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If you spend part of your day trying to solve word, communication. Branches And other mysteries from The New York Times, you can now add another temptation to the list. (CNET delivers answers daily For Word, Connections, Strands, Mini Crosswords, and Connections: Sports Edition.)
On Wednesday, the New York Times’ gaming section launched Crossplay, an app-based game much like the board game Scrabble. Crossplay is the first two-player game, which can be played against another player or the computer, NYT Games said. It’s available for free on the New York Times Crossplay app on iOS and Android devices.
Crossplay joins the NYT Games family of games that includes Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Strands and other very popular games. The publication purchased Wordle from developer Josh Wardle Nearly four years agoThe game was played more than 4 billion times in 2025. Connections, created by The New York Times’ Wyna Liu for launch in 2023, was played more than 1.6 billion times in 2025.
The Times said, “Players around the world solved more than 11 billion puzzles through New York Times games” last year.
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Jonathan Knight, president of New York Times Games, said Crossplay is an “ambitious expansion” of the app’s existing gaming offerings.
“Our players already come to us every day to enjoy smart, original word games, and Crossplay builds on that foundation by offering real-time competition and social play in a way that shares the fun of classic word games, but is designed to be unique.” Knight said in a press release. “Crossplay is designed to be focused, intuitive and truly fun from the moment you open it.”
How to play
If you’ve played Scrabble, Crossplay is easy to learn. Players take turns creating words by adding letter tiles to a shared playing board. Some squares are worth more points depending on how rare the letter is, and the point total can be doubled or tripled depending on which square is on the board where you play the square.
Crossplay is similar to Scrabble with some modifications.
Detailed rules are listed hereas well as instructions on setting up and navigating the app.
If Crossplay sounds similar to Scrabble – invented by Alfred Mosher Potts in 1931 – it is. But there have been many other imitations over the years.
Scrabulous had been running for two years as a Facebook app before HasbroMattel, which owns the US and Canadian rights to Scrabble, and Mattel, which owns the international rights, filed a lawsuit, forcing the developers to remove it in 2008.
words with friends, A multiplayer computer game, also similar to Scrabble, but the highlighted letters and squares have different point values.
A representative for the New York Times Games section said that Crossplay differs from Scrabble in layout, points, and tiles.
An unusual addition
Puzzle solver and content creator David Clamage, who goes by Rangsk on his site YouTube channelsaid Crossplay “seems like an unusual addition” to the NYT Games lineup.
“It enters a market already crowded with similar head-to-head word games, and doesn’t benefit from shared everyday experience or the robust puzzle creation, editing and testing resources at The New York Times,” Clamage told CNET. “As a content creator, it’s hard to create content around a game when players aren’t all interacting with the same daily puzzle.”
One of the biggest strengths of the NYT Games is the shared, everyday experience, which seems to be missing here, Clamage said.
In-game chat
However, you can share your games in other ways. Crossplay competitors can communicate during the game via the chat function.
As far as opponents go, you can play against family and friends, or challenge people you don’t know. Crossplay will match you with other players of similar skill levels. You can play up to 30 different games simultaneously.
Artificial Intelligence has a role in Crossplay. There is a feature called Cross Bot, which can provide post-game analysis after matching wits with another player. This analysis will highlight key moments and strategic insights from the game to help players improve their skills.