Connection games: a daily word puzzle and 25 group games
Find four groups of four in today’s 16 words. Everyone in your time zone gets the same puzzle, and a new one every day.
Today
Mistakes left
KraftyLab is not affiliated with The New York Times or its Connections game.
Connection games are games where you find what links things, or link up with the people around you. This page has both. The free daily word puzzle above hides four groups of four in 16 words, and you get four mistakes to find them. If you play the New York Times’ Connections game, this works the same way, with 66 original puzzles built around work, offices and things everyone knows. Below it are 25 group games that get people talking, for a table of six, a video call or a room of 200.
How to play the daily connection game
A new board goes up at midnight in your time zone. Everyone in the same time zone gets the same 16 words in the same starting order, so you can compare notes in the team channel.
- Find four words that share something. A category can be plain, like Planets, or wordplay, like ___board (words that go in front of "board").
- Tap them and press Submit. A right guess locks the group in with its name. Colors run from blue (easiest) to green, orange and purple (hardest).
- A wrong guess costs a mistake. You get four. "One away" means three of your four words belong together, so swap just one.
- Watch for decoys. Some words look like they fit two groups. Only one way of sorting all 16 works, so solve the group you are surest of first.
- Share your result. Share result copies a grid of colored squares with no words in it, so you can post it in the team channel without spoiling anything.
25 connection games for teams
Not every connection game is a word puzzle. These group games are about people: finding what you share, hearing how someone else thinks, and talking to the coworker you usually only email. None of them repeat our group games for adults or large group icebreakers, so you can use all three lists.
Fun group games for adults, in person
For a team lunch, an offsite or the first 15 minutes of a meeting. Most need nothing but the people in the room.
1. Link it
4 to 12 players · 10 min · Nothing
One person says any word. The next says a new word and how it links to the last one (coffee, then Monday: both get me going). Anyone can challenge a weak link, and the group votes on whether it stands.
2. Story from three words
Teams of 3 to 5 · 15 min · Slips of paper and a bowl
Everyone writes one random noun on a slip and drops it in the bowl. Each team draws three and gets five minutes to build a one-minute story that links them, then tells it to the room.
3. Match point
Pairs, any number · 10 min · Paper and pens
The host calls a prompt, like "a fruit" or "a reason to be late". Each pair writes an answer without talking, then both reveal. Matching answers score a point, and the mismatches start the best conversations.
4. Swap sides
Pairs · 10 min · Nothing
Each pair finds one harmless thing they disagree on, like the best season or window versus aisle. Then each person argues the other's side for one minute. The pair picks the more convincing defense.
5. Debate bracket
6 to 30 players · 20 min · A whiteboard
Draw an eight-slot bracket of harmless picks, such as office snacks or ways to spend a free afternoon. Each matchup gets a 30-second case from a volunteer on each side, then a show of hands.
6. Question pass
5 to 15 players · 15 min · A stack of question cards
Answer the top card, then hand the stack to the person in the room you know least. Keep going until everyone has had two turns. Pick questions from our conversation starters.
7. Secret interviewer
8 to 40 players · A whole day or event · Name slips
Everyone draws a coworker's name in secret and has until the end of the day to learn three things about them without giving away who they drew. At the close, each person shares their three facts and the room guesses who it was.
8. Tip swap
Pairs, rotating · 15 min · A timer
One person names a small, real snag from their week. The partner gets 60 seconds to offer one tip, then they switch. Rotate partners three times.
Online group games for video calls and chat
Built for what remote teams actually have: cameras, a chat box, breakout rooms and a team channel.
9. Photo groups
8 to 30 players · 15 min · Phone cameras and a shared slide
Before the call, everyone sends one photo on a theme, like the view from where they work. The host drops them on one slide, and the team sorts them into groups by whatever links they spot.
10. Smallest group speaks
6 to 100 players · 10 min · Any poll tool or the chat
Run a quick poll with four harmless options, such as the best way to take notes. Whoever lands in the smallest group gets 30 seconds to make their case. Run five polls.
11. Popcorn questions
5 to 15 players · 10 min · Nothing
The first person answers a light question, then names who goes next and asks them any question they like. Nobody can be picked twice until everyone has gone.
12. Lunch spot map
Any size · One week, async · A shared online map
Make a shared map and ask everyone to pin one favorite lunch spot in their town with a one-line reason. Read a few out at the next team meeting.
13. Count to twenty
6 to 20 players · 5 min · Nothing
With no plan and no taking turns in order, the group counts from 1 to 20, one voice at a time. If two people speak at once, start again at 1. Call lag makes it harder and funnier.
14. Thread story
Any size · One day, async · A chat thread
Post the first sentence of a story in a team channel. Each reply adds one sentence, nobody posts twice in a row, and whoever writes the 20th sentence has to end it.
15. Draw the same thing
5 to 20 players · 10 min · Paper and a pen each
The host names an everyday object, like a bicycle, and everyone gets 30 seconds to draw it. Everyone holds up their drawing to the camera at once, and the team talks about the differences. Play five rounds.
