Lyndee Pinkerton

While for the everyday college student, screen time may be dominated by time working on assignments from the confines of a Canvas tab, many may also take time to indulge in a series of brain-stimulating games. A go-to for many students looking to kill some time are the New York Times (NYT) games. The NYT games’ website features an array of quick puzzles with an emphasis on intuitive wordplay. Two of the most popular NYT puzzles are Wordle, a word guessing game, and Connections, which is focused on sorting word groups into inconspicuous categories. Reloading daily with a new series of puzzles to solve, students are given a unique experience each time they play. Students can then share their results for the day and compare with their peers, creating friendly rivalries among friend groups.
For Jackson Delhagen, junior political science major, the NYT games are a prerequisite to all of his homework, and he plays the games first thing when he opens his laptop in the morning. Delhagen’s favorite NYT game is Connections, as it differs drastically from day to day.
“Sometimes it’s really silly and weird. And then another day, it’s just completely different,” Delhagen said. “It’s really interesting to go through every day.”
Similar to Delhagen, Lily Zeng, junior global Latinx studies major, enjoys playing word puzzles in her free time. Zeng looks forward to playing the new mini crossword, Connections and Wordle each day, especially with friends.
“​​Definitely when I’m bored, but also, I would say when I’m around my friends, because we all play the game,” Zeng said. “Also, I guess the popularity of it being a very salient game in which everyone knows what it is. They kind of bond over that.”
Nathalia Fernandez, junior neuroscience major, is another avid NYT games enthusiast. Fernandez typically plays NYT games when she first wakes up or as she goes about her day.
“My favorite would have to be the mini crossword,” Fernandez said. “I love trying to go as fast as I can to beat my best time.”
Fernandez has always enjoyed playing word puzzles. Growing up, she would do the crossword puzzles in newspapers and has since expanded into the digital realm of word puzzles, playing online games from not just the New York Times, but other publications like the Washington Post as well.
“The NYT games have definitely expanded over the past few years and they all challenge me in a different way,” Fernandez said. “I like doing them in an academic setting because it motivates me to think critically and do my work.”