Game On, LinkedIn Users!

In an initiative to keep user interest sparking and inspire, LinkedIn is launching a hat trick of brand new games! Say hello to Queens, Crossclimb, and Pinpoint, each game designed to test your brain muscle in logic, trivia, and word association, respectively. Now, whether you want to arrange non-overlapping crowns (sweat already!) or find hidden connections between words, LinkedIn has got you covered!

It's open season, globally! You can dive right into these games starting today, accessible via a direct link or the fresh and crisp LinkedIn News. And if you're feeling the Wordle vibes from this, you're not far off. Just like Wordle, you only get one chance a day on each game. High stakes indeed!

The Power of Social Levers

Ready to take things to a new level? You can ask your first-degree connections to join you for a round of professional procrastination! And if you opt in, your status—whether you’ve hit the game board or not, and how you fared in it—can be shared with these friends. Of course, these social levers and the number of games are still on the discussion table, so your LinkedIn gaming experience may indeed evolve over time.

Building Social Ties Through Games

LinkedIn believes these games bring a touch of casual fun to the LinkedIn experience, helping to club together existing connections in a tighter knit, fiber-optic community. As Dan Roth, the distinguished VP and big boss editor-in-chief of LinkedIn News puts it, “It is hard for people to stay in touch with each other, and games provide a way to build these network ties.”

The Big Picture

The fact that this idea bubble was popped and nurtured into reality by the LinkedIn News team is a big deal. Harnessing the power of games to increase user engagement is not a new tactic, however. The New York Times has long been using word and logic games, and let’s not forget popular apps that lure in young users with the irresistible call of fun and challenge.

Games are proving to be a secret weapon to boost user engagement, a relief for struggling news publishers and a promising strategy for apps. Successful puzzles by news titles and magazines can add millions to their audience, and guess what, these audiences just might start reading the rest of their content! Take that, marketing competition!

LinkedIn's Triple Threat of Fun

And now, a quick rundown of the LinkedIn trio:

1. Queens: This is not your normal afternoon Sudoku game. The clock is ticking as you race to arrange crowns in patterns that avoid overlap. And to add a little competitive fire, your company's name can dance on the leaderboard alongside your scores.

2. Crossclimb: Calling all trivia buffs! Crossclimb presents a grid filled with clue words. The catch? Each new word differs by one letter from the preceding one. So, it's time to put your word scramble skills to the ultimate test!

3. Pinpoint: This game dares you to find the connection between words given to you, except, they're not immediately revealed. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out the link in as few reveals as possible. Think you're up for it?

While LinkedIn is not the first to harness the engagement power of games, its foray into this strategy could mean more for users. After all, LinkedIn was designed with professional networking, job hunting, and recruitment in mind. But who says professional has to be boring? With games introduced, LinkedIn is hopeful that users hooked on their daily game might stay for more networking, job hunting, or recruiter-awaiting fun.