Games likeStrands

13 games like Strands for when one themed board a day runs out

Updated October 22, 2026 · 13 games, each checked on its maker's site · 12 min read

Strands is the New York Times' daily themed word search. Each board is 48 letters, six across and eight down, under a one-line clue, and you find answers by dragging through neighbouring letters. The theme words fit together so tightly that every letter belongs to exactly one of them. One answer, the spangram, names the theme and reaches from one edge of the board to the opposite edge; it lights up yellow when you find it, while the others turn blue. Strands opened in beta on March 4, 2024, moved into the NYT Games app in late June that year, and every puzzle is edited by Tracy Bennett, who edits Wordle too. The daily board is free, and the archive of earlier boards is for subscribers.

A game counts as like Strands here if it keeps at least one of three ideas: words traced through a letter grid along paths that turn, a theme that ties every answer together, or a board that is only finished when no letter is left over. Picks that keep two or three of those come first. Further down are games that keep one: quick tracing races, themed puzzles with no grid to search, and plain newspaper-style word searches. Each entry says which parts it keeps and which it drops.

How we picked

We looked for the small pleasures a Strands player comes back for: spotting a word as it bends through a jumble of letters, working out what links the answers, and watching a board empty until nothing is left. Each pick was opened on October 22, 2026, at its maker's website or its official App Store or Google Play listing, to confirm that it is still offered, how a puzzle works, what it costs and where it runs. The prices given are the ones listed that day.

We left out the sites that put the Strands or New York Times name on copies of the game, including the many calling themselves Strands Unlimited, along with games that have shut down and anything we could not trace to a maker. Our ratings run from 1 to 5 in half steps, and closeness to a Strands board counts for as much as polish, price and the weight of the ads.

2 of the 13 are games we make, marked Made by us · Gamefinity. They are rated on the same scale as the rest and placed where they honestly fit.

Squaredle

Daily bending-path word grid · by Squaredle LLC

Price
Free, with ads
Time per game
10–20 min
How often
One a day
Our rating
4.5 / 5
What it costs
Daily board, 3×3 Express and hints free with ads; Squaredle Squared ($3.99/month or $34.99/year) adds the archive, no ads
Platforms
Browser
Best for
Strands players who want a bigger daily board

What it is

A daily puzzle on a square grid of letters, running since March 2022, that calls itself a daily word search. You drag from letter to letter in any direction to find a fixed list of required words, and each square fades out once every word that uses it is found, so the board slowly empties. A tiny 3×3 Express board comes out each day too, and new puzzles land at 3 a.m. Pacific.

Why it's like Strands

This is the nearest match to how Strands feels under your finger: paths that turn corners, words tangled among their neighbours, and a puzzle that ends only when the grid is clear. Squares vanishing as you finish with them gives the same closing-in feeling as the last few answers of a Strands board.

What's different

There is no theme clue and no spangram. Words may overlap and share squares, so you find many more of them than Strands' handful, and obscure words count only as bonuses. Difficulty climbs from Monday to Friday, there are leaderboards, and the archive and replays belong to the paid membership.

Play SquaredleChecked Oct 22, 2026

WordBrain 2

Themed word-grid levels · by MAG Interactive AB

Price
Free, extras paid
Time per game
1–5 min a level
How often
Daily, plus unlimited
Our rating
4.0 / 5
What it costs
Free download with ads; hint packs $0.99 to $14.99 and Remove Ads $4.99 on the App Store
Platforms
iPhone and iPad, Android
Best for
Phone players who want a theme on every grid

What it is

The 2016 sequel to WordBrain from MAG Interactive, the Stockholm studio that also makes Ruzzle. Its puzzles are grouped by topic, 1,130 levels across more than 100 themes such as food and space according to its App Store page, and you clear each grid by tracing words that belong to its subject. A daily puzzle with a random theme keeps a streak going.

Why it's like Strands

Of everything here, it comes closest to the core of Strands: a themed set of hidden words, traced through adjoining tiles along paths that can bend, which between them use up the grid. Anyone who knows Strands understands a level at a glance.

