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NYT Spelling Bee badges reward specific milestones: reaching Genius or Queen Bee, finding pangrams, entering a pangram first, and finding long words. The list and thresholds below are those reported by Beebom on September 11, 2026; The New York Times says its badge catalog can change, so check the Games app for the badges currently available to your account.
How Spelling Bee badges work
Badges are gameplay rewards. According to The New York Times Games Help Center, you can earn them with a New York Times account; a Games subscription is not required. Play in the Games app, a web browser, or the Play tab of the News app. Sign in to or link your account to keep badge data across devices. NYT Games Badges help
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Badges are generally awarded automatically. Some appear during play; others appear below your stats after you finish a puzzle. Select a badge to view its details. Some badges may be retroactive for achievements made before their introduction, while certain special challenges do not count activity from before launch. The Times may add badges to its catalog or to existing games, so the inventory below is a dated snapshot rather than a guaranteed complete, permanent list.
Spelling Bee badges and reported milestones
Beebom’s September 11, 2026 guide reports the following badge categories and milestone sequences. “First” awards are one-time badges; the other sequences mark repeated achievements.
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| Badge | How it is earned | Reported milestones |
|---|---|---|
| First Genius | Reach Genius for the first time. | One-time award |
| Genius | Reach the Genius rank in a puzzle. | 5, 10, 15, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300, 500, 750, 1,000 |
| First Queen Bee | Reach Queen Bee for the first time. | One-time award |
| Queen Bee | Find all accepted words in a puzzle. | 5, 10, 15, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300, 500, 750, 1,000 |
| First Pangram | Find a pangram for the first time. A pangram uses all seven hive letters at least once. | One-time award |
| Pangram | Find pangrams. | 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, 40, 60, 90, 150, 300, 500, 750, 1,000 |
| Pangram First | Make a pangram the first word you enter in a puzzle. | 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 35, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 200 |
| Long Word | Find a word of at least 10 letters. | 1, 10, 25, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 500, 650, 800, 1,000 |
The milestone sequences and category descriptions are from Beebom’s Spelling Bee badge guide, published September 11, 2026. The Times’ public help page does not publish a complete Spelling Bee badge inventory or all category thresholds.
Seasonal badges depend on the puzzle date
Beebom reports seasonal hat badges for reaching Genius on particular event dates: Halloween Hat on October 31, 2025, plus New Year, Valentine, and April Fools’ hats on January 1, February 14, and April 1, 2026, respectively.
These are not archive catch-up rewards. The Times says badges tied to a specific date can only be earned on that day; playing that date’s puzzle later in the archive does not qualify. Its help page states: “Some badges are for playing on a specific date. These can only be earned on that day. Playing in the archive later won’t count.” NYT Games Badges help
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Where to find your badges
In a web browser
Open Spelling Bee and select the Stats icon. The web view shows three relevant badges; select a badge to see its earning details.
In the Games app
Open the Me tab, then select View all badges to browse the full badge list.
What your Spelling Bee stats cover
The Times’ Spelling Bee help page says account-linked statistics include total puzzles, words, pangrams, highest rank, Genius count, and longest word. The stats cover puzzles from August 1, 2023 onward. NYT Games Badges help NYT Spelling Bee help
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How to pursue the different badge types
- Genius is a rank, not puzzle completion. Reaching Genius can earn a Genius badge, but it does not mean you found every accepted word. Queen Bee is the separate achievement for finding them all.
- Separate ordinary pangrams from Pangram First. Finding a pangram counts toward Pangram milestones; Pangram First requires entering one as your first word in that puzzle.
- Watch word length. The reported Long Word threshold is 10 letters or more.
- Play event-day puzzles on the day. A later archive replay does not count toward a date-specific badge.
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