The full guide

See it in action

The fastest way to understand the app is to look at one. Three demo Series are public — no sign-in needed:

• Magical Mystery Word — tracks both games (Wordle + Connections), the full experience.
• Across the Wordle — Wordle only, for friends who just want the one game.
• Come Together — Connections only, the same idea on the other side.

Each one runs the same four fictional players for about two months of daily play. The scoreboard, the cycle payouts, the per-day grids, the Game Stats page — it's all real data, generated by playing the puzzles into the app exactly as your own friends would. Tap any tile with a small count badge in the corner to see the player's note, the discussion thread, and any reactions for that day.

Staying up to date

Pumpkin keeps improving. The What's New tab at the top of this guide lists every update, newest first — and each one links to the section that explains it. Share that page with your group whenever something new lands.

How to play the games

You play the actual puzzles wherever you normally do — Pumpkin just reads the result. Quick refresher in case you're new to either one:

Wordle

Guess a hidden 5-letter word in 6 tries. One new puzzle each day, free at nytimes.com/games/wordle. Fewer guesses = lower (better) score in Pumpkin.

Connections

Sort 16 words into 4 secret groups of 4. You get 4 mistakes before you lose. One new puzzle each day, free at nytimes.com/games/connections. Fewer mistakes = lower (better) score in Pumpkin.

About the games. Right now Pumpkin tracks Wordle and Connections — the two daily puzzles most groups play. The platform is built so other NYT games (Strands, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, the Mini Crossword) can be added later if there's interest. Want another game tracked? Let us know.

Playing yesterday's puzzle

Forgot to play yesterday? Pumpkin lets you backfill any missed day in the current cycle (see What if I miss a day?) with no penalty — but only if you actually play the puzzle, and the NYT app normally only serves you today's. Two ways to reach a past day:

The clean way — an NYT Games subscription. A paid NYT Games subscription unlocks the full puzzle archive: every past Wordle and Connections, playable any time. It's inexpensive — a few dollars a month, less on an annual plan — and if you play these daily, it's well worth it. Miss a day, open the archive, play the one you missed, and paste it. Nothing to fiddle with, nothing to undo. Open the NYT Games app or nytimes.com/games and look for the Archive (sometimes "past puzzles") on the Wordle or Connections screen.

The free workaround — set your phone's date back a day. Both Wordle and Connections decide which puzzle is "today's" from your device's clock. Roll the clock back one day, open the game, and it serves yesterday's puzzle. Play it, copy the result, set your clock back to normal, and paste into Pumpkin. This works on both iPhone and Android.

Set the date back, play, then put it right back. Leaving your phone on the wrong date throws off timestamps on your messages, calendar events, two-factor login codes, and Pumpkin's own sense of what day it is. Always switch automatic time back on the moment you've copied your result. Going back a single day is the cleanest path; rolling back further to dig out earlier missed days in the current cycle works too, but every extra day out compounds the risk to other services — do it in short sessions.

On iPhone:

1. Open Settings → General → Date & Time.
2. Turn off Set Automatically.
3. Tap the date shown and roll it back one day.
4. Fully close the NYT Games app (swipe it away in the app switcher) and reopen it — it now loads yesterday's puzzle. Play it, then tap Share → Copy.
5. Go back to Settings → General → Date & Time and turn Set Automatically back on. Your clock corrects itself instantly.
6. Open Pumpkin and paste the result onto your tile for that day — see How to backfill a missed day.

On Android:

1. Open Settings → System → Date & time (the exact wording varies a little by phone).
2. Turn off Set time automatically (sometimes Automatic date & time).
3. Set the date back one day.
4. Fully close the NYT Games app (or your browser) and reopen it — it now loads yesterday's puzzle. Play it, then tap Share → Copy.
5. Return to Settings → System → Date & time and turn Set time automatically back on.
6. Open Pumpkin and paste the result — see How to backfill a missed day.

