connections. Following a successful summer testing phase, where it became the Times’ second-most played game behind Wordle despite minimal promotion, Connections is now being launched on their platform this week.

Connections, which also can be played on desktop and mobile, is a word association game that presents players with 16 words and challenges them to group them together in four different topics. Players have four chances to solve the puzzle before losing.

Jonathan Knight, head of Games at the Times, told CNN that Connections has been in development for a year, with the games team concocting the idea at a ‘Game Jam’ (think Comic-Con for bibliophiles).

After some fine-tuning, Connections launched in beta in June with the puzzle only being accessible via specific search, or in the menu of other games.

Connections is “very approachable, and it’s very easy to understand.” The puzzle is also one of the Times’ “most editorially driven games” with editors purposely thinking of clever words that might appear to be grouped together, but actually aren’t related.

“It’s that human-made component with the puzzle-constructor going up against them everyday and trying to outwit them as they try to outwit you, it’s kind of magic.”

If you’re keen on a new challenge, or just tired of being asked “What’s this word?”, you can check out Connections here.

[source:cnn]