16. Six steps
Teams of 2 to 4 · 15 min · Breakout rooms
The host names two unrelated things, like a stapler and the Moon. Teams link them in as few steps as they can, each step a real connection they can explain. Fewest valid steps wins the round.
17. Time zone tour
4 to 25 players · 10 min · Nothing
Each person says their local time and what they would usually be doing right now if they weren't on this call. It works best on teams spread across cities.
Group games for large groups
Big group games for 30 to 300 people. Everyone plays at once, so a big room takes no longer than a small one.
18. Live word groups
32 to 200 players · 15 min · One printed word card per person
Print each word of a 16-word puzzle on its own card, one puzzle for every 16 people, and hand them out at random. Everyone mingles to find the three people whose words make a group with theirs, then the group calls out its category to the host.
19. Table word chain
Tables of 5 to 10 · 10 min · A sheet of paper per table
The first person at each table writes a word and passes the sheet left. Each person adds a linked word and three words on why, until the sheet comes back around. Each table reads out how far its chain drifted.
20. Table link-up
6 to 30 tables · 15 min · One object card per table
Give each table a card naming an everyday object. Each table sends a runner to find another table whose object links to theirs and agree on the link. Each pair of tables shares its link in one sentence.
21. Skill web
20 to 150 players · Through the event · Sticky notes, a wall and markers
Everyone writes one thing they could teach in ten minutes on a sticky note and adds it to the wall. During breaks, people draw a line from their name to any skill they want to learn. Pair them up afterward.
22. Story wall
30 to 300 players · Through the event · A long roll of paper and markers
Write the first sentence of a story at the top of a paper wall. Anyone can add the next sentence during breaks. Read the whole thing aloud at the close.
23. New-hire advice cards
20 to 200 players · 10 min · Index cards
Each table writes its best five-word piece of advice for someone who starts on Monday. Read the best ten aloud and give the cards to your next new hires.
24. Question swap
20 to 300 players · 10 min · One question card per person
Everyone gets a card with a light question. Pair up, ask each other your questions, swap cards and find a new partner. Five swaps in ten minutes means five new conversations.
25. Team headline
5 to 30 tables · 15 min · Paper and markers
Each table writes the newspaper headline it would love to see about the team a year from now. Read them out and let the room vote with applause.
How to run the word puzzle as a team game
The daily puzzle takes three to eight minutes, which makes it an easy opener for a meeting or a quick contest between teams. Here are three ways to run it.
A team race in the room
10 minutes · teams of 3 to 5 · one laptop or phone per team
- Open this page on one device per team. Every team in the room gets the same puzzle, because it depends only on the local date.
- Start together. Count down from three. Teams talk it through, and only one person taps.
- First team to solve all four groups wins. Fewer mistakes breaks a tie. A team that runs out of mistakes is out.
- Reveal on the big screen. Walk through the four groups and ask which decoy caught the most teams.
On a video call with screen share
10 minutes · up to about 15 people · Zoom, Teams or Google Meet
- One person shares their screen with this page open. They do the tapping, nobody else needs a link.
- Guesses go in the chat. Anyone types four words. The sharer reads the most popular guess out loud before submitting.
- Agree before every Submit. With only four mistakes, the pause to argue is the fun part.
- For a bigger call, use breakout rooms. Each room plays with its own sharer, then everyone comes back and compares mistake counts.
A Monday warm-up in the team channel
5 minutes each · whole team · async
- Post the link at the start of the day. Same time each week, so people look for it. If the team spans time zones, name the date in the post, and anyone already on the next day taps "Play yesterday's".
- Everyone replies with their Share result squares. The squares carry no words, so the thread stays free of spoilers.
- Reveal the groups at the end of the day. Name who solved it with the fewest mistakes.
- Hand the post to a new person each month. It keeps the habit from depending on one person.
Want a longer puzzle session? Our riddles for adults come with a 15-minute riddle game for teams, and our team building games go deeper on problem solving.
How to write your own connection puzzle
A puzzle about your own team, with your product names, your office and your running jokes, lands better than any puzzle from the internet. It takes about 30 minutes to write a good one.
- Pick four categories from different worlds. One plain set (Planets), one from your office (things in our break room), one wordplay group (___board) and one that takes a second look.
- Make each category tight. "Planets" beats "things in space". A tight category has an obvious yes or no for every word.
- Check every word against every category. That is 64 checks for 16 words. If a word fits two categories, swap it out. NICKEL is a fine coin unless another group is metals.
- Add decoys on purpose. A word that looks like it belongs elsewhere makes a puzzle fun. It only works if it fails the other category's definition.
- Grade the groups. Make one group easy, so everyone gets a win, and one group hard, so it takes the whole team.
- Test it on one person first. Three to eight minutes is the sweet spot. If they finish in one minute, swap in a harder group.
The blank puzzle sheet has four category rows, a 4 by 4 board to lay out your words, and this checklist on page two.