What's different

It is a ladder of levels on your phone rather than one board everyone shares each day, and there is no spangram. Hints come from boosters and purchases instead of being earned by finding extra words, and App Store reviewers complain that free ones run out.

Play WordBrain 2Checked Oct 22, 2026

WordBrain

Use-every-letter word grid · by MAG Interactive AB

Price
Free, extras paid
Time per game
1–5 min a level
How often
Daily, plus unlimited
Our rating
3.5 / 5
What it costs
Free download with ads; hint packs $0.99 to $14.99, plus a paid option to remove ads
Platforms
iPhone and iPad, Android
Best for
Solvers who like a grid with no letters left over

What it is

MAG Interactive's original word-grid puzzle, which its maker says has passed 40 million downloads. Every grid hides a stated number of words of given lengths. Swipe one and its letters drop out, the rest slide into new places, and the puzzle is solved once every letter has been used exactly once. Grids grow from 2×2 to 8×8, with a daily puzzle on the side.

Why it's like Strands

Every letter belonging to exactly one answer is Strands' own rule, and the paths wind through neighbouring tiles in the same way. Clearing the last word of a grid has the same click as placing the final Strands answer.

What's different

There is no theme clue. Because letters fall after each find, order matters: take the right word at the wrong moment and the grid can become unsolvable, a trap Strands never sets. It is a level ladder on phones, not one daily board.

Play WordBrainChecked Oct 22, 2026

SpellTower

Word tower to clear · by Zach Gage (STFJ LLC); daily version on Puzzmo

Price
Free, extras paid
Time per game
5–15 min a tower
How often
Daily, plus unlimited
Our rating
4.0 / 5
What it costs
App free with a $4.99 full unlock; on Puzzmo, a free tier with ads and Puzzmo Plus at $3.99/month or $39.99/year
Platforms
Browser, iPhone and iPad
Best for
Players who want strategy in their tracing

What it is

Zach Gage's 2011 word game, summed up on its App Store page as wordsearch meets strategy. You chain adjacent letters, diagonals included, into words, and the tiles you use clear away; long words and rare letters clear more. The iOS app has eleven modes, among them a Daily Tower, and a daily version also runs on Puzzmo, the puzzle site Gage co-founded, which Hearst Newspapers has owned since December 2023.

Why it's like Strands

You trace through touching letters in any direction, just as in Strands, and the aim is to clear the board. Spotting a long word that snakes through a crowded corner is the same skill a hard Strands board asks of you.

What's different

Any valid word counts, so there is no theme or spangram, and you play for points. In most modes rows keep rising and the game ends if letters reach the top, a pressure Strands never applies. The standalone app was last updated in October 2021, and which Puzzmo games are free has shifted over time.

Play SpellTowerChecked Oct 22, 2026

Bonza Word Puzzle

One-clue crossword jigsaw · by Minimega PTY LTD

Price
Free, extras paid
Time per game
2–5 min a puzzle
How often
Daily, plus unlimited
Our rating
3.5 / 5
What it costs
Free with ads; coins $0.99 to $9.99, packs $0.99, classic bundles $2.99; the Daily Shuffle is free
Platforms
iPhone and iPad, Android
Best for
Players whose favourite moment is cracking the theme

What it is

An Australian puzzle app from 2014 that made Apple's App Store Best of 2014 list. Each puzzle shows a single theme clue and a scatter of letter fragments, and you drag the pieces together until they lock into a small crossword in which every word fits the clue. Paid packs sit beside a free Daily Shuffle of puzzles made by other players.

Why it's like Strands

Bonza is built on the half of Strands that happens in your head: one short clue, a handful of answers that all belong to it, and the moment the theme clicks and the rest falls into place.

What's different

There is no letter grid to search and nothing to trace; you assemble words from chunks, which makes it closer to a jigsaw than a word search. Updates have slowed, the last on iOS in August 2024 and on Android in February 2025.

