The New York Times kept readers on their toes in 2025, thanks to its stable of popular games.
There were more than 11.2 billion puzzles solved on New York Times Games this year, led by 4.2 billion Wordle puzzles solved and 1.6 billion solves in Connections.
For Wordle, one word in particular proved to be kryptonite for fans: Bongo.
That word was 2025’s biggest streak buster, making it the hardest Wordle of the year when it snapped 36,337 streaks back on May 14.
What made “BONGO” such a challenge?
“Anytime you have double letters, it’s a little bit harder,” Zoe Bell, executive producer of games at The New York Times, said on TODAY Dec. 29. “And, then, if it’s double letters, and it’s a vowel, I think it’s even harder. And then it’s an ‘O,’ which is a weird vowel. And they were split up. They weren’t in the middle, so it just made it really hard.”
Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images Wordle continues to delight and occasionally flummox players.
Bell, who said there was an average of 46 Wordle scores shared per second, said her strategy is to start with a different word each day (much like Pope Leo says he does).
While many players choose to begin with “ADIEU,” due to all the vowels, that may not be the wisest play.
“It is not the best Wordle word to start with,” she said. “We actually have a Wordle analysis tool called Robot and it suggests ‘TROPE’ or ‘TRACE’ might be better words, and end up with you getting a lower score overall.”
Bell also said it’s important not to overlook the value of the second word players guess.
“You can have a great first word and eliminate a bunch of possible options. And then if you just screw it up and guess duplicate letters later on, you’ve ruined your chances. We’ve done an analysis on this — the combination of your first word and responsive second word to what you learned in the first word.”
The most difficult Connections puzzle came on April 1, when, continuing an April Fools’ Day tradition, the board featured all symbols.
The most shared puzzle was April 22, with three million shares.
Strands was the third-most solved puzzle, with 1.5 billion, followed by Mini Crossword (1.4 billion), Spelling Bee (667 million) and Pips (612 million).
Fans can continue to play those games, while welcoming a new puzzle into the fold called Crossplay that will launch Jan. 21.
“It’s a two-player board word game, where you build off your opponent,” Bell said.
You can pre-register for it at newyorktimes.com/crossplay.
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