LinkedIn games: all eight, when they launched, how to play
LinkedIn games are daily puzzles that live inside LinkedIn. Each game has one new puzzle a day, and after you finish you can see how you compare with people you are connected to. In November 2026 there are eight. This guide says what they are, when each one launched, where to play, how streaks and leaderboards work, and which three this site covers. The facts come from LinkedIn’s own pages or from press reports, linked as we go. This site is not affiliated with LinkedIn.
What LinkedIn games are
LinkedIn’s Help Center calls them “daily, thinking-oriented games” for competing with your network, starting conversations and breaking the ice. Any LinkedIn member or non-member can play. New puzzles are released daily at midnight Pacific Time, and LinkedIn says there are no prizes for solving them.
The Help Center lists these eight games, in this order:
| Game | What the Help Center says it is |
|---|---|
| Pinpoint | A word-association game: guess the category that links a set of words, using as few of the five clues as you can |
| Crossclimb | A trivia game: put the words of a ladder in order, each one letter away from the last, to unlock the clues for the top and bottom words |
| Queens | A logic game: fill the grid so there is one queen in each row, column and colored region |
| Tango | A logic game: fill a grid so each row and column holds an equal number of two emojis, with no more than two alike side by side |
| Zip | A logic game: draw a path through the grid that connects the numbers in order and fills every cell |
| Mini Sudoku | A bite-sized number puzzle handcrafted by the originators of Sudoku and the three-time World Sudoku Champion |
| Patches | A spatial logic puzzle: complete every shape in the grid from a set of clues |
| Wend | A word-finding game: connect letters to find hidden words, using every letter exactly once |
Why LinkedIn made games
TechCrunch says the first three games were conceived of and built by the LinkedIn News team. TechCrunch quoted Dan Roth, LinkedIn News’s editor in chief, on launch day: “It is hard for people to stay in touch with each other, and games provide a way to build these network ties.” The same article notes that the games borrow from the puzzle portfolios that newspapers such as The New York Times have built, and that TechCrunch had reported in March 2024 that LinkedIn was quietly testing games.
Business Insider quoted LinkedIn’s Lakshman Somasundaram: each game was designed “to only take a few minutes” and to fit into a work schedule. By March 2025 LinkedIn was reporting, in its Zip announcement, that 84% of the people who play on a given day play again the next day and 80% are still playing a week later. In June 2026 its Wend announcement put those figures at 86% and 82%.
When each game launched
| Game | Launch date | Which game it was | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinpoint, Queens, Crossclimb | May 1, 2024 | First three | LinkedIn News post, TechCrunch, The Verge |
| Tango | Oct 8, 2024 | Fourth | LinkedIn newsroom, CNBC |
| Zip | Mar 18, 2025 | Fifth | LinkedIn newsroom |
| Mini Sudoku | Aug 12, 2025 | Sixth | LinkedIn newsroom, CNBC |
| Patches | Mar 18, 2026 | Seventh | LinkedIn newsroom, Yahoo Tech |
| Wend | Jun 9, 2026 | Eighth | LinkedIn newsroom, launch article by LinkedIn’s games product lead, Yahoo Tech |
About the first date: the launch stories in TechCrunch and The Verge ran on May 1, 2024 and say the games were available “starting today”, while the LinkedIn News page that introduces them is dated April 30, 2024. LinkedIn numbers each day’s puzzle, one number per day: Queens showed No. 921 on November 7, 2026, which puts puzzle number 1 on May 1, 2024. We use May 1.
We date the other games the same way, by the first puzzle. LinkedIn’s newsroom post for Tango is dated October 7, 2024; the first Tango puzzle and CNBC’s report are October 8. LinkedIn’s newsroom post for Wend is dated June 8; the first puzzle and the launch article by LinkedIn’s games product lead are dated June 9.
LinkedIn’s newsroom calls Wend “the first new word game since LinkedIn games launched in 2024”.
Where to play
The Help Center says you can find games in these places:
- the Games hub, at linkedin.com/games;
- your Feed, where some games can be played directly;
- the My Network page, under “Stay in touch through daily games”;
- the Today’s Games section under LinkedIn News on the desktop homepage (desktop only);
- the side panel in the mobile app (swipe right on the homepage);
- LinkedIn Search, and notifications.
Your progress is shared across these places: if you start a game in the Feed and carry on somewhere else, it is saved, and a game finished in the Feed counts as finished everywhere.
You can also play without an account. In guest mode your score is kept for 30 minutes and then deleted, you cannot keep a streak, set alerts, see leaderboards or share directly on LinkedIn, but you can copy your score and share it elsewhere. Sign in before the score is deleted and the score and streak are saved.
When the new puzzle arrives
Every game changes at midnight Pacific Time, and the previous puzzle expires then and can no longer be played. That is 3:00 a.m. Eastern. For a conversion to your own time zone and what happens on this site at that moment, read when LinkedIn games reset.
