Poke Connections vs NYT Connections
Poke Connections and NYT Connections are separate games. Poke Connections is a separate free browser game: 16 Pokemon names, four hidden groups, four lives. It is fan-made and not affiliated with Nintendo, The Pokemon Company, The New York Times, or Pokennection.
NYT Connections is a daily word game. The New York Times describes it as grouping words that share a thread, with a new puzzle each day. Lifehacker and the game page both describe four mistakes. This site also uses four lives, which is one reason the two get confused. The tiles are not the same kind of thing.
Puzzle #1173, 27 Aug 2026
Lifehacker, CNET, and Mashable list the same four groups for #1173. I am keeping their labels. Each group contains one name that also belongs to the Pokemon anime, and each of those names was solved by a non-Pokemon category.
| Colour | Category | Words | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow | ELECTRIC THINGS | ELECTRIC EEL, LIGHTNING, LIVE WIRE, PIKACHU | 3 sources |
| Green | MOVED TO TEARS | CHOKED UP, EMOTIONAL, MISTY, OVERCOME | 3 sources |
| Blue | SHADES OF GRAY | ASH, DOVE, PEWTER, SLATE | 3 sources |
| Purple | MUSIC GENRE PLUS STARTING LETTER | BROCK (rock), NEMO (emo), SPUNK (punk), WRAP (rap) | 3 sources |
Pikachu is in an electrical-things group. Misty is in a tears group. Ash and Pewter are in a gray group, and Pewter is also a Kanto city name, which made the board look themed. Brock completes a music-genre pun.
Evil Geniuses posted “Playing NYT Connections: Pokemon Edition” on 7 Apr 2026. The title treats the NYT game as a Pokemon edition. The video is about that word puzzle. I embed it on the homepage with that distinction in the sentence above the player.
Play the daily board here or read this site’s answers.
Side by side
| NYT Connections | This site | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | The New York Times | Poke Connections |
| Tiles | 16 English words | 16 Pokemon names |
| Groups | 4 | 4 |
| Mistakes | 4, per Lifehacker and the game page | 4 lives |
| Theme | Changes daily; #1173 referenced Pokemon names | A Pokedex property every day |
| Price | NYT games access follows their own offer | Free in the browser |
| Where | nytimes.com/games/connections | Homepage |
Why "poke" also means a salad
The word "poke" can refer to a Hawaiian dish. A hint about salad concerns that word sense, rather than this Pokemon grouping game.
There is no official Pokemon edition of NYT Connections in the sources above. #1173 is a word puzzle that borrowed four names. This site's daily is a different board, numbered from 1 Nov 2026.
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Questions
Is there an official Pokemon Connections from Nintendo or NYT?
No source on this page describes one. This site is a separate browser puzzle.
Did NYT make a Pokemon edition on 27 Aug 2026?
No. #1173 used four Pokemon-anime names as members of non-Pokemon categories. Lifehacker, CNET, and Mashable agree on the four groups.
Why do search results mix them?
The shared shape is 16 tiles, four groups, four mistakes, and the same four colours. A video title uses Pokemon, while the August 27, 2026 word puzzle used Pokemon-anime names as decoys.
Sources
- Lifehacker — NYT Connections #1173 — checked 2026-11-05
- CNET — NYT Connections #1173 — checked 2026-11-05
- Mashable — NYT Connections August 27, 2026 — checked 2026-11-05
- NYT Connections — checked 2026-11-05
- Evil Geniuses — Playing NYT Connections: Pokemon Edition — checked 2026-11-05
Last updated 2026-11-05. Contact [email protected].