Play Bonza Word PuzzleChecked Oct 22, 2026

Connections

Daily theme-sorting puzzle · by The New York Times Company

Price
Free
Time per game
3–10 min
How often
One a day
Our rating
4.0 / 5
What it costs
The daily is free on every platform with no sign-in; the archive and Connections Bot are for subscribers
Platforms
Browser, iPhone and iPad, Android
Best for
Strands players who like the theme more than the hunt

What it is

The New York Times' daily grouping puzzle, edited by Wyna Liu, which entered beta in June 2023 and has become the company's second most played game after Wordle. Sixteen words split into four hidden sets of four, coloured from yellow, the easiest, to purple, the hardest. Some words are planted to fit more than one set, and a fourth mistake ends the game.

Why it's like Strands

Both games are really about guessing a theme from very little. Connections sits in the same NYT Games app as Strands, costs nothing to play each day, and makes a natural second puzzle in the same sitting.

What's different

There are no letters to trace and nothing to spell: the words are handed to you and you sort them. You work out four themes a day instead of one, and wrong guesses count against you, where a stray word in Strands either does nothing or moves you toward a hint.

Play ConnectionsChecked Oct 22, 2026

Letter Grid

Made by us · Gamefinity90-second letter-tracing game

Letter Grid cover art (a game we make)
Price
Free
Time per game
About 2 min
How often
As many as you like
Our rating
3.5 / 5
What it costs
Free in the browser, no download or sign-up
Platforms
Browser, phone and computer
Best for
Quick tracing practice with no daily wait

What it is

Our own word game: sixteen letters in a four-by-four square and a minute and a half to spell as many words as you can by dragging through tiles that touch, diagonals included. Words need three letters or more, a tile appears only once in each word, and long finds pay far better than short ones, a seven-letter word scoring twelve times a three-letter one. On a computer you can type a word instead and the grid lights its path.

Why it's like Strands

The motion is the Strands motion: press a letter, slide through its neighbours whichever way the word turns, let go. A round is a fast way to sharpen your eye for words that bend around corners, which is most of the work on a hard Strands board.

What's different

It is a race, not a puzzle with one solution. Any real word counts, there is no theme or spangram, the same tile can be used again in a different word, and nothing has to be cleared. The grid is a third the size of Strands' 48 letters, and the clock leaves no time to puzzle over a clue.

Play Letter Grid on GamefinityOur game: rated as strictly as the rest

Typeshift

Sliding-column letter puzzle · by Zach Gage (STFJ LLC); Android by Noodlecake

Price
Free, extras paid
Time per game
3–10 min
How often
Daily, plus unlimited
Our rating
4.0 / 5
What it costs
Free with ads, 100+ free puzzles and a free daily; packs $0.99 to $3.99, and buying any pack removes the ads
Platforms
iPhone and iPad, Android, Browser
Best for
Players who like every letter to count

What it is

A 2017 word puzzle by Zach Gage. Letters sit in columns that slide up and down, and you line them up so a real word reads across the middle row. Each letter turns green once it has been part of a word, and the puzzle is done when the whole board is green. Clue puzzles add definitions to solve, and the game also runs on Puzzmo.

Why it's like Strands

As in Strands, a board is finished only when every letter has found its way into a word, and the satisfaction comes from fitting in the last stubborn few. There is a free puzzle every day.

What's different

You slide columns rather than trace paths, so there is no hunting through a grid. Most puzzles have no theme; only the clue puzzles give you something to decode, and those are definitions rather than a shared topic. The Android version was last updated in May 2023.

Play TypeshiftChecked Oct 22, 2026

Waffle

Daily letter-swap grid · by Waffle Studio Ltd

Price
Free, with ads
Time per game
3–8 min
How often
One a day
Our rating
4.0 / 5
What it costs
Daily, Deluxe and Number Waffle free with ads; a one-off donation removes the ads and opens Waffle Royale
Platforms
Browser
Best for
A second daily where every letter has one place

What it is

A browser puzzle from a UK studio, published daily since 2022, in which six five-letter words cross one another on a grid shaped like a waffle. Every letter is already on the board, only in the wrong squares, and you get 15 swaps to trade pairs of tiles until each row and column spells its word. Any swaps you have left over turn into stars.

