The Wordle Series — User Guide

A scoreboard for friend groups (2–4 players) who play Wordle and Connections. Track who's best each week and settle a friendly payout.

Quick start

Open an invite link from a friend, or create your own group.
Check which games your group plays. The person who set up the group chose Wordle only, Connections only, or both. That's what shows up on the scoreboard and what you'll submit each day.
Each day, finish your puzzle(s) in the official NYT Games app or website.
Tap "Share" to copy the result.
Open The Wordle Series, paste it into the box, and tap Save.
Repeat for the second game if your group plays both. Watch the scoreboard fill in for everyone.
At the end of each cycle, the system tallies the points and shows who owes who what.

That's it. The rest of this guide fills in the details.

How the payout works. The lowest total score wins the cycle. Everyone else pays the winner a base amount plus a per-point amount for every point they finished behind. With the default settings ($20 base, $1 per point), if you ended 8 points behind the winner you'd owe $28 — that's $20 + (8 × $1). A tie for the lowest score is a "push" and nobody pays. Both amounts are configurable by the group's owner in Admin → Payout settings.

About the games. Right now the app tracks Wordle and Connections — the two daily puzzles most groups play. The platform is built so other NYT games (Strands, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, the Mini Crossword) can be added later if there's interest. Want another game tracked? Mention it to the system owner.

Getting started

Creating an account

The first time you open The Wordle Series, you'll need a free account.

Tap Create an account (or open a friend's invite link, which leads you to signup).
Enter your email and a password (at least 8 characters).
Confirm the password.
You're in.

Your email is the only thing the app uses to identify you. You'll log in with it on each new device, but on the same device you stay logged in for 30 days.

Joining a group ("Series")

If a friend already created a group, they'll send you an invite link:

https://thewordleseries.com/join/AB12CD34EF

Open it on your phone or computer. You'll see "You're invited to join [group name]." Sign in if you already have an account, or create one. Then pick a display name for that group — this is what your friends see on the scoreboard, and you can use a different name in each group you join.

Creating your own Series

To start your own group:

Sign in and go to My Series (or /series).
Tap Create new.
Name your group. (You can rename it later — the web address changes, but everyone in the group is moved over automatically.)
Choose which games to track: Wordle, Connections, or both. (This can't be changed later — start a new Series if you change your mind.)
Choose how long each scoring cycle runs (1–7 days). The default is 7 days (a "week").
If you picked 7 days, choose which day of the week the cycle starts on. (Sunday is the default.)
Pick your own display name for the group.
Tap Create.

You're now the owner. The app gives you an invite link to share with up to 3 friends.

How to play

The flow is the same on every device:

Play the puzzle in the NYT Games app or website.
Tap the Share button at the end (NYT calls this "Share Your Results").
Copy the result.
Open The Wordle Series, paste it into the box, and tap Save.

Step 3 varies by device, so here are the specifics.

On iPhone (iOS)

Easiest setup: install the NYT Games app from the App Store. (Free; the puzzles are free; no paid NYT subscription needed for Wordle, Connections, and a few other dailies.)

Open NYT Games and play your puzzle.
When you finish, the share screen appears. Tap Share Your Results (Wordle) or Share Results (Connections).
The iOS share sheet pops up. Tap Copy at the top-right (or in the row of icons).
Open The Wordle Series in Safari (or your browser of choice).
Sign in if needed and go to today's scoreboard.
Tap inside the Wordle or Connections paste box.
Touch-and-hold for a second, then tap Paste.
Tap Save. Done.

If "Paste" doesn't appear, tap once outside the box and then long-press inside again. iOS sometimes hides the menu the first time.

Add to Home Screen (recommended): once you're signed in, tap the Safari share button → Add to Home Screen. The Wordle Series will open like a regular app.

On Android

Same idea — the easiest setup is the NYT Games app from the Play Store.

Open NYT Games and play your puzzle.
Tap Share Your Results at the end.
Android's share sheet appears. Tap Copy to clipboard (sometimes just Copy).
Open The Wordle Series in Chrome (or your preferred browser).
Go to today's scoreboard.
Long-press inside the Wordle or Connections paste box.
Tap Paste from the popup.
Tap Save.

If "Copy to clipboard" isn't in the share sheet, share to Gmail or Keep to yourself, then copy the text from that message.

