NYT Games, Pokémon Editions?

Pokémon games will always remain popular over time and among its fans, but another group of games is currently popular across demographics. They would be the games of The New York Times newspaper, which in this digital era have become interactive and electronic, as has the newspaper itself. I've developed a slight attraction to some of these games and thought I'd create a post on the possibility of having them in "Pokémon Editions" to cater to the fans.

While most of the purely linguistic games (including the hit Wordle) would be rather constrained, the landmark and ever-popular Crossword could still be adapted into a Pokémon Edition with some of the linguistic breadth that the franchise has. And it doesn't have to be a "full-size" crossword, because they also have a Mini edition that has the potential of carrying at least some of that spirit. All that remains is convincing Will Shortz, the crossword editor, that such an edition is viable.

Then, there is also the Connections game, which has players group 16 items into four categories of four items (for example, "Hyper", "Signal", "Charge", and "Meteor" are all "Beam" moves). This proves very much that a Pokémon Edition is totally viable. The only hard part would be including items that could potentially - and intentionally - be ambiguous to make it hard for the player. Yet that's a challenge that I know some Pokémon experts are totally poised to take on for the entertainment of fellow fans.

For other games, they have graphical or puzzling aspects to them but could just have the Pokémon Edition treatment. Tiles features squares with identical motifs that are to be matched, eliminating the motifs; the goal is to have the longest run possible while eliminating all motifs. Here, the motifs could be those of Pokémon imagery: Pikachu's head, a Poké Ball, type images, and so on and so forth that could be combined onto tiles - then it's just a matter of retaining the core gameplay but in a Pokémon Edition.

Lastly, there is Vertex, which is in the vein of "picture logic" puzzles like Picross, of which Pokémon is known to have one treatment. This particular game demands players to connect dots logically to make colored triangles, which then form a picture. Certainly, the pictures for a Pokémon Edition could be of individual Pokémon species, items, or practically anything that is a distinct object that can be identified as belonging to Pokémon. The possibilities here could be rather varied and wild.

Some of the games on The New York Times can thus be adapted to have "Pokémon Editions" and made to appeal to them. For as long as there will be news, this famed newspaper can be expected to continue to cover them, and to keep readers entertained, its games can provide entertainment. It may just be that Pokémon could enhance that entertainment while flexing the minds of its fans through the workings of the games.

One year ago: Pokémon Loot from ChibiCon

Two years ago: The State of Nominations, Part 13

Three years ago: Go Onwards to Home

Four years ago: Herding the Last: Wooloo Sticker

Five years ago: Poké-Pareidolia

Six years ago: The Pacing of Types