The New York Times has just announced a new daily puzzle game that could become as fiendishly addictive as Wordle.
Swapping letters for numbers, Digits is the new browser-based numbers game that’s currently being tested in beta.
It works in a similar way to Wordle. Players are given a goal number and then six other numbers they can use to add, subtract, divide or multiply in order to reach the target.
You aren’t just limited to those numbers, though. For example, you could multiply two of the numbers and then use the outcome as an additional figure to get you closer to the goal.
In the test run I took at the game, I was trying to reach a total of 66 with the following numbers: 1, 3, 4, 5, 10 and 25.
By multiplying five and 10, I got 50 which, when combined with 25 got me up to 75. I then tried to reduce the number as much as possible using my remaining three digits (numbers disappear after you’ve used them).
As you can see from the image below, the best I could manage was 67.
lHowever, unlike Wordle (which requires you to get the answer exactly right) Digits will give you a score based on how close you get to the target number. If you’re bang on, you get three stars. In my case, I got two stars but I may still have got one, even if I was a little further out.
And if you’re a perfectionist, you can keep trying at the puzzle until you get your three stars.
Will Digits become the new Worldle?
According to the New York Times, Digits will be available this week for “a limited time beta-release.” The success of the beta trial will inform whether the publication pushes it out into a fully-formed daily game.
“If the response to the game isn’t what the team is hoping for, the [NYT’s greenlight] committee must decide whether further tuning would be helpful or if the development of the game should end,” wrote the publication.
You can try the Digits beta for yourself here.
Last year, the NYT paid a reported seven-figure fee to acquire Wordle from developer Josh Wordle as part of a strategy to grow its digital subscription base. The plucky word game continues to delight players every day and the NYT will no doubt be hoping for the same success from the math-minded among us with Digits.
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