Install as an app (recommended): in Chrome, tap the ⋮ menu → Install app (or Add to Home screen). The Wordle Series gets its own icon and runs full-screen.

On a desktop or laptop computer

You can also play directly on nytimes.com/games.

Play Wordle or Connections at nytimes.com/games/wordle (or /connections).
Click Share at the bottom of the result.
Click Copy to clipboard.
Open The Wordle Series in another tab.
Click into the Wordle or Connections paste box.
Press Ctrl + V (Windows) or Cmd + V (Mac).
Click Save.

Mix and match freely — play on your phone but paste from a desktop, or vice versa. The app doesn't care where the share text came from.

Reading the scoreboard

The main scoreboard shows your group's current week:

Each row is a player.
Each column is a day.
Each cell shows that player's total points for the day, plus a tiny version of the Wordle and Connections grids you'd see in the share.

Points work like this:

Wordle: 1 point if you solved it in 1 guess, 2 if you needed 2, and so on up to 6. A failed puzzle (X/6) is 7 points. Lower is better.
Connections: 0 points if you solved with no mistakes, 1 for one mistake, 2 for two, 3 for three, 4 if you failed. Lower is better.

Tap or click any tile to see the full puzzle grid in a popup.

Above the scoreboard, two banners:

Closed banner ("Last week: …") — the most recently completed cycle and what was paid out.
Live banner ("If the cycle ended now: …") — a running prediction. It sums everyone's submissions but doesn't apply the missing-day exclusion yet, so it's a preview, not a guarantee. The real payout comes at end-of-cycle.

At the bottom of the scoreboard, the paste boxes for today and yesterday. Use the day picker to switch between them. You can paste yesterday's puzzle until the cycle window closes (more on that below).

Cycles and payouts

By default, a cycle runs a week (Sunday through Saturday). When it ends, the app:

Adds up everyone's points for the cycle (Wordle + Connections combined).
Identifies the lowest total — that's the winner.
Computes how much each loser owes the winner.
Marks the cycle "closed" and shows it in History.

The payout for a single loser is:

base payout + (loser's score − winner's score) × per-point amount

The defaults are $20 base and $1 per point. Series owners can change these in Admin → Payout settings.

Ties

If two players tie for the lowest score, the cycle is a push — nobody pays. Money math only happens when there's a clear single winner.

What if I miss a day?

You have a 1-day grace window. After midnight ET on a given day, you can still paste yesterday's puzzle the next morning. After that, the puzzle locks at max points (Wordle = 7, Connections = 4) and can't be changed.

If you miss any day in a cycle and don't catch up within the grace window, you're excluded from that cycle's money. Everyone else who completed every day still pays each other. Your missing day doesn't penalize your friends — it just means you're not in the running for that cycle.

Your skill stats, Wordle/Connections distributions, and head-to-head numbers still count every real puzzle you submitted, even from cycles you were excluded from. Only the money math sets you aside.

Forgot a day? Try the date trick

If you forgot to play a day or two ago and the grace window has already closed, there's a workaround: temporarily change your phone's date back to the day you missed, open NYT Games, play the puzzle, paste the result into The Wordle Series, then change the date back.

This is confirmed to work on Android. On iPhone it's hit-or-miss — newer versions of the NYT Games app sometimes check the puzzle number against the server clock and serve today's puzzle anyway. Worth trying; if you see the wrong puzzle, the trick isn't working on your device.

Important: Set the date back to today (or re-enable "Set Automatically") immediately after you paste. Leaving the date wrong can affect alarms, calendar reminders, two-factor codes, and photo timestamps.

On Android:

Open Settings.
Tap System (on some phones it's under General management).
Tap Date & time.
Turn off Set time automatically (sometimes Automatic date & time).
Tap Date and pick the day you missed.
Open the NYT Games app and play the puzzle.
Copy the share text and paste it into The Wordle Series.
Go back to Settings → System → Date & time and turn Set time automatically back on.

Catching up on more than one missed day? Do them one at a time — set the date to two days ago, play and paste; then to yesterday, play and paste; then turn automatic time back on.

On iPhone:

Open Settings.
Tap General.
Tap Date & Time.
Turn off Set Automatically.
Tap the date field that appears below and pick the day you missed.
Open the NYT Games app. If you see the puzzle from the date you picked, you're good — play it, copy, and paste into The Wordle Series. If you see today's puzzle instead, the trick doesn't work on your version and you're out of luck for that day.
Either way, go back to Settings → General → Date & Time and turn Set Automatically back on.

