In the past during passing periods, break and lunch you could easily find students “snapchatting” their friends, or scrolling through Instagram and TikTok. Now you are more likely to see groups of friends working together to solve the Connections, Wordle, or Mini Crossword. At Westborough High School, and frankly all around the country the popularity of New York Times Mini games has sky-rocketed.

Wordle was adopted by original creator and software engineer Josh Wardle in 2022 after gaining immense popularity from players globally. This game was then purchased by the New York Times. Wordle has remained popular as players enjoy the new puzzle every day. The New York Times capitalized on the idea of a new puzzle everyday, and created new games such as Connections, Strands, and the Mini Crossword. Each day people anxiously await the new puzzle. Junior Abby Ziemba states, “I get excited for the new Connections every day, I love to do it with my friends.” Senior Sydney Gage also notes, “I love the new game, Strands, I feel accomplished when I complete it.” Strands is the equivalent of a complicated word search where you have to guess the words within a theme. Personally, I enjoy how the games are fun while also requiring me to think insightfully. 

NYT games give one something to look forward to every day and are perfect for a quick five-minute break in between homework or study sessions. I often find my friends hiding their screens from each other in attempts to not spoil the connections answers. 

The Crossword has been a classic for NYT since 1942 and continues to be a fan favorite while the Mini Crossword was introduced to the public in 2014. Adding other daily games has just made NYT games more notable. “I think they’re addicting because they are new every day, you want to solve each daily one before a new one shows up,” says senior Kate Sams. 

There is no doubt that these fun and educational games will continue to be played in classrooms for years to come.