I tried Connections, the new Wordle alternative and I'm already addicted

Are you just as obsessed with Wordle as I am? If the answer is a resounding yes then you're going to want to try out the newest New York Times word game.  

Since its release in 2021, Wordle has had word game fans hooked. Each morning comes with a fresh new five-letter word to decipher using Wordle tricks and Wordle hacks, bringing with it feelings of either rewarding satisfaction or frustrated confusion. Still, no matter what the emotional outcome, there's undoubtedly a good reason why so many of us go back each day for another try. 

Considering the popularity of the app, it's no surprise that The New York Times has continued to replicate the addictiveness of Wordle with Wordle alternatives such as Spelling Bee and Tile. Their most recent offering is no stranger to that formula. 

Welcome to the stage: Connections! 

Despite being incredibly new, users across the globe are already obsessed. One Twitter user said, "Why isn’t connections on NYT as viral as Wordle was??? Connections is such a creative game concept and I love waking up every day to play the new one." And after trying it ourselves, we understand the hype. 

What is Connections? 

Only on its 31st day of being available to users, Connections is a fairly new game on the scene. It's surprisingly simple to understand and get the hang of, which makes it all that more enjoyable. 

To begin you are presented with 16 words jumbled up in a grid format, the aim is to recognize four categories within those words to make four groupings. The groupings are deciphered by having a common thread, some previous examples include pasta shapes and royal titles.

The categories are also ordered in terms of difficulty. The more categories you group correctly the trickier the game gets, which is where you may start recognizing some Wordle-like frustration creeping in. 

Luckily the game allows you four mistakes, which I used up quicker than I would like to admit. After all free mistakes have been made you can no longer play and must wait until the next day for the new set of words. 

Win or lose, you can share your results with your friends should you want to boast or perhaps if you need consoling. I may hang back on sharing for a while as I definitely need to get a bit more practice in! 

How can I play Connections? 

With the game being so new, it is still actually in Beta testing which means the developers are still working on it. So there may be tiny changes or some problems that still need to be ironed out before it's completely showcased to the world. 

This also means that it's not yet out on the app store. So to get your fix you need to use your desktop or any device you can access a web browser with. Simply search 'Connections New York Times' or alternatively follow this link to the Connections home page and you'll arrive at the purple screen as shown below. 

Once the game has passed Beta testing, the likelihood is that it will be given its own space on the New York Times Games app alongside Wordle. Until then, a quick visit to the site every day after midnight will give you another set of unique words to manically untangle. 

Good luck and apologies in advance for your new addiction!