LinkedIn has entered the gaming arena, introducing three puzzle games that are accessible on both desktop and mobile platforms.
This move marks LinkedIn's foray into gaming, providing users with the opportunity to engage in recreational activities alongside their professional networking endeavors.
(Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images)
Dive into Gaming Realm
Renowned for its career-oriented platform offering job opportunities and professional insights, LinkedIn is venturing into the world of gaming.
The platform is rolling out a collection of puzzle games reminiscent of the popular Wordle format, following earlier sightings within the app. Engadget reported that the initial lineup includes Pinpoint, Queens, and Crossclimb.
Pinpoint presents players with a word association challenge. The game unveils five words, tasking players to deduce the common category of these words.
As the words gradually reveal themselves against a timer, players aim to identify the category using as few clues as possible.
Crossclimb merges trivia with ingenious wordplay. Players receive a clue for a word and must construct a ladder of words, starting from the given word.
Each subsequent entry in the ladder differs by just one letter from the previous one. By arranging the words in the correct sequence, players unlock the clues necessary to guess the concealed entries on the ladder.
Lastly, Queens introduces a unique twist to Sudoku, devoid of numbers. Players must strategically position queens on a grid, ensuring no two queens touch each other while ensuring there is precisely one queen in every row and column.
Effective immediately, users can access these games through the LinkedIn mobile app or desktop site. Each game can be played once daily, and post-session insights, including high scores, daily streaks, and leaderboards, are provided.
Users can navigate to the LinkedIn News and My Network section on desktop or the My Network tab on mobile.
LinkedIn's Vision for Interactive Engagement
Dubbed "thinking-oriented games" by LinkedIn, these new additions may bear a striking resemblance to The New York Times Games app, offering a daily dose of mental stimulation.
Players can play each game once per day and share their scores with friends through playful, emoji-laden messages, similar to the "Wordle grid" format.
Additionally, the platform tracks players' consecutive days of engagement, fostering a sense of competition and encouraging daily participation.
It comes as no surprise that these games were crafted by LinkedIn's news team, which recently welcomed a specialized games editor onboard.
The New York Times's gaming landscape has been thriving since its acquisition of Wordle in 2022, prompting other media outlets to follow suit with their own array of word and puzzle games.
When questioned about LinkedIn's motivation behind entering the gaming arena, Dan Roth, the company's editor-in-chief and VP of Product, revealed that the inspiration dates back much further than recent successes like Wordle and NYT's Games app.
He pointed to the inception of "the very first crossword puzzle" in the New York World newspaper over a century ago as the true inspiration.
Despite this rich historical backdrop, Roth clarified that LinkedIn currently does not plan to develop a standalone gaming app.
Roth conveyed that the games serve a dual purpose beyond mere entertainment, emphasizing that LinkedIn's venture into gaming is not solely about entering the gaming industry but rather about providing opportunities for critical thinking and networking within the professional sphere.
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