How Spelling Bee Became a Popular NYT Puzzle Game
While it made its digital debut in May 2018, the New York Times’ Spelling Bee was first introduced as a weekly print feature in 2014. It was created by Frank Longo after a proposal from Will Shortz, who was inspired by The Times’ puzzle game Polygon. However, while it attracted its fair share of attention in the years since its digital debut, things were not going as expected.
That was until the untimely COVID-19 pandemic when Wordle went viral and players soon began looking for other word games and puzzles to pass the time. This allowed Spelling Bee to shine as the game’s simple interface combined with its engaging but challenging format allowed it to thrive. So much so, that research shows that in 2022 alone, the game was played more than 440 million times.
Not only that, the word game grew so much that it now has its own community, known as the Hivemind, that shares hints, clues, and more regarding the game. That was thanks to social media with solvers often sharing scores and discussing the puzzle on a daily basis across platforms.
The Origin Story of Spelling Bee
Inspired by The Times’ puzzle game Polygon, Will Shortz, the then New York Times puzzle editor, created a proposal for a new spelling bee game. Shortz then proceeded to modify the original concept and idea of the game, created a beehive, and tweaked the rules. While the British version of Spelling Bee forbids users from reusing words, Shortz decided to allow the same.
That changed the game completely and he then named the game “Spelling Bee” to tap into an already niche but popular market across America. The proposal was then handed to Frank Longo, an experienced puzzle constructor and chief fact-checker at the NYT, who was given the task of creating the whole thing. Longo, using the official Scrabble tournament list, created a word list with the help of a computer program to find words that contain seven letters.
The game then made its print debut in 2014, arriving as a weekly feature in the New York Times magazine although it took more than four years for the digital version to arrive. That eventually did in May 2018 although this came after a mandate was handed out in late 2016. The New York Times wanted to capitalize on the attention the Crossword was getting online and thus wanted to create games beyond that.
In the end, Spelling Bee was one of the many chosen because of its popularity despite only being a weekly game and the fact that lead game-maker Sam Von Ehren believed it was simple to code. The game, as mentioned earlier, was eventually released after nine months of development and has since become a worldwide phenomenon.
Key Milestones in Spelling Bee’s History
Now a beloved game and a daily pastime for many, the New York Times’ Spelling Bee has captivated players with its simplicity. However, that isn’t to say that the game is easy, far from it as players often struggle to hit the Genius ranking (the highest officially displayed rank). Instead, its simple but challenging format has only attracted more players in the years since it was developed. So much so, that the game has also evolved with the times, growing from a simple weekly print feature to a digital giant.
2014: Will Shortz, inspired by Polygon, creates Spelling Bee and tweaks a few existing rules and regulations to make a game he believes will thrive.
2014: Frank Longo is given the task of developing Spelling Bee, turning it into a weekly print feature for the New York Times magazine.
August 2017: Thanks to a mandate handed out in 2016 to create more games beyond Crossword for the New York Times, Sam Von Ehren, the lead game maker, and his team picked Spelling Bee to be digitized.
May 2018: After nine months of development, the digital version of Spelling Bee makes its debut.
2018: Robert Vinluan designs the mascot for the digital version of the game, a cartoon bee.
2020 to 2021: The game experiences a surge in popularity because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Wordle’s viral success, becoming a daily ritual for many.
August 2021: Sam Ezersky takes over as the editor for Spelling Bee, in charge of maintaining and constructing the daily puzzle.
2022: The New York Times reveals that Spelling Bee was played over 440 million times in the year, with players hitting the Genius ranking over 77 million times.
2022 to 2024: The game keeps evolving with new tools outside the game including a Spelling Bee Forum which leads to the creation of a community, now known as the Hivemind.
Are you a fan of Spelling Bee? Try our Spelling Bee Solver to get to Queen Bee!
