At a Glance
- The New York Times quietly released Crossplay, a Scrabble-style multiplayer word game on iOS and Android
- Subscribers play ad-free; free users see only banner ads, dodging the garish pop-ups that plague Words With Friends
- Built-in CrossBot grades every move for luck and strategy, mirroring the viral appeal of Wordle and Connections
- Why it matters: Players get a clean, shareable way to duel friends and family without paying $10/month to remove ads
The New York Times has turned a decades-old dream into a pocket-sized reality: a no-nonsense Scrabble-like game that lets grandma challenge you to a match without burying the board in blinking ads. The new app, Crossplay, arrived unceremoniously on iOS and Android, but its stripped-down approach could rattle the social-word-game market long dominated by Zynga’s ad-saturated Words With Friends.
How Crossplay Works
Crossplay keeps the bones of Scrabble-letter tiles, double-word squares, turn-by-turn scoring-while tweaking the board layout, tile distribution, and end-game rules. Purists may bristle, yet casual players will barely notice the differences, which appear to exist for legal rather than creative reasons.
- Invite friends or get matched with strangers near your skill level
- Games unfold asynchronously over hours or days
- Subscribers see zero ads; free users see unobtrusive banner ads only
- CrossBot reviews every turn, flagging missed high-point plays and ranking your luck versus strategy
Quiet Design, Loud Numbers
The Times’ gaming surge began in 2022 with its Wordle acquisition. By the end of 2023, users spent more minutes inside the Games app than the News app, according to data from ValueAct Capital. Wordle alone was played 4.2 billion times in 2025; Connections added another 1.6 billion plays.
Jonathan Knight, Head of Games at the New York Times, told News Of Philadelphia the secret is respecting the player’s time: “You can just decide to do it in the morning, or at night before you go to bed, and then go to bed.”
Why Players Are Drifting Away From Words With Friends
Words With Friends still charges $9.99/month to remove ads, yet even paying customers endure a candy-colored interface stuffed with loot boxes, animations, and deceptive skip buttons that spawn more pop-ups. Crossplay offers the opposite experience: muted colors, minimal animations, and no hard-sell monetization.
> “People have an appetite for things that transparently don’t want anything from you,” Wordle creator Josh Wardle told News Of Philadelphia shortly before selling his game.
CrossBot: Your Digital Coach
Every finished game triggers CrossBot, an AI analyzer that:
- Scores each move for strategic value
- Separates lucky tile draws from brilliant plays
- Highlights your best word and your biggest blunder
- Offers concise tips to sharpen future games
The feature mirrors the viral success of WordleBot and ConnectionsBot, turning post-game review into shareable bragging rights.
What’s Next for NYT Games
Knight says the team will monitor player feedback but has no immediate plans to clutter Crossplay with extra modes or currencies. The goal is to preserve the “quiet simplicity” that fueled Wordle’s sustained popularity. The share rate on Wordle, he notes, has remained unchanged since acquisition: “It’s a really cool way to bring people together. You know, we see the Pope talking about his Wordle, sharing with his brother.”
For now, Crossplay remains a side dish to the Times’ daily staples-Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee-but its ad-free promise could lure lapsed Words With Friends players searching for a calmer competition.
Key Takeaways
- Crossplay is free to download; an NYT Games subscription removes all ads
- CrossBot analysis turns every match into a learning session
- The app’s understated design bucks the mobile-gaming trend of sensory overload
- With 4.2 billion Wordle plays in 2025, the Times has proven that simple, respectful games can scale
