Skip to main content

Move over, Wordle: The New York Times has a new puzzle game

The New York Times has introduced the next title coming to its Games catalog following Wordle’s continued success — and it’s all about math. Digits has players adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing numbers. You can play its beta for free online right now. 

In Digits, players are presented with a target number that they need to match. Players are given six numbers and have the ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide them to get as close to the target as they can. Not every number needs to be used, though, so this game should put your math skills to the test as you combine numbers and try to make the right equations to get as close to the target number as possible.

A puzzle from The New York TImes' latest puzzle game, Digits.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Players will get a five-star rating if they match the target number exactly, a three-star rating if they get within 10 of the target, and a one-star rating if they can get within 25 of the target number. Currently, players are also able to access five different puzzles with increasingly larger numbers as well.  I solved today’s puzzle and found it to be an enjoyable number-based game that should appeal to inquisitive minds that like puzzle games such as Threes or other The New York Times titles like Wordle and Spelling Bee.

In an article unveiling Digits and detailing The New York Time Games team’s process to game development, The Times says the team will use this free beta to fix bugs and assess if it’s worth moving into a more active development phase “where the game is coded and the designs are finalized.” So play Digits while you can, as The New York Times may move on from the project if it doesn’t get the response it is hoping for. 

Digits‘ beta is available to play for free now on The New York Times Games’ website

Editors' Recommendations

Tomas Franzese
Gaming Staff Writer
Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Puzzle games ruled 2023. It’s time we showed them the respect they deserve
A complex puzzle appears in Viewfinder.

I play just about every genre of video game, but I especially love a great puzzle game. While I enjoy high-skill experiences that require fast reflexes, I appreciate any cleverly designed game that can test my brain just as much. Titles like The Witness and Portal 2 rank high on my list of all-time favorites, sitting comfortably next to canonical action classics like Mass Effect 2 and The Last of Us.

As someone who follows the genre closely, let me tell you: 2023 was one hell of a year for puzzlers.

Read more
If you love Wordle and Connections, Puzzmo may be your next daily obsession
A cartoon orb does a Crossword puzzle in Puzzmo art.

If you’ve added puzzle games like Wordle and Connections to your routine in the past year, you might have another daily obsession coming your way. Puzzmo is a new platform that brings the idea of a newspaper puzzle page to a responsive web page that works across devices. Players can sign up to join the free platform today, which also features a $40 annual subscription option that unlocks bonus features like experimental games and leaderboards.

The ambitious new project is a collaboration between Orta Therox and Zach Gage, a game designer who’s gained popularity over the years with mobile titles like Knotwords and Good Sudoku. His latest project has been in the works for years, and it acts as a sort of one-stop shop for Gage’s puzzle catalog that looks to beat popular hubs like The New York Times at their own game.

Read more
The best puzzle games of all time
Two robots from Portal 2.

At their core, all games are puzzles. From Tetris to the Uncharted series, the medium has constantly challenged players to find solutions to problems, whether that problem is fitting the right blocks into a hole or navigating ancient booby traps. In this guide, we’re going to break down the best puzzle games of all time.

Still, even if a game has puzzles, we won't necessarily call it a puzzle game. No matter how many Riddler puzzles you solve as the world's greatest detective, Batman: Arkham Knight is still an action game first and foremost. So for this guide, we’re focusing on pure puzzle games, meaning that solving puzzles is the core mechanic of the game. There’s no combat or other systems, unless they relate specifically to solving puzzles.

Read more