Connections Unlimited Guide: Rules, Tips and Winning Strategy

The Rules of Connections

Each puzzle has sixteen words arranged in a four by four grid. Every word belongs to exactly one of four hidden groups, and every group contains exactly four words that share a common connection. Your job is to find all four groups.

1. Study the sixteen words before you touch anything.
2. Select four words you believe belong together by clicking or tapping them. Tapping a selected word again deselects it.
3. Press submit. If the four words form a real group, the group is revealed and removed from the board.
4. If the guess is wrong, you lose one of your four mistakes.
5. Keep going until all four groups are found, or until you run out of mistakes.

You win by finding all four groups. You lose the puzzle if you make four incorrect guesses. Because every word belongs to only one group, the final group is always found by elimination once the other three are solved.

Understanding the Color-Coded Difficulty

Groups are revealed using a colour scheme that signals how tricky each connection is meant to be.

The colours do not appear until a group is solved, but knowing the scheme helps you plan. The yellow group is usually the one you can see first, and the purple group is the one that tends to be left until last, often solved by elimination.

Types of Connections to Look For

The most important skill in the game is knowing what kinds of link are possible. Players who think only of synonyms struggle, while players who think broadly do far better. Here are the common types.

• Synonyms. Words that mean the same thing, such as ALE, BEER, LAGER and STOUT.
• Words that go before or after a word. FIRE could connect BALL, WORK, PLACE and TRUCK, since each can follow it.
• Compound words. Several words might each combine with the same partner, such as SUN, MOON, STAR and LIGHT.
• Homophones. Words that sound like other words, such as BARE and BEAR.
• Hidden words. A smaller word tucked inside each answer, for instance a colour or an animal inside a longer word.
• Anagrams or letter changes. Words that change one letter to form something else, or that are rearrangements of one another.
• Pop culture. Film titles, band names, characters or brands.
• Multiple meanings. Words like BASS, KEY or BARK that belong to several categories.

When you are stuck, run through this list. Ask whether any of the words could be a verb as well as a noun, whether any hide a smaller word and whether any might finish the same phrase. It is a surprisingly reliable checklist.

Winning Strategies

Start with the obvious

Find the group you are most sure about and submit it first. Removing four words shrinks the board, reduces the number of tempting overlaps and makes the next group easier to spot. This is usually the yellow group.

Beware of decoys

Puzzle designers place words that fit more than one category on purpose. If you can find five words that fit one theme, one of them belongs elsewhere. Look for the word with another meaning and ask which other group might claim it.

Think beyond synonyms

If a set of words does not form an obvious category, ask whether they share a hidden feature, a position in a phrase or a word that could be added to each.

Shuffle the board mentally

The words are arranged in a particular order for a reason, and that order can make false groupings look natural. Try to imagine them in a different order, or write them in a list in a different sequence, to break the spell.

Save the hardest for last

The purple group is usually hard to find directly. Solve the others first. The final eight words then split neatly, and you can often sort the last two groups with logic rather than insight.

Do not guess randomly

You have four mistakes, but they are better kept for real attempts. If you are unsure, take a minute to look for a fifth candidate for a group. A set with five plausible words is a signal that one of them is a decoy.

Using Hints and Undo Wisely

Connections Unlimited includes two features designed to make the game forgiving.

• Hint. Press the hint button, then tap any word on the board. The game reveals which group that word belongs to, without solving the full group for you. This is ideal when you cannot find a starting point.
• Undo. If you make a wrong guess, you can use undo to reclaim the mistake, provided you have not submitted another guess in the meantime. It lets you experiment more safely.

Use hints sparingly if you want to build your skills, because the aim is to train your pattern-spotting. Use them freely if you are playing for relaxation, when the point is simply to enjoy the puzzle.

Streaks, Unlimited Puzzles and Mobile Play

The game keeps track of your winning streak, which is saved locally in your browser so that you can return and continue. Because it is stored on your device, it persists as long as you use the same browser and do not clear your data.

Unlike daily puzzles, you can jump straight to a new puzzle the moment you finish one. That makes it a great way to practise: after a few dozen puzzles you will recognise the types of connection quickly. The board resizes for any screen, and tapping works smoothly on phones and tablets, so a puzzle is easy to fit into a short break.

Connections Unlimited is an independent game inspired by the word-grouping format popularised by The New York Times. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any newspaper or publisher.

Training Your Word-Association Skills Away From the Board

You can improve at Connections by playing other word games. The Random Word Generator guide suggests exercises for building a broader vocabulary. The Anagram Solver guide helps you notice rearrangements and hidden words, which are common in the harder groups. Even the Word Search Solver guide can sharpen the pattern recognition you need to spot letters and sequences.

If you like a different kind of puzzle after a session, try the tile-merging challenge in the 2048 Cupcakes guide. Like Connections, it rewards patience and planning over speed.

Frequently Asked Questions