(The same trick works on a computer if you change the system clock, but a phone is usually handier.) Because a late paste counts at face value with no penalty, a puzzle you dig out this way scores exactly as if you'd played it on time.

How it works

Pumpkin is a private scoreboard for 2–4 friends who already play the NYT daily puzzles. You create a Series (your group's competition), invite up to three friends with a single link, and from then on the daily flow is identical to what you already do — except instead of texting screenshots into a group chat, everyone pastes their result into the app.

Each day, every player:

1. Plays Wordle and/or Connections in the official NYT Games app or website like they normally would.
2. Taps Share at the end of the puzzle and copies the result.
3. Pastes that share text into Pumpkin, optionally adding a quick comment for the group.

The app reads the share text, scores it automatically, and adds it to your Series's running scoreboard. Everyone in the group can see everyone's daily grids and totals, plus a small count badge on any tile where notes or thread comments exist. Tap any tile to see the full grid, the submitter's note, and the discussion thread for that puzzle.

Scoring is lowest-is-best, the same as the daily puzzles themselves:

• Wordle — your score for the day is the number of guesses you needed. Solve in 1 = 1 point; solve in 6 = 6 points; fail (X/6) = 7 points.
• Connections — your score for the day is the number of mistakes you made. A perfect solve (no mistakes) = 0 points; failed = 4 points (capped). Yes, zero is the best possible score.

If your Series tracks both games, your daily total is Wordle + Connections combined, and your cycle total is the sum of your daily totals across every day in the cycle.

A cycle is your Series's scoring period. The default is 7 days, but the owner can pick any length from 1 to 7 days when they set the Series up. There's no fixed start weekday — your first cycle begins the day your Series gets going, and each new cycle starts when the last one ends. When the cycle ends, the lowest total wins.

At the end of each cycle, the lowest total wins. If your Series plays with stakes, the app calculates what each loser owes the winner — or, in a forfeit Series, names who finished last and the dare they owe — but either way it's completely optional. Details are in Cycles and payouts.

Adding your score

Everything about getting your daily result into Pumpkin — the basic paste on each device, the faster shortcuts, notes, and how one paste covers all your Series.

Submitting a result

The flow is the same on every device:

1. Play the puzzle in the NYT Games app or website.
2. Tap the Share button at the end (NYT calls this "Share Your Results").
3. Copy the result.
4. Open Pumpkin, paste it into the box, and tap Save.

Step 3 varies by device, so here are the specifics.

On iPhone (iOS)

Easiest setup: install the NYT Games app from the App Store. (Free; the puzzles are free; no paid NYT subscription needed for Wordle, Connections, and a few other dailies.)

1. Open NYT Games and play your puzzle.
2. When you finish, the share screen appears. Tap Share Your Results (Wordle) or Share Results (Connections).
3. The iOS share sheet pops up. Tap Copy at the top-right (or in the row of icons).
4. Open Pumpkin in Safari (or your browser of choice).
5. Sign in if needed and go to today's scoreboard.
6. Tap inside the Wordle or Connections paste box.
7. Touch-and-hold for a second, then tap Paste.
8. Tap Save. Done.

If "Paste" doesn't appear, tap once outside the box and then long-press inside again. iOS sometimes hides the menu the first time.

Install Pumpkin first if you haven't already — pasting (and push notifications) work better from the home-screen icon than from a Safari tab. See Install Pumpkin on your phone.

On Android

Same idea — the easiest setup is the NYT Games app from the Play Store.

1. Open NYT Games and play your puzzle.
2. Tap Share Your Results at the end.
3. Android's share sheet appears. Tap Copy to clipboard (sometimes just Copy).
4. Open Pumpkin in Chrome (or your preferred browser).
5. Go to today's scoreboard.
6. Long-press inside the Wordle or Connections paste box.
7. Tap Paste from the popup.
8. Tap Save.

If "Copy to clipboard" isn't in the share sheet, share to Gmail or Keep to yourself, then copy the text from that message.

