Gameplay: How we bring our audience what they want
As a community engagement manager working on the newly introduced New York Times Games Instagram account, I'm always on the lookout for ways to bring our audience closer to the puzzles they love, which often requires asking strange and funny questions. How do you bottle infectious excitement from Sam Ezersky, the game's editor, when Spelling Bee finally includes the letter S? What does a Valentine's Day card look like for someone emotionally attached to puzzles? Can we crack a cheeky joke when the Wordle word is BOOTY without spoiling the answer? Many of our ideas start with questions like these, but nothing happens in a vacuum. When we set out to answer them, it occasionally means partnering with a brilliant editorial team, and that collaborative curiosity lets us loose to really have fun. There was the time Elie Levine, my fellow community manager, and I sported matching golf caps to explain the rules to Wordle Golf. Another time, a casual comment inspired a full-blown video. When Tracy Bennett, a puzzle editor, offhandedly mentioned she still had the notebook where she sketched her first 145 Strands puzzles, my first thought was: Can I take a closer look at that? Then I wondered, if I wanted to see it, maybe you would too. Thus, a Bennett-hosted "notebook tour" was born. Sometimes we work together to create a wild idea that none of us could have thought of alone. As when we crafted a Games alignment chart — an idea born from a passionate, if not completely unhinged, debate with my editorial colleagues. Connections, we agreed, is Chaotic Evil. Wyna Liu, the game's editor, joyfully approved. After that, things got trickier. Does Letter Boxed make more sense as Neutral Good or Lawful Neutral? Is Strands truly True Neutral? And so on, working our way through each game. The fun wasn't just in the final chart itself but in the collaboration, the playful disagreements and, eventually, the reactions from our audience. And you laughed, or nodded, or begged us to start the chart over from scratch. That's what makes this Instagram account a kind of playground. It's where the questions, jokes and what-ifs from our team, shaped by your feedback, come to life. We're always experimenting and up for trying something new. Want more behind-the-scenes peeks? Wordle memes for your family group chat? Tips to solve the Mini faster than Joel Fagliano, its editor? OK, that last one might be impossible, but let us know nonetheless! We're curious to hear what you think. Bonus Puzzle: Wit Twister 🖋️Complete the verse with words that are anagrams of one another. Each underscore represents a letter. See the answer in the P.S.
Brain Tickler 🤔See the answer in the P.S.
Puzzle of the WeekEach week we highlight a special puzzle that we published recently. This week, check out Sam Brody's excellent debut puzzle from Sunday, June 1.
How are we doing? Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you like this newsletter, you can tell your friends to sign up here. P.S. The answers to the Wit Twister are tasked, staked and skated. The answer to the Brain Tickler is that you can take off the first two and last two letters of each word and merge them to create a new word, with the second word being what is leftover from the original word. RECREATIONAL becomes REAL and CREATION, SEARCHED becomes SEED and ARCH, MOROSEST becomes MOST and ROSE, and MEANTIME becomes MEME and ANTI.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment