Connections: Sports Edition gives you 16 words and asks you to sort them into four groups of four based on a shared connection. The colors mark category difficulty, not points: yellow is easiest and purple is trickiest. NYT tracks wins, streaks and mistakes, but its Help Center does not describe a numeric points system or specify the Sports Edition’s exact wrong-guess limit.
NYT Connections: Sports Edition rules
The board contains 16 words. Select four that belong together, then submit the group; the aim is to find all four groups of four. Each group shares a connection, which may relate to sports terminology, people, teams or another category. The New York Times says the categories and words are curated by editors using the Oxford Dictionary.
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There is exactly one intended solution for each puzzle, but words can seem to fit more than one category. That overlap is part of the challenge: a plausible set is not necessarily the editor’s intended group. The official Help Center says Sports Edition is the sports version of Connections and that the same solving rules apply to both.
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- Review all 16 words. Look for possible links, including shared sports contexts or phrases.
- Select a group of four. Submit the four words you think share a category.
- Use the result to refine your remaining choices. Because plausible categories can overlap, reconsider a word’s alternate meanings or connections if a group is not accepted.
- Continue until you have found all four groups or the game ends. NYT’s reviewed Help Center page does not state the precise wrong-guess limit for Sports Edition, so it is not safe to infer that interface detail from its general statement that the rules are the same.
What the colors mean
Each solved group is assigned one of four colors. NYT describes the colors as difficulty labels, ordered from easiest to trickiest:
#1 Best Overall
- Yellow: easiest
- Green: a more difficult category than yellow
- Blue: a more difficult category than green
- Purple: trickiest
The Help Center does not assign numerical point values to these colors. They indicate relative category difficulty, not a published scoring multiplier.
How does Connections scoring work?
NYT’s official help materials describe performance statistics rather than an additive score. The Statistics page tracks puzzles completed, win rate, current streak, maximum streak, perfect puzzles and a histogram of mistakes. NYT defines win rate as puzzles completed in under four mistakes divided by puzzles played. The histogram displays mistakes from zero to four.
Rank #2
Those measures describe outcomes and solving history; they are not a points formula. The reviewed Help Center documentation does not publish points for a correct group, different color categories or a completed puzzle. It also does not establish the exact maximum number of incorrect submissions for Sports Edition.
When and where to play
The daily Connections puzzle releases at midnight in the player’s timezone. NYT lists Sports Edition access through NYT Games on the web, NYT and The Athletic web properties, The Athletic app, and the NYT News app. Its Help Center describes Connections as free to play across platforms without requiring registration or sign-in; it recommends a NYT account if you want progress retained across platforms. Access terms can change.
Does Connections: Sports Edition have an archive?
No. The Help Center says the general Connections archive is available to Games and All Access subscribers and includes puzzles dating back to June 12, 2023, but explicitly says Connections: Sports Edition does not have an archive. A subscription to the general archive therefore does not provide a Sports Edition back catalogue.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Optional stats and review tools
Connections Bot is a daily review tool that can show personalized information such as puzzle difficulty, ratings, category solve order, mistakes and a guess-by-guess review. The Help Center lists access for All Access, Home Delivery and Games subscribers. These tools add detail about performance; they do not change the puzzle’s grouping rules or create a documented points system.
Source: The New York Times Help Center, “Connections”, accessed October 4, 2026.
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