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If you want another daily puzzle with Connections-style category deduction, start with LinkedIn Pinpoint or Greatest Games’ Looplink. Pinpoint asks you to infer a category from clues; Looplink is explicitly described by its publisher as a Connections-style grouping game. For a different kind of word or logic challenge, try Strands, Crossclimb, Queens, or Pips—their mechanics are related only in the broad sense that they make a good short daily puzzle.
What makes a game like NYT Connections?
Connections is a specific kind of word puzzle, not just a daily game. The New York Times gives players 16 words and asks them to sort them into four groups of four based on a shared theme. Each group has a color, with categories generally becoming harder from yellow toward purple. There is exactly one solution, though a word may seem to fit more than one group. The NYT says its editors curate words and categories using the Oxford Dictionary. Read the NYT Connections help page.
The recommendations below separate close category-matching alternatives from other daily games. That distinction matters: a word search, a five-letter guessing game, and a grid-logic puzzle can all scratch the daily-puzzle itch, but they do not play like Connections.
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LinkedIn Pinpoint
Pinpoint is a strong choice if the part you enjoy is spotting a connection among clues. LinkedIn presents five clues, and the aim is to guess the common category while revealing as few clues as possible. LinkedIn says anyone can play, whether or not they have a LinkedIn account, and new puzzles arrive at midnight Pacific Time. Its games also include scores, streaks, leaderboards, and sharing with your network; LinkedIn says there are no prizes. Play Pinpoint or see LinkedIn’s games help page.
Greatest Games Looplink
Looplink is the closest match in this list to Connections’ group-sorting format: Greatest Games calls it a Connections-style grouping puzzle. Its stated mechanic is to make four groups of four while reusing four shared link tiles to complete a loop. The publisher says its games are free, require no account, and reset at midnight US Eastern. See the Greatest Games collection.
Greatest Games Categlorious
Categlorious also asks you to find relationships, but it changes the shape of the task: there are four categories with three words each, plus one word that connects them all. It is a grouping variant rather than a 16-tile, four-groups-of-four replica. It is part of the same collection, whose publisher says games are free and do not require an account. Explore Greatest Games.
Rank #2
Daily word games with different mechanics
NYT Strands: find a theme in a word search
Strands is for players who like uncovering related words and a theme, but it is not a category-sorting puzzle. The NYT describes it as finding hidden words that reveal the puzzle’s theme. Play Strands.
LinkedIn Crossclimb: build a word ladder
Crossclimb combines word changes with clues: arrange words in a ladder so each successive word differs by one letter, then solve clues for the words at the ends. Choose it when you want wordplay with a progression rather than grouping. Play Crossclimb.
LinkedIn Wend: find words in a letter grid
Wend is a word-finding challenge. Connect letters to locate hidden words, using every letter exactly once. It suits players who like scanning and tracing through a grid more than comparing word meanings. Play Wend.
NYT Wordle and Spelling Bee: compact word challenges
Wordle asks you to guess a five-letter word in six chances, making it a concise deduction game. Spelling Bee instead gives you seven letters and asks you to make words from them. Neither uses Connections-style categories. Play Wordle or play Spelling Bee.
Rank #4
Logic and spatial puzzles when you want less wordplay
LinkedIn Queens, Tango, and Zip
- Queens: place one queen in each row, column, and colored region.
- Tango: balance two emoji types in a grid while following adjacency rules.
- Zip: connect sequential numbers with a path that fills every cell.
These LinkedIn games trade word association for constraints and spatial reasoning. LinkedIn’s games page describes the mechanics and includes its other daily puzzles. Browse LinkedIn Games.
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Pips is a domino-placement logic game: the NYT describes the goal as placing every domino in the right spot. It is a useful change of pace if you want deduction without word clues. Play Pips.
Best Value
How access and daily reset times differ
Access terms and reset schedules are not uniform across publishers. The following details come from the publishers’ help or games pages and may change.
| Game or collection | Access and extra play | Daily reset |
|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections | The NYT help page says the daily puzzle is free to play without signing in. The full archive, which it says goes back to June 12, 2023, is subscriber-only; Connections Bot is also limited to specified subscriber plans. | Midnight in the player’s timezone. |
| LinkedIn games | LinkedIn says anyone can play Pinpoint, with or without a LinkedIn account. LinkedIn also describes scores, streaks, leaderboards, and sharing; it says there are no prizes. | Midnight Pacific Time. |
| Greatest Games | The publisher says its games are free, require no account, and offer the same daily edition to everyone. | Midnight US Eastern. |
These schedules mean a new puzzle may appear at different local times depending on the service. For the current NYT rules, consult the Connections help page; for LinkedIn’s details, see its games help page; Greatest Games describes its collection at its homepage.
Which one should you try?
- For category inference: try Pinpoint.
- For a close grouping format: try Looplink; choose Categlorious for its three-word categories and shared connector.
- For a themed word search: try Strands or Wend.
- For word transformations or construction: try Crossclimb, Wordle, or Spelling Bee.
- For spatial constraints: try Queens, Tango, Zip, or Pips.
The NYT also lists The Crossword and The Mini Crossword among its daily games. Its separate Crossplay app is a free two-player word game for iOS and Android, so it is a multiplayer change of pace rather than a direct Connections substitute. See the NYT Games lineup.
Quick Recap
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