How to use Pumpkin

Quick Start

Pumpkin turns your daily Wordle and Connections puzzles into a friendly competition. Gather a group of 2–4, paste your scores each day, and the lowest total wins each round — settling whatever's on the line, from a small wager to a loser's dare to plain bragging rights. Free, private, and about ten seconds a day.

🧩 Play the puzzle
↓
📋 Paste your result
↓
🏆 Lowest score wins
↓
😎 Brag

Why Pumpkin? A little friendly competition keeps the NYT puzzles engaging and gives everyone a reason to play every single day. And you're not limited to one group — run a few Series with different circles of friends and it gets even more fun. (Pumpkin, in case you were wondering, is named after a real dog.)

Good to know before you start

• It's a website, not an app — nothing to download. Just open the-pumpkin-app.com in any browser.
• No NYT subscription needed. Wordle and Connections are free.
• Pumpkin is free too — no ads, no upsell, no credit-card form.

Someone sent you a link?

That's the usual way in. What you do depends on what you see when you open it:

• You land on a "join" screen. Create an account (email + password) or sign in — either way you'll come right back to it — then tap Join. The owner approves every new player, so you'll land on a "waiting for approval" screen. Tap Check if I'm in to refresh, or just wait: we email you the moment you're approved. Then open the Series and you're playing.
• You hit a scoreboard you can't see. That link only works for members. Ask whoever sent it for the invite link instead — they'll find it under Admin → Invite link.

Want to see a real Series before you join one? Peek at a live demo: magical-mystery-word — two months of real play, no sign-in needed.

Add your first score

It's the same quick loop every day:

1. Play Wordle and/or Connections as normal.
2. At the end, tap Share → Copy.
3. Open Pumpkin. If your copied score is waiting, a banner offers it — tap Submit this score and you're done. No banner? Paste into the box for that game and tap Save.
4. Tracking both games? Repeat for the second.

Your tile turns colored on everyone's scoreboard, and the totals build across the cycle (usually a week). Lowest combined score wins — the app does the math and names who owes what, whether that's a friendly payout, a forfeit/dare for last place, or pure bragging rights. No bank link, no payments, just the scoreboard.

Want to show off (or talk a little trash)? Pumpkin turns your results into clean share images for the group chat or socials — your daily grid the moment you submit, the standings while the cycle's still in play, and the full recap once it closes.

The copy step varies by device. iPhone, Android, and desktop each handle it a little differently — and on Android you can share straight into Pumpkin, skipping copy-paste entirely. Per-device steps are in the full guide.

Want to run your own group instead?

Open the-pumpkin-app.com and choose Start a Series. You pick the games, how long each cycle runs, and what you're playing for, then send the invite link to 1–3 friends. It takes a couple of minutes — the full guide walks through every option.

That's the daily loop. Scoring details, stats, admin tools, notes, and the trickier edge cases all live in the full guide. Bookmark it for when you need it.