Why it's like Strands

Strands guarantees that each letter on its board belongs to exactly one answer, and Waffle offers the same certainty: there is a single right home for every tile. It is also one puzzle a day, short enough to finish with the same coffee.

What's different

Nothing is hidden and nothing is traced. You can see the shape of every word from the start and repair them by swapping, guided by green and yellow tiles of the kind Wordle uses. There is no theme. A weekly Deluxe Waffle and a numbers version come free as well.

Play WaffleChecked Oct 22, 2026

Boggle With Friends

Licensed Boggle, timed rounds · by Zynga Inc. (Boggle is a Hasbro trademark, used with permission)

Price
Free, extras paid
Time per game
2 min a round
How often
As many as you like
Our rating
3.5 / 5
What it costs
Free with in-app purchases: tokens $0.99 to $4.99, power-ups $0.99 to $19.99, tickets from $1.99
Platforms
iPhone and iPad, Android
Best for
Tracing words against friends

What it is

Zynga's licensed phone version of Boggle, Hasbro's board game of letter dice from the 1970s. You link neighbouring letters to find as many words as you can in two-minute rounds against friends or strangers, and there are solo practice games, daily and weekly challenges and tournaments as well.

Why it's like Strands

Linking letters that touch, in any direction, is the move Strands is built on, and Boggle is where many people first learned it. If tracing is your favourite part of Strands, this gives you as much of it as you have time for.

What's different

Every round is against the clock and usually against another person. Any valid word scores, there is no theme, and no round has a fixed set of answers that completes the board. The app is built around tokens, power-ups and tickets.

Play Boggle With FriendsChecked Oct 22, 2026

Spelling Bee

Daily seven-letter word hunt · by The New York Times Company

Price
Free, extras paid
Time per game
10–30 min
How often
One a day
Our rating
3.5 / 5
What it costs
Limited access free; the full game, past puzzles and Spelling Bee Buddy need an NYT Games subscription
Platforms
Browser, iPhone and iPad, Android
Best for
Spending longer with the NYT's letters

What it is

The New York Times' honeycomb of seven letters, edited by Sam Ezersky, in print since 2015 and online since May 2018. You make as many words as you can from those letters, each at least four long and always using the centre one, and letters may repeat. Longer words score more, a pangram that uses all seven earns a bonus, and you climb through ranks toward Genius and Queen Bee.

Why it's like Strands

It shares the NYT Games app with Strands, and its pangram plays the part of the spangram: one special word that uses everything and feels like the heart of the day's puzzle. Both games accept only words of four letters or more.

What's different

There is no grid, no path and no theme; you can use the letters in any order and as often as you like. You chase a rank instead of a finished board, and the full game is for subscribers, with only limited access for everyone else.

Play Spelling BeeChecked Oct 22, 2026

Word Search Rush

Made by us · GamefinityTimed three-grid word search

Word Search Rush cover art (a game we make)
Price
Free
Time per game
2 min at most
How often
As many as you like
Our rating
3.0 / 5
What it costs
Free in the browser, no download or sign-up
Platforms
Browser, phone and computer
Best for
A word search against the clock

What it is

Our timed word search: three boards in a row, 8×8, then 9×9, then 10×10, with six everyday words hidden in each and two minutes for all of them. Drag along a word in a straight line to mark it. Every word reads forwards on the first board, some read backwards on the second, and the third mixes backwards and diagonal words of up to eight letters. Seconds still on the clock when you finish become points.

Why it's like Strands

It is the word search inside Strands with the theme taken out: a grid, a set of hidden words, and the eye for picking a word out of filler. The filler letters are borrowed from the answers, so half-words lure you in, much as stray non-theme words do on a Strands board.

