We’ve all heard of Wordle before, and I’m sure many have branched off into other daily games produced by The New York Times. However, some of those games would soon be erased from general view forever. On August 27, 2025, The New York Times placed a paywall on some of its games. The first game to be paywalled was the Crossword, which came into effect in 2011. Another monetary gate would not be placed on any other games until that one August morning, when the Mini Crossword, Letterboxed, and Tiles were locked behind a New York Times subscription. The reasoning for this sudden, greedy action is rather apparent: monetary gain. However, this reason does not address how it will affect the people who don’t want to have to spend money in order to play The New York Times’ games.
In order to further understand the “why” and the “how” behind the paywall, we must investigate the past. The New York Times app was launched on July 10, 2008, but the Crossword didn’t come along until 2009, with the subscription being introduced in March of 2011. Fortunately, The New York Times added more games for enjoyers, with the Mini Crossword being added in August of 2014 without a subscription needed to play. Furthermore, in 2014, the Spelling Bee was introduced in their papers and was added to the digital world in May of 2018, also without the need for monthly payments. Two new games were added in 2019, with Letterboxed in February and Tiles in June. In January of 2022, The New York Times acquired the popular word-guessing game Wordle and, shortly after, added Connections in July of 2023, Strands (Beta) in March 2024, and most recently, Pips in August. None of these aforementioned games required the user to have a subscription, but, as you know, this changed in late August.
This recent change in user access is not the only thing about the subscriptions that has changed in the past couple of years; the overall pricing of a New York Times subscription has also had its fair share of alterations. The separate subscription for New York Times Games was not introduced until 2015, when only the regular Crossword was paywalled. This original subscription cost $6.95 per month, or the user could pay $39.95 per year. In 2016, this price dropped to $3.95 per month and $19.95 per year and stayed the same through 2017. In 2018, however, the subscription saw an increase in pricing, from $3.95 to $6.99 per month and from $19.95 to $39.99 per year. The changes over the next few years weren’t significant and stayed around the six-dollar range; it is currently $6.95 per month ($39.95 per year). Also, in 2025, The New York Times introduced a family plan allowing four people to share an account for $10 every month. The introduction of a new system that allows families to save up to eighteen dollars can be seen as a way The New York Times is compensating for making three of its games sit behind paywalls.
Many people were angry about the sudden paywall for these games, as they had been free to use since their release and had become part of many people’s daily rituals. The change was seen as “money-hungry” and “greedy,” creating a sense of betrayal and disappointment. Some people tried to justify the new paywall by saying that the company had been losing money, but that is not the case. The New York Times’ revenue for the twelve months between June 2024 and June 2025 showed a 7.82% increase in profit year-over-year. This fact further solidifies the idea that what promoted the implementation of this paywall was greed and not necessity. One enjoyer of the mini games stated their disappointment on the social platform X by saying, “Finding out the NYT mini crossword is now behind a paywall has done irreparable damage to my spirit” (Mastrangelo). Some even protested their anger by canceling their subscriptions to The New York Times. However, others understood the company’s reasoning and felt that their subscriptions were relatively affordable. Even so, for many enjoyers, it seems unlikely that the paywall will be lifted anytime soon, or at all. It is possible if nearly everybody in the world were to band together and protest or boycott, but that “if” is overtly impossible. Hypothetically, if you voluntarily gave six dollars every month in exchange for a random puzzle every day, it is unlikely that you would riot for your six dollars back, therefore making it unlikely that the paywall would be lifted. In addition, people are worried about the possibility of the more popular games, such as Wordle or Connections, being taken from them.
Although some of these games are no longer free, there are plenty of alternatives. One option is The Washington Post Games, which offers a variety of free choices, including card games, a crossword, mahjong, jigsaw, 9 Ball Pool, and more. Another great option is Squaredle, a game very similar to The New York Times’ Strands. You can also try the game Wikitrivia, a fun trivia game where you place historical events in the correct order to win. Lastly, Arkadium offers a free daily crossword and many other engaging word games.
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NYT/new-york-times/revenue
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5474988-new-york-times-mini-crossword-paywall
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