Either platform: if the NYT Games app was open before you changed the date, force-close it first (swipe it away from the app switcher) and reopen. Some versions cache the day's puzzle on launch.

The History page

Tap History in the top-right of the scoreboard for a deep set of stats:

Lifetime standings — every player's all-time wins, losses, and net dollars.
Skill breakdown — averages for Wordle and Connections, side by side.
Wordle distribution — how often each player solves in 1/2/3/4/5/6 guesses (or fails).
Connections distribution — how often each player solves with 0/1/2/3 mistakes (or fails).
Recent form — last several cycles, side-by-side.
Best month — each player's strongest calendar month.
Head-to-head — wins, ties, and losses between pairs of players.
Records and extremes — best/worst cycle scores, longest streaks, biggest payouts.
Cumulative net chart — each player's running total over time.
Cycle history — every closed cycle, scrollable, with full payouts.

Managing your profile

Tap your avatar in the top-right of the scoreboard to open Me.

Display name — what your friends see on this group's scoreboard. Can be different in each group.
Avatar — uploaded once, shows up everywhere you're a member. Tap Upload a photo (PNG, JPG, or WebP under 2 MB).

Switching between groups

In more than one group? Tap the group name at the top of the scoreboard. A dropdown lists every group you belong to — tap one to switch. View all Series opens the My Series page, where you can also find groups you've archived.

For Series owners

When you create a group, you become its owner and get extra controls. Tap Admin in the top-right of the scoreboard.

Renaming the Series

Changes the URL of your group. Anyone who bookmarked the old URL will need the new one — but the dropdown switcher follows the rename automatically, so no one gets lost.

Payout settings

Change the base payout and per-point amount. These take effect on future cycles only. Already-closed cycles use the rates that were in place at the time.

Invite link

Each group has one persistent invite link. Share it with up to 3 friends to fill the 4-player cap. If the link gets spread too widely, tap Get a new link to invalidate the old one.

Removing a player

If someone needs to leave, tap Remove next to their name. They lose access going forward. Their past submissions stay so the history still makes sense, but they're not counted in future cycles. Owners can't remove themselves.

Force-close current cycle

End the current cycle right now, before its scheduled end date. Useful if everyone agrees to wrap up early. The payout is computed immediately and a new cycle opens.

Archiving a Series

Puts a group into read-only mode. Closes the current cycle and freezes everything. Members can still view the scoreboard and history — they just can't add new submissions. Find archived groups under My Series → Archived.

Deleting a Series

This is permanent. Wipes the group and every submission, cycle, and member entry in it. Available from the Admin page for both active and archived groups. You'll be asked to type the group's exact name to confirm.

Common situations

"That puzzle is outside the 1-day grace window"

You're trying to paste a puzzle from more than one day ago. It's now locked at max points and can't be edited. There's no override — this is how the cycle keeps everyone honest.

You picked the Yesterday tab but pasted today's puzzle, or vice versa. Switch the tab to match the puzzle's actual date, then paste again.

The paste box only accepts the official NYT share text. Common reasons it fails:

You copied a screenshot of the result instead of the text.
The share text was edited (extra commentary added between the grid rows).
You copied something other than the share output (like a URL).

Fix: in the NYT Games app, tap Share Your Results again and pick Copy (or Copy to clipboard) cleanly. Don't edit the text before pasting.

"This puzzle was max-locked and can't be edited"

A puzzle already in the database at max points can't be overwritten with a real result. This is rare and usually means you missed the grace window earlier.

My avatar isn't showing

Your avatar uploads once and shows up in every group you're in. If it's not appearing, refresh the page. If it's still missing, go to Me and re-upload it.

I forgot my password

On the sign-in screen, tap Forgot password? below the password field. Enter the email you signed up with and tap Send reset link.

Behind the scenes, the system owner gets a notification with a reset link addressed to you. They'll forward it to you by text or email, usually within a few minutes. The link is good for 30 minutes — open it, choose a new password, and you're signed back in automatically.

(The "owner forwards the link" middle step is temporary. Once a sending domain is verified, reset emails will arrive directly in your inbox.)

I'm on a new phone — do I lose my history?

