How to Play NYT Connections: Rules, Scoring and Strategies to Win

Connections is a daily word puzzle published by The New York Times in which players must sort 16 words into four groups of four based on a hidden shared theme. The game is the second-most-played title in the NYT Games lineup, behind Wordle, according to Wikipedia.

The basic rules

Each puzzle lays out 16 words in a 4x4 grid, according to Beebom. Players tap or click four words they believe belong together and submit the group. If the guess is correct, the category's color is revealed and those four words are removed from the board.

If a guess is wrong, the game may show a 'One Away' message, per Beebom and WordsRated, indicating that three of the four selected words are correct and one does not belong. WordsRated notes that an incorrect group cannot simply be resubmitted as-is — at least one word must be swapped.

Players get four mistakes total before the puzzle ends for the day, WordsRated and Beebom both report. Selected tiles turn gray before submission, and there is no penalty for taking time between guesses.

Understanding the four colors

Every puzzle contains exactly one category from each of four difficulty tiers, color-coded yellow, green, blue and purple, according to Wikipedia. Yellow is the most straightforward category, green and blue sit in the middle, and purple is the hardest — often relying on wordplay such as homophones, palindromes or double meanings. The colors stay hidden until a group is correctly solved.

Wikipedia also notes that puzzle editor Wyna Liu, a New York Times crossword editor, has cited cartoonist Robert Leighton as an influence behind the lateral and visual wordplay built into the harder categories.

Scoring and mistakes

According to WordsRated, a completed game is scored based on how many mistakes were made: a flawless solve earns 95 points, one mistake lowers the score to 88, two mistakes to 81, and three mistakes to 73, with up to two bonus points added when the blue or purple category is solved first. Players who run out of guesses before finishing instead receive a fixed score of 50, 57 or 65 points, depending on how many categories they found.

Strategy tips from the puzzle's creator

Wyna Liu, who created and edits Connections, told Newsweek that her main advice is to 'wait as long as you can before guessing.' She explained that spotting four words that seem to fit a category is not enough proof, because a fifth word elsewhere on the board might actually belong there instead — so solving other groups first narrows down the overlaps naturally.

Liu also described her own tendency toward impatient, impulsive guessing, a habit she calls rage solving, per Newsweek. She said she deliberately clusters related-looking words near each other on the board to create false impressions, which is part of why first instincts can be misleading.

Practical steps to solve a puzzle

1. Scan all 16 words first without selecting anything, looking for the most obvious or narrowly defined group — Beebom and WordsRated both recommend starting with unusual or specific-sounding words, since common words tend to fit multiple categories.
2. Mentally note words that could plausibly belong to more than one group instead of submitting immediately, as WordsRated advises, since overlapping words are the main source of wrong guesses.
3. Use the shuffle button to rearrange the grid; both Beebom and WordsRated say this can reveal connections between words that looked unrelated simply because of their position on the board.
4. Hold off on submitting a group of four until you are confident no other word fits better, following Wyna Liu's advice to wait rather than guess early.
5. If a guess returns 'One Away,' swap out one word at a time rather than resubmitting the same four, since WordsRated notes an identical wrong group cannot be resubmitted unchanged.
6. Save the hardest-looking, purple-style wordplay category for last, after the other three groups have narrowed down which words remain.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Guessing out of panic when down to the last mistake, rather than re-checking the remaining words, as WordsRated cautions.
• Assuming the most obvious theme is correct without checking whether the words fit only that category and no other, per WordsRated.
• Ignoring the shuffle feature, which both Beebom and WordsRated describe as underused but effective for spotting new groupings.
• Ignoring unfamiliar words instead of considering their alternate meanings, since Beebom notes that researching an unknown term can unlock a category.

Where the game came from

Connections launched in beta on June 12, 2023, after being in development for about a year following an internal New York Times brainstorming event called Game Jam, according to Wikipedia. The puzzles are written and edited by Wyna Liu, who is also a New York Times crossword editor. The Times has since released themed spin-offs, including a Sports Edition launched February 9, 2025, edited by Mark Cooper, and a Soccer Edition that debuted in June 2026 around the World Cup, per Wikipedia.