Craving more NYT 'Connections'? Try these alternatives
In the wake of the immense popularity of the New York Times' Connections game, a slew of alternatives have emerged, offering avid players a fresh new game after they finish their daily puzzle. These clones, while adhering to the original's rules, bring innovative twists to the table and allow for infinite replayability without the stress of making a mistake.
From platforms that champion user-generated content, allowing players to craft their own intricate puzzles, to archives that curate past Connections challenges for those who might have missed that day's puzzle, the landscape of word-based puzzles is expanding so that no one has to miss out on the fun.
Puzzle Archive
For enthusiasts who just want to play Connections but missed out on its earlier puzzles before it got big, then this Connections puzzle archive is for you. Created by Reddit user r/swellgrafo, this archive has every Connections puzzle since its beta launch in June. Additionally, the website also comes with a custom creator that allows users to submit their own even more challenging puzzles for players who looking for a rough time.
And, unlike the real Connections, players can make as many mistakes as they want when playing. This is great for those who need a bit more time to figure out each set and not have that experience ruined by using your allowed mistakes in a game.
PuzzGrid
Just like the Times' version of the game, Puzzgrid is inspired by the British game show, Only Connect. PuzzGrid allows players to choose from either platform-generated games or from a list of thousands of user-generated ones. Unlike Connetions, players have 3 minutes to solve the puzzle. On top of that, after a player solves the first two sets of words, they'll only be allowed 3 guesses to figure out the last two sets.
PuzzGrid's site comes with a filter based on difficulty, region, and quality. It also has special sections that let you pick the best grids of that day and of the week.
Red Herring
For mobile users, check out Red Herring. It functions in just about the same way as all the other Connections-like puzzles on this list. Players are tasked with dragging words on the board to their respective categories. Based on the difficulty selected, the board can either be partially solved by having the words in their groups already (with or without the category name) or you're left on your own to figure everything out.
You won't be able to find Red Herring online, but you can grab it for iOS or Android in their respective stores. Keep in mind that it's not as expansive as the other games on this list either, with only about 25 puzzles. The free puzzles are regularly updated at least and if you want more the developers offer 50 puzzle packs for about $1.99 per pack (there are only two at the time of this writing).
Unlimited Connections Clones
If you just want a 1-to-1 recreation of Connections right now, you can check out the myriad of clones that just offer "unlimited" versions of the game. These sites don't offer any fancy trick to differentiate themselves from Connections like time limits or user-created puzzles, nor are they archives either. They're just Connections, the only thing that makes them different is the limit on how much you can play them. However, some sites, like connectionsgame.io, do have repeat sets in them. For example, three puzzles we played on the site all used the same "cocktails" set with the same words.
So if you want the "unlimited" Connections experience with no BS gimmicks check out these sites:
They're all practically the same site, but they offer that quick fix you're looking for after finishing up the actual Connections puzzle.
