LinkedIn Introduces Games

Professional networking social media platform LinkedIn debuted three puzzle and logic games to give users “a way to exercise their brains while taking a quick break.”

Pinpoint, Queens, and Crossclimb are available under the News module on the LinkedIn homepage or My Network tab. Users can also access these games via direct links.

Resembling The New York Times’ popular games, LinkedIn’s game offerings are also meant to “spark conversations and friendly competition among professionals around the world.”

Pinpoint is a word association game that presents players with five words that fall into a particular category. Words are revealed one at a time and the player will have to guess correctly in as few reveals as possible.

Queens is a Sudoku-like logic game that requires the player to place one queen at a time on a grid so that there can only be one queen for each row, column, and region. Queens also cannot touch one another.

Lastly, Crossclimb is a trivia wordplay game. To start the game, players will have to guess a few words based on clues. The words will form a ladder where each word differs by one letter. The player will then unlock two final clues to win the game.

To remain faithful to its professional nature, each game takes only a few minutes to complete and users can play once a day. They can also share their results, compare them to their connections’ results, and see leaderboards.

LinkedIn’s News team will curate weekly stats, while Paolo Pasco, LinkedIn’s Games Editor and recent winner of the Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, will send out a gameplay newsletter each week. Paolo Pasco is also the creator of LinkedIn’s daily Pinpoints and Crossclimbs. Additionally, a number of “talented creators” will build grids for Queens, with Thomas Snyder, three-time World Sudoku Champion, kicking off this month’s grids.

Games are likely part of LinkedIn’s strategy to boost user engagement and keep people on the platform. The company recorded a 25% year-over-year growth in premium user subscriptions and continues to innovate its platform to keep these numbers soaring.

Recently, the networking platform introduced Premium Company Page subscriptions. It’s left to see how Games will contribute to the platform’s positive momentum.