What's different

The words are listed, they run in straight lines, and nothing is themed, so the challenge is pure speed. It is a two-minute race rather than a puzzle to think over, and every run deals new grids instead of one board for everyone that day.

Play Word Search Rush on GamefinityOur game: rated as strictly as the rest

All 13 side by side

#GameTypeHow oftenTimePricePlatformsRating
01SquaredleDaily bending-path word gridOne a day10–20 minFree, with adsBrowser4.5 / 5
02WordBrain 2Themed word-grid levelsDaily, plus unlimited1–5 min a levelFree, extras paidiPhone and iPad, Android4.0 / 5
03WordBrainUse-every-letter word gridDaily, plus unlimited1–5 min a levelFree, extras paidiPhone and iPad, Android3.5 / 5
04SpellTowerWord tower to clearDaily, plus unlimited5–15 min a towerFree, extras paidBrowser, iPhone and iPad4.0 / 5
05Bonza Word PuzzleOne-clue crossword jigsawDaily, plus unlimited2–5 min a puzzleFree, extras paidiPhone and iPad, Android3.5 / 5
06ConnectionsDaily theme-sorting puzzleOne a day3–10 minFreeBrowser, iPhone and iPad, Android4.0 / 5
07Letter Grid Ours90-second letter-tracing gameAs many as you likeAbout 2 minFreeBrowser, phone and computer3.5 / 5
08TypeshiftSliding-column letter puzzleDaily, plus unlimited3–10 minFree, extras paidiPhone and iPad, Android, Browser4.0 / 5
09WaffleDaily letter-swap gridOne a day3–8 minFree, with adsBrowser4.0 / 5
10Boggle With FriendsLicensed Boggle, timed roundsAs many as you like2 min a roundFree, extras paidiPhone and iPad, Android3.5 / 5
11Spelling BeeDaily seven-letter word huntOne a day10–30 minFree, extras paidBrowser, iPhone and iPad, Android3.5 / 5
12Daily Word SearchClassic daily word searchOne a day5–10 minFree, with adsBrowser3.0 / 5
13Word Search Rush OursTimed three-grid word searchAs many as you like2 min at mostFreeBrowser, phone and computer3.0 / 5

Where to start

If you want another board that feels like Strands under your finger, start with Squaredle: it is free every day and clears as you go. For a theme on every level, WordBrain 2 is the one to install. If the theme is the part you love, add Connections from the same app, and when you have only two minutes, our Letter Grid gives you a quick round of tracing with nothing to wait for.

Questions people ask

Is Strands free to play?

Yes. Anyone can solve the daily board without paying, in a browser or in the NYT Games app, and the NYT Help Center says Strands currently needs no subscription on any platform. The archive of every puzzle since March 4, 2024 and the Colorful Strands bonus boards, released on Wednesdays, are for NYT Games, All Access and Home Delivery subscribers.

What is the game most like Strands?

Squaredle is the closest free daily: a letter grid you trace in bending paths until the board is clear, though it has no theme. If you want themed boards, WordBrain 2 on iPhone and Android groups every level around a topic and asks you to use up the whole grid.

Is there an unlimited Strands?

Not from the New York Times. It publishes one board a day, subscribers can open older ones in the archive, and a finished puzzle cannot be replayed. Sites that call themselves Strands Unlimited are not made by the Times. Our word search page lists games you can keep playing.

What is a spangram?

The answer that names the day's theme. It touches two opposite sides of the board, may be more than one word, and turns yellow when you find it, while the other theme words turn blue. Our Strands tips explain how to hunt for it.

When does a new Strands puzzle come out?

At midnight in your own time zone, so players in different places get each board at different moments. Puzzle number 1 appeared on March 4, 2024, which makes the board for October 22, 2026 number 963.

Who makes the Strands puzzles?

Tracy Bennett, who also edits Wordle, edits every one, and each board credits its constructor, who changes from day to day. Wikipedia credits the original idea for the game to a pitch by Juliette Seive.

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