Install Pumpkin first if you haven't already — Chrome's install option drops a home-screen icon and runs the app full-screen. See Install Pumpkin on your phone.

On a desktop or laptop computer

You can also play directly in the browser at nytimes.com/games.

1. Play Wordle or Connections.
2. Click Share at the bottom of the result.
3. Click Copy to clipboard.
4. Open Pumpkin in another tab.
5. Click into the Wordle or Connections paste box.
6. Press Ctrl + V (Windows) or Cmd + V (Mac).
7. Click Save.

Mix and match freely — play on your phone but paste from a desktop, or vice versa. The app doesn't care where the share text came from.

Faster ways to add your score

Copy-and-paste always works, but Pumpkin has three shortcuts that trim the steps. They all sit right alongside the normal paste box — nothing replaces it, so the manual paste is always there as a fallback.

1. The "How do I paste my score?" helper. Next to the paste boxes is a small ? button — or, if you've never pasted before, the full "How do I paste my score?" link. Tap it for a quick visual walkthrough of getting your result out of the NYT app and into Pumpkin, without leaving the scoreboard. It adapts to your Series (Wordle, Connections, or both) and stays available every day, so it's there whenever you need a reminder.

2. Auto-detect from your clipboard. If you've already copied your result (tapped Share → Copy in the NYT app) and then open Pumpkin, the app can spot it on your clipboard and offer it to you in a banner — the grid, the score, and a "Submit this score" button — so you skip the paste entirely. Tap Submit and you're done; tap Dismiss and the normal paste box is still right there. It only ever offers a score you haven't already submitted, and only for a game your Series tracks.

• On Android and computers, this happens quietly in the background — the banner just appears when there's a score waiting to be added.
• On iPhone, because iOS shows its own "paste" prompt for any clipboard read, Pumpkin first shows a small card explaining what it's about to do, with a "Check my clipboard" button. Tapping it is your go-ahead — then iOS asks permission, and your score appears. Pumpkin only ever looks for a Wordle or Connections result; nothing else on your clipboard is read, and nothing is saved unless you tap Submit.

3. Share straight to Pumpkin (Android). On Android, once Pumpkin is installed to your home screen, it shows up inside the NYT app's Share menu, right alongside Messages, WhatsApp, and the rest. Finish your puzzle, tap Share → Pumpkin, and the app opens with your score ready to confirm — no copy, no paste, no app-switching. (iPhone doesn't yet let apps register as a share target, so on iPhone use the clipboard auto-detect above — it's just as quick once you've copied.)

All three shortcuts also cover yesterday's puzzle: if you copied yesterday's result, the auto-detect banner offers it as a late paste — counts at face value, no penalty — exactly like tapping your tile. For older days in the current cycle, tap the missed tile directly (see What if I miss a day?).

Adding a note to your submission

After you paste a valid share, a small "Add a note for the group (optional)" box appears under the paste field. Drop in a quick reaction — "lucky guess!", "brutal opener", "yellow city today" — and tap Save. Notes are limited to 280 characters, so keep them short.

A submitter's note shows up in three places:

• Push notifications — when your friends get the "Tim submitted a Wordle in Family Cup" alert, your note is quoted right after it.
• The puzzle popup — anyone in the group can tap your tile on the scoreboard to see the full grid; your note appears at the top of the discussion thread underneath. Tiles that have a note (or any thread activity) also get a small count badge in the corner so you can spot them at a glance.
• The end-of-cycle recap — notes left during the cycle are quoted under the Best Moments and collected in a dedicated Cycle in chatter section.

You don't have to add a note — it's optional every time. If you want to update or remove yours after submitting, just re-paste the same share and either leave the note field blank or type a new one.

This personal note is separate from the back-and-forth discussion anyone in the group can leave on the puzzle — see Comments and reactions below.