No. Your account lives on the server, not the device. Sign in with the same email and password on the new phone and everything will be there.

FAQ

How is the winner decided each cycle? Lowest total points wins. Wordle (1–6, or 7 for a fail) and Connections (0–4 mistakes) are added for each day, then summed across the cycle.

What happens if I tie with someone? A tie for the lowest score is a "push" — nobody pays anyone for that cycle.

What if I miss a day? You have until midnight ET the next day to paste yesterday's puzzle. After that, it locks at the max score (Wordle 7, Connections 4) and you're excluded from that cycle's money. Your friends still play and pay each other normally. There's also a date-change workaround on Android (and sometimes iPhone) — see Forgot a day? Try the date trick.

Can I edit a submission after I paste it? Yes, as long as the puzzle is still within the 1-day grace window. Paste a new result over the old one and tap Save.

Can I be in more than one group? Yes, as many as you like. Use the group switcher (the dropdown on the group name) or My Series to navigate.

Do I need to be in the same group as my friend? Each group is independent. If you and a friend are in two different groups, those groups never see each other.

Can two players in the same group have the same name? No, display names must be unique within a group. Pick a nickname or initial if there's a clash.

Can I leave a group? Ask the owner to remove you. The owner can't leave themselves — they have to delete or archive the group.

Can someone outside the group see our scoreboard? No. Only signed-in members can view a group. Sharing the URL won't let outsiders in unless they have an invite link.

Why is "X/6" treated as 7 points? It's the worst Wordle score — failing the puzzle. Counting it as 7 puts it one worse than a 6-guess win, which is intuitive on the scoreboard.

Why doesn't the live banner match the closed banner when the cycle ends? The live banner is a running preview that sums every submission, but it doesn't apply the missing-day exclusion. The closed banner runs the official math, which excludes any player who didn't complete the cycle. If everyone completed, the two match. If anyone missed days, they'll differ.

Are my Wordle/Connections stats kept if I miss a day? Yes. Skill stats, distributions, and head-to-head numbers count every real puzzle you submit. Only the cycle-level payout math sets you aside for missing days.

Can the owner edit a player's submission? No. Submissions are locked to the player who pasted them. The owner can remove a player from the group but can't reach into someone else's puzzle history.

What's the difference between archiving and deleting a Series?

Archiving puts the group in read-only mode. Everyone can still view the scoreboard and history forever.
Deleting wipes it out completely. There's no undo. Type the group name to confirm.

What devices does this work on? Anything with a modern browser. iPhone (Safari), Android (Chrome), iPad, Mac, Windows, Linux. The site is mobile-first but works just as well on a big screen.

Does it work offline? Not really. You need an internet connection to paste a result. (Your account stays signed in for 30 days, so you don't have to type your password every time.)

What if the NYT Games app changes its share format? The app's parsers are designed to tolerate small format changes (extra commentary, different punctuation). If a future NYT update breaks the parser, the system owner can update it — drop a note describing the issue.

Is my password stored safely? Yes. Passwords are hashed with bcryptjs at 11 rounds. The database never stores the actual password text, and there's no way to recover it (only to reset).

Who sees my email address? Other members of your group don't see your email — they see your display name. Only you and the system owner can see your email.

How is the data stored? On a managed Neon Postgres database (hosted by Vercel's official integration). Backups are handled by Neon. The system owner has direct DB access for support purposes.

Glossary

Series — A friend group's leaderboard. Each Series is independent — different members, different settings, different history.
Player — Your role inside a single Series. You can use different display names in different Series.
Member — Anyone currently in a Series (not removed).
Owner — The person who created the Series. Has access to the Admin page.
Cycle — A scoring period. Default is 7 days (Sunday to Saturday). The owner sets the length when creating the Series.
Push — A cycle where two players tied for the lowest score. No payout.
Grace window — The time after a puzzle date during which you can still paste that day's puzzle. Currently 1 day.
Max-lock — A submission slot filled in automatically at the maximum score because the player missed the grace window. Counts in the cycle but excludes them from money.
Invite link — A persistent URL that anyone can use to join your Series. The owner can regenerate it to invalidate the old one.
Archived Series — A Series the owner put into read-only mode. Still viewable forever; no new submissions accepted.

Found something missing or unclear? Tell the system owner. The guide gets updated as the app does.