The Atlantic Launches New Puzzle Hub

Daily puzzle games are increasingly popular, and starting today, you can add a new destination to your puzzle rotation: The Atlantic.

The publication is launching a new hub for its growing game offerings, which includes already available games like Bracket City and Caleb’s Inferno Crossword Puzzle, along with several new puzzles. You can access the hub on both the web and in The Atlantic’s app.

Caleb Madison, The Atlantic’s director of games, provided The Verge with a demonstration of most of the games available in the hub ahead of today’s launch:

• Bracket City, which The Atlantic licensed earlier this year, requires you to solve clues nested in brackets that ultimately resolve into a fun fact about that day in history.
• Stacks, a new game, combines elements of Tetris and Wordle, according to Madison. Players have a bank of words that they must arrange in the correct order on top of letters already on the board to form new words.
• In Fluxis, another new game, players attempt to identify words that build off the previous word while incorporating a specific characteristic. Madison provided an example where he needed to create an adjective from the word “checkerboard” — he chose “arduous.”
• Caleb’s Inferno Crossword Puzzle, which is already included in the monthly Atlantic magazine and available online, is the last game Madison showcased. Caleb’s crossword features a narrow rectangular shape instead of a square, with increasingly difficult clues as you progress down the puzzle.

Madison does not view The Atlantic’s games as a replacement for other daily puzzles. He stated, “I think people have a pretty ravenous diet for new games, so I don’t think coming to The Atlantic precludes any of these other amazing games that are at The New York Times or Apple News or LinkedIn. What I feel like The Atlantic has to offer that’s different from those publications is a little bit more of a bespoke, artisanal aesthetic.”

Madison also aims to incorporate an “aesthetic narrative component” into the games to enhance their immersive and special qualities. For instance, Bracket City features city-themed elements, such as the “fan mail” email being mayor@bracket.city.

Similar to The New York Times, some features of The Atlantic’s games will only be accessible to paid subscribers. Bracket City and all of its archives are free. However, the full archives for Stacks, Fluxis, and The Atlantic’s daily mini crossword will be behind a paywall; nonsubscribers will only have access to the three most recent puzzles for those games. All of the Caleb’s Inferno crossword puzzles are exclusive to subscribers.

Madison expressed that he has “a lot of plans” for additional games, including long-form games. He stated, “I’m trying to make no assumptions as to what that would look like and just forge forward creatively to see what a more layered day-to-day experience would be like.” While he did not disclose specific details, he expressed enthusiasm for innovating in the game space and providing unique and authentic long-form game experiences to The Atlantic users and online audiences.