A tradition since the introduction of the modern crossword puzzle into one’s weekly Sunday paper, the short doses of dopamine associated with those five squares turning green, the yellow, green, blue and purple rectangles appearing or the sound of the piano jingle with confetti have increasingly enthralled the youth and general public alike in recent years. The minigame culture has swept the phone and laptop screens of all generations, whether through the New York Times’ game section or independent games of guessing specific countries, flags or geographic locations.
So, with that in mind, the following are The Panther’s top five go-to games for that daily dose of dopamine:
1. Connections
Famous for the satisfying four rectangles, ranging from yellow to purple colors, with purple being the hardest and the mind-twisting word association exercises, the New York Times daily game of “Connections” keeps audiences on their toes every 24 hours. With the object of organizing four groups of four from a matrix of 16 words in four attempts, each group’s specific category and inventive word association through grouping words by topic are perfect for the analytical mind. To play today’s round of “Connections,” click here.
2. Wordle
The classic daily game of “Wordle” — a word guessing game created by Josh Wardle and found on the New York Times website — is a classic among the minigame community. With the goal of revealing all five green squares and guessing the word of the day in six attempts, the game invites players to concoct the best strategy of letter-guessing. With yellow squares indicating a letter being in the word but not in that specific position, the turning of the squares and revealing all green letters on the second or third try bring a sense of satisfaction and pleasure to vocabulary enthusiasts. Some common starting words shoot to maximize vowel counts, such as “ADIEU” or “CREAM.” Click here to access the daily “Wordle.”
3. Mini Crossword
The last of The Panther’s ‘top five’ from the New York Times games, the daily “Mini Crossword Puzzle” is perfect for those looking to set personal records and test their general knowledge. The mini crossword is free to play on the NYT website and consists of a 5×5 grid to fill in. Perfect for a speedy typer and those quick on their feet, the mini crossword brings entertainment and a daily dose of accomplishment to all who play. To see more and test your limits on the crossword grind, click here.
4. Tradle
A more niche daily minigame, the Observatory of Economic Complexity’s “Tradle” game brings together all geography and international trade wizzes in guessing the day’s country exports. Providing a total Gross Domestic Product and a treemap of exports for a particular country, each square on the breakdown represents a percentage of a product’s contribution to that country’s total exports. With an objective of guessing the country or territory in six attempts, each guess provides the distance, direction and proximity between one’s guess and the target country. Click here to try your luck at guessing which country’s exports are tested today.
5. Globle
A geography enthusiast’s heaven, “Globle” sets a new mystery country every day. With the goal of guessing the mystery country of the day in as many guesses as possible, each guess turns a deeper shade of red depending on the distance from the target country. The game indicates once you have identified a country sharing a border with the mystery one in a “hot and cold” gameplay style. Click here to push your geography knowledge.
6. Honorable Mention: “Strands”
While still in its beta phase on the NYT games platform, the spelling-bee style word association game pushes players to think outside the box on their knowledge of colloquial phrases as categories. Having a goal of finding hidden words to uncover the day’s theme, uncovering seven theme words and one “spangram” word to tie them all together makes “Strands” the perfect game for categorical thinkers and word wizzes.