One paste, every Series

If you're in more than one Series, you only have to paste each day's puzzle once. The app automatically copies your submission (and comment) into every active Series you're in — as long as that Series tracks that game and is in its current cycle. So a Wordle paste in Family Cup also lands in your Office Showdown without you having to switch Series and paste again.

Cycles and payouts

By default, a cycle runs 7 days. The first cycle begins on the day the owner starts the Series out of warm-up (or the day you create a Solo Series), and runs the full cycle length from there — there's no fixed start weekday. From then on, each cycle picks up when the previous one closes. When a cycle ends, the app:

1. Adds up everyone's points for the cycle (Wordle + Connections combined).
2. Identifies the lowest total — that's the winner.
3. Computes how much each loser owes the winner (cash-style), or names the last-place finisher and their dare (forfeit).
4. Marks the cycle "closed" and shows it in Game Stats.

Two stakes types: cash-style or forfeit

Every Series is played one of two ways, picked when you create it and changeable any time in Admin → Stakes:

• Cash-style — the classic payout. Each non-winner owes the winner an amount that grows with the score gap, shown in whatever wager unit you chose (bucks, beers, ducks…). The math is below.
• Forfeit / dare — no money at all. Whoever finishes the cycle with the worst total does one named thing you agree on up front: "buys everyone lunch", "does laundry next week", "takes out the trash". The app just names who's on the hook — it's on the honor system.

Either way the lowest score still wins the cycle (and gets the crown in the recap). Cash-style decides what the losers pay; forfeit decides what the single last-place finisher does.

A few forfeit specifics:

• Last place only. Just the single worst total is on the hook — not everyone who lost to the winner.
• Tie for last? Everyone tied at the worst total does the dare together ("Dawn & Gail do the dishes").
• Everyone tied (a push)? No forfeit that cycle.
• Group-only. A forfeit needs someone to lose to, so Solo Series are always cash-style.
• The dare is free text (up to 80 characters) and can include an emoji. It shows up with a 🥄 on the live and closed banners, in the recap, on each cycle's history row, and on the share card. Money-only sections of Game Stats (lifetime net, the cumulative-net chart, biggest won/paid) are hidden for forfeit Series — every score-based stat stays.

The rest of this section — the payout formula, ties, "how money moves" — applies to cash-style Series.

The payout for a single loser is:

base payout + (loser's score − winner's score) × per-point amount

The defaults are $20 base and $1 per point. So if the lowest score in the cycle was 35 and you finished with 43, you'd owe $20 + (8 × $1) = $28. Series owners can change either amount in Admin → Stakes — updates apply immediately to the current open cycle, while already-closed cycles stay locked at whatever was in place when they finalized.

You don't have to play for money at all. When you create the Series (and any time later in Admin → Stakes) you pick what the cycle is played for — 💵 Bucks (dollars), or something friendlier like 🦆 ducks, 🍺 beers, ☕ coffees, plain 🎯 points, or a custom unit with your own name and icon. The math is identical; only the label changes: Bucks renders with a dollar sign ($28), while the others read as a count (28 beers, 1 beer). A custom unit lets you type a singular and plural name (up to 24 characters each) and pick an emoji from a large icon list. Each closed cycle remembers the unit it was played for, so switching later won't relabel your history — and if your lifetime totals happen to span cycles played in different units, those combined numbers show with no unit at all.

Set the base and per-point amounts to 0 if your Series just wants the scoreboard and the stats, no tally at all.

When a cycle starts and ends

There's no fixed start weekday. Your first cycle begins the day the owner starts the Series out of warm-up (or the day you create a Solo Series) and runs the full cycle length. After that, a new cycle starts as soon as the last one ends. A cycle ends in any of three ways:

• Its length runs out. A 7-day cycle settles after its 7th day; the next one begins the following day.
• Everyone finishes early. If every player has submitted every game for every day, the cycle settles right away and the next one starts the next day.
• The admin ends it. The Series owner can tap End cycle now (at the bottom of the scoreboard, or in Admin → End cycle now) to settle on the spot. Any missed days are filled with the maximum penalty, just like a natural end. If everyone had already finished, the next cycle starts tomorrow; otherwise it starts today, so today still counts toward the fresh cycle.

Closed cycles are never touched. Past cycles keep the exact dates, totals, and payouts they finalized with.

How money actually moves (it doesn't)

It doesn't. The app shows you what each loser would owe under your Series's settings, but it never processes a payment, never connects to your bank, and never asks for a credit card. There's no Venmo integration, no Stripe, no fees. The whole stakes side is a voluntary, group-handshake arrangement — settle up however your friends already settle up (cash, Venmo, a round of beers, a running tally, "next time I see you," whatever). If you'd rather play purely for bragging rights, set the base and per-point amounts to 0 in Admin and the math still works (winner is still tracked, the tally just reads as 0).

Ties

If two or more players tie for the lowest score in a 3- or 4-player group, they split the pot equally from whoever finished above them. (For example, in a 4-player cycle where two players tie at 30 and one finishes at 38, that one loser owes $20 + 8 = $28, which gets split $14 / $14 between the two co-winners.) The cycle is only a push (no payout) when every player ends on the exact same total — which, in a 2-player group, is the natural result of any tie.

In a forfeit Series, a tie at the worst total means everyone tied at the bottom does the dare together; a full push (every player equal) means no forfeit that cycle.

What if I miss a day?

Short version: if you forget to paste a result you can still go back and paste it for any day in the current open cycle — tap your own missed tile on the scoreboard and a paste box opens. Miss the whole cycle and the slot locks at the max-penalty score (Wordle = 7, Connections = 4), which counts against your cycle total. You stay in the running either way; a missed day just means digging out of a hole.

The submission window: any open-cycle day, plus one

• The day of the puzzle — paste it normally in the scoreboard paste box, like any other day.
• Anytime later in the cycle — forgot Monday and it's now Friday? Tap your own missed tile for that day and a paste box opens. It counts at face value — no late penalty (a Wordle you solved in 3 still scores 3).
• The day after the cycle closes — if your miss was on the cycle's final day and the cycle has since closed, you still get one extra day to paste it. That paste retroactively re-settles the just-closed cycle's payout with your real score.
• After that — older closed cycles lock for good. The max-penalty score is permanent and can't be replaced.

So Wednesday's Wordle can be pasted any day from Wednesday through the cycle's end — and one more day after, if Wednesday happened to be that cycle's final day.

How to backfill a missed day

While you're still inside the recovery window, you'll see two cues on your own row — and only you see them; to everyone else the tile just reads as a normal MISS until you paste:

• A banner above the scoreboard (yesterday only) — "You missed yesterday's Wordle. Tap your tile to paste it." Dismiss it with the × if you don't need it.
• Your own tile for any missed past day in the open cycle shows a soft amber ＋ badge instead of the red MISS, marking it as "still fixable."

Tap that tile, paste that day's share into the box (add a note if you like), and Save. The tile flips to your real grid and score and your totals update. Just like a normal paste, one paste fills every Series you're in. And if the miss was on the final day of a cycle that has since closed (the cycle-boundary case), pasting it re-settles that closed cycle's payout with your real score.

Didn't just forget to paste it — forgot to play it at all? You can still go back and play the puzzle (with a subscription, or the free date trick) and then backfill it here. See Playing yesterday's puzzle.

What the tiles look like on the scoreboard

Every (player, day, game) slot on the scoreboard grid is one tile. Here's what each variation looks like:

Tap a red MISS badge for a popup confirming the puzzle, the date, and the auto-assigned score. Tap your own amber ＋ badge to paste that day's result while it's still backfillable (any past day in the current open cycle).

Worked example

Say Casey forgot to submit Wednesday's Wordle. Through the rest of that cycle, Casey's Wednesday tile shows a soft amber W ＋ (and a one-time banner reminds them on Thursday morning) — they can paste Wednesday's real result on any day before the cycle closes, and it counts at face value with no penalty. If the cycle closes without a paste, the tile turns into a permanent red MISS 7: the Total column counts it and so does the live payout banner, so Casey is +7 against the field — they would have needed lower scores elsewhere in the cycle to dig out.

A note about your stats

Skill stats, Wordle/Connections distributions, head-to-head numbers, and streaks never count auto-assigned max-penalty entries — only real puzzles you actually played. So if you blow a cycle's payout to a string of missed days but still play every day going forward, your stats reflect your real play, not the penalties.

End-of-cycle recap

When a cycle closes, the next time anyone in the group opens the app, a recap modal auto-pops up celebrating the cycle. It shows:

• The cycle's winner with a crown, total points, and what each player owes them — or, in a forfeit Series, who finished last and the dare they're on the hook for
• A day-by-day grid of who won which day
• Best Moments — standout puzzles of the cycle (a Wordle solved in 3 or fewer guesses, or a Connections with at most 1 mistake), when anyone hit one. Any note left with one of those moments is quoted underneath.
• Days Won — a bar chart of who took the most individual days
• Cycle in chatter — every note left during the cycle, in chronological order, so you can re-read your friends' running commentary at the end of the cycle

Close the modal and a smaller dismissable banner sits above the scoreboard until you dismiss that too. This is per-device — dismissing on your phone doesn't dismiss on your laptop. The full closed-cycle results stay on the Game Stats page either way.

Reading the scoreboard

The main scoreboard shows your Series's current cycle:

• Each row is a player.
• Each column is a day.
• Each cell shows that player's total points for the day, plus a tiny version of the Wordle and Connections grids you'd see in the share.

Points work like this:

• Wordle: 1 point if you solved it in 1 guess, 2 if you needed 2, and so on up to 6. A failed puzzle (X/6) is 7 points. Lower is better.
• Connections: 0 points for a perfect solve (no mistakes), 1 for one mistake, 2 for two, 3 for three, 4 if you failed. Lower is better — yes, zero is the best possible score.

Tap or click any tile to see the full puzzle grid in a popup. A small count badge in the corner of a tile shows how many comments are attached to that puzzle (the submitter's note plus anything anyone has added to the thread). The popup also has a Share image button that turns the grid into a shareable picture — see Sharing your result. The discussion thread for the puzzle is at the bottom of the popup — see Comments and reactions.

Tap or click any avatar (anywhere it appears — scoreboard header, cycle recap, lifetime standings) to open a quick stats popup. Two tabs: This cycle (today's status, wins so far, average guesses/mistakes) and All-time (career wins, win %, current and longest streaks, perfect counts). Works for everyone in the Series, including yourself. Both current streaks — 🔥 Wordle and 💎 Connections — are always pinned right below the headline so you can see what's on the line at a glance, regardless of which tab is open.

Above the scoreboard, two banners:

• Closed banner ("Last cycle: …") — the most recently completed cycle and what was paid out.
• Live banner ("If the cycle ended now: …") — a running prediction. The header shows everyone's current totals sorted lowest-first ("IF THE CYCLE ENDED NOW 23-25"), and the body shows who would owe what. The math uses the same submission set as the grid's Total column — real submissions for every past day, plus the max-penalty placeholder for any missed day. Today's results are held back until every player has submitted every required game for today, so partial-day scores never skew the running payout (whoever submits first would otherwise look like they're "winning" by an unfair margin). Once today is complete for everyone, today's points jump into the banner. While the hold is active, a small italic note appears under the banner: "Today's submissions aren't included in this amount yet — waiting for every player to submit today's puzzle. Once today is complete for everyone, today's points are added in and the amount may change." Under the live banner there's also a Share progress button: it builds a share image of the mid-cycle standings — a "Day N of M" chip, who's leading and by how much, and a suspense headline ("Tim leads by 3 — 2 days left to close the gap") — so you can stir the pot before the cycle closes. It appears once the cycle is past day 1 and at least one result has been pasted.

In a forfeit Series, both banners drop the money lines and instead show a 🥄 with the last-place finisher and their dare (e.g. "Dawn does laundry next week"), or "Everyone tied — no forfeit this cycle." on a push.

At the bottom of the scoreboard, the paste boxes for today's Wordle and Connections. These are for today's puzzle only. Missed an earlier day? You don't paste it here — tap your own tile for that day and paste it in the popup. Any past day in the current open cycle is still backfillable (see What if I miss a day?). Days from already-closed cycles are locked at the max-penalty score and can't be replaced.

Comments and reactions

Every puzzle has its own little discussion thread — open it by tapping any tile on the scoreboard (yours or anyone else's). The thread sits at the bottom of the puzzle popup, under the grid.

What lives in the thread

• The submitter's note (if there is one) — that's the optional message the player attached when they pasted their share. See Adding a note to your submission.
• Anyone else's comments — anyone currently in the Series can leave a comment on any puzzle, today's or older. 280 characters per comment.
• Reactions — every comment can be reacted to with one of four emojis: 👍 😂 😮 🔥. Tap one to add yours, tap again to remove it. Reactions show a small count next to the emoji so you can see how the room voted.

The newest comment is at the bottom; the thread auto-scrolls so a fresh post is visible right away.

Posting a comment

Type into the box at the bottom of the thread and tap Post. Drafts are kept locally until you submit, and the character counter ("X left") turns red as you near the 280 limit. You must be a member of the Series to comment — non-members viewing a public demo can read but can't post.

Editing and deleting

• Your own submitter's note: edit it by re-pasting your share with a different note (or empty), as described above.
• Your own thread comments: tap the Delete link on the right side of your comment. The slot turns into "—comment removed—" rather than disappearing entirely, so the conversation around it still makes sense. Other people's reactions to a deleted comment are removed at the same time.
• You can't edit a thread comment — only delete and re-post. Keep the original short and crisp, or don't sweat a typo.

When someone posts

If you have push notifications enabled (see Push notifications), you'll get a nudge whenever anyone in your group adds a comment on any puzzle — the alert quotes the comment text, names the author, and tells you which puzzle. Tap the notification to land on that puzzle's popup with the thread open.

Comments versus submitter notes

Both appear in the same thread and look similar; the submitter's note is just the anchor message at the top of each puzzle's discussion.

Sharing your result

Pumpkin can turn any Wordle or Connections result into a polished picture you can post on Facebook, Instagram, or send to a friend in a text. It works for any day's puzzle, not just today's.

Right after you paste

The fastest path: as soon as you paste a result and Save, Pumpkin pops up a share-image preview with Share / Copy / Download buttons. One tap and your colored grid is on its way to wherever you want to post it. Tap Not now to skip and head back to the scoreboard — you can always come back via "Tap your tile" below.

Standout results (Wordle 1/6, 2/6, 3/6, X/6 wipeouts, Connections clean sweeps, reverse rainbows, etc.) get a small celebration headline above the tile. Ordinary days get a calm header — the share image itself is the star.

Tap your tile any time

1. Tap your tile on the scoreboard (works for any day, any player).
2. In the popup, click Share image.
3. A preview of the picture appears, showing the colored tile grid, the puzzle number, your score, and a small Pumpkin watermark with the site address.
4. From here:
   • On a phone — tap Share to open your phone's share sheet (Facebook, Messages, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. show up as targets when the apps are installed).
   • On a computer — tap Copy image, then paste (Ctrl+V on Windows, Cmd+V on Mac) wherever you want to share it — a Facebook or Instagram post, a message, an email. You can also use Download to save the picture as a .png file and upload it the usual way.

What's in the picture

• The puzzle title (Wordle 1,408 or Connections #712).
• The colored tile grid — same