Streaks
The Help Center’s streaks page says a streak counts the consecutive days you have won a game. It is private unless you share it. To keep it, you must play and win before the puzzle expires at midnight Pacific Time. The streak card on the results page shows:
- the streak length;
- your history and stats: games started, win percentage, best score and longest streak;
- milestone icons that turn from gray to gold as the streak grows;
- golden cards that show how you stack up against connections, colleagues, alumni and CEOs.
If you miss a day, the streak ends unless you have a streak freeze. A freeze holds the streak for one day without adding to the count. You earn one after winning five games in a row, you can hold at most two per game, they do not expire, and they are applied automatically.
A long streak can be restored, but only a long one:
| Streak you lost | Days to play in a row to restore it |
|---|---|
| 30 days or fewer | Cannot be restored |
| 31–49 days | 3 |
| 50–99 days | 5 |
| 100 days or more | 7 |
You get an in-app notification when a streak can be restored, and you must complete a game within 48 hours of it. If you miss a day during the restoration, you lose the chance and cannot retry.
Playing with your network
After a game, LinkedIn’s results page offers these ways to interact, according to the Help Center:
- Connections leaderboard. It shows how you rank among your connections for each game. Your score stays private unless you opt in to it or share it.
- Company and school leaderboard. It ranks the top 50 companies and schools by the average score of the people who work or study there. The Help Center says companies need at least 500 employees on LinkedIn, and that only schools in the United States (listed within the NCAA) and India appear at present.
- Who has played. Under each game you see how many connections have played, and you can open the list, depending on their visibility settings.
- Sharing. You can post your score to LinkedIn, send it to connections by message, or copy it and paste it into another app.
- Daily posts. The results page links to conversations with other members who played that day.
- Alerts. You can turn on reminders for a new puzzle and for connections’ activity. On desktop, the switch is under Settings & Privacy, then Notifications, then Games, labeled “Allow gameplay notifications” (Help Center).
You decide who sees what. In the game’s settings, “Who can see your gaming activity?” has three choices: connections see only that you played, connections see that you played and your score, or only you.
In its Patches announcement in March 2026, LinkedIn said updates “in the coming weeks” would let players react to connections’ scores, favorite connections and view the previous day’s leaderboard. Check the games hub for what is live now.
What the score means
In the Help Center pages we read (the games overview and the Pinpoint, Queens and Crossclimb pages), no scoring formula is published. They do say what the games reward. Pinpoint asks you to reveal as few clues as possible, and Crossclimb is a timed game that you solve as quickly as you can. The results page shows your score next to averages for all members, your company, CEOs and others.
Quick answers from the Help Center FAQ
LinkedIn’s games FAQ answers a few questions people ask first.
Do I need special access? No. Any LinkedIn member can play, and guest mode lets non-members play too.
Are there prizes? No. The FAQ and the games overview both say there are no prizes for solving games.
Can my recruiter or employer see my scores? Your score stays private unless you opt in to the connections leaderboard or choose to share it directly. If you opt in, only connections who have also opted in can see it, and that includes a recruiter or employer if they are in your network and have opted in. Your score may also be visible if you share it in a message or on another platform.
Which languages are the games in? You can play the games in English from anywhere on LinkedIn, and the tutorials are translated to match your app’s language. The FAQ says Queens, Tango, Zip, Mini Sudoku and Patches are accessible in all supported languages.
Can I send in a game idea? LinkedIn says it is not accepting submissions for new games at this time.
Can I play yesterday’s puzzle? Not on LinkedIn. Previous puzzles expire at midnight Pacific Time. To read how an old puzzle works out, use the archives linked below.
Which game to start with
This is only a reading of the descriptions in the table above, not LinkedIn’s advice. If you like words, Pinpoint, Crossclimb and Wend are the word games. If you like logic, Queens, Tango, Zip and Patches ask you to fill a grid by rules. Mini Sudoku is the number puzzle. Each takes a few minutes, which is what LinkedIn says it designed them for, so you can try several in a day and keep the ones that fit.
The three games this site covers
This site covers the first three games:
- Pinpoint. Five clues, one hidden category. Read the full guide: LinkedIn Pinpoint: rules, scoring and answer patterns. Today’s puzzle is on the home page and earlier ones in the Pinpoint archive.
- Queens. A colored grid, one queen per row, column and region. Read LinkedIn Queens: rules, origin and board sizes, or learn the method in how to solve LinkedIn Queens. Today’s board is on the Queens page; earlier boards are in the Queens archive.
- Crossclimb. A seven-rung word ladder. Read Crossclimb on LinkedIn: rules, ladders and answer patterns. Today’s ladder is on the Crossclimb page, and earlier ones are in the Crossclimb archive.
All three are on one page at LinkedIn games answers today. On every puzzle page the hint and the answer stay covered until you tap them, and scrolling never opens them.
We do not cover Tango, Zip, Mini Sudoku, Patches or Wend. You cannot play any game on this site. We only show hints and answers. How the pages are made and checked is on the method page.
Written and checked by the Pinpoint Today editors. How we make these pages