Connections players caught out by April Fools’ version of the popular game

The New York Times pulled a fast one on serious word nerds with its April Fools’ Day Connections Puzzle.

Known for its collection of tricky word puzzles, including its crosswords, Spelling Bee and the addictive Wordle game, The New York Times puzzle makers decided to have a little fun on this day of practical jokes by abandoning words for emojis in its Connections game.

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And regular players were not prepared for the surprise based on social media posts.

“This has genuinely ruined my morning #Connections,” shared X.com user Corina Romonti along with a screen capture of today’s Connections puzzle.

Typically, The New York Times Connections puzzle is a collection of 16 words that the player tries to find groups of four words that all share a common theme.

The game officially launched in August 2023 and was designed to test “players wit, vocabulary and creativity.” Since the beta testing began in June 2023, Connections quickly became the most successful game launch for The New York Times since Wordle.

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Many Connections players, such as myself, have a daily routine with our gameplay and eagerly look forward to opening the app or the website ready to face the 16-word challenge.

So, when we word nerds opened the game to find 16 seemingly-random emojis on the screen, it messed with our collective minds a little bit.

I confess I totally forgot what date today is when I took a sip of my coffee and opened my Connections game this morning. As I screamed (yes, literally) about what was going on, my calm husband, who is an engineer, laughed and reminded me that it’s April Fools’ Day.

I’m glad I wasn’t alone in forgetting it’s April 1 and what that means. Jamie Si and X.com had my back and could relate to my reaction. She posted the perfect GIF for the occasion.

I did get a good laugh about the way The New York Times puzzle masters got me; but, only after I got over the fact that the emojis messed my head up so much that I lost the game!

Think you can beat today’s April Fools’ Connection puzzle? Try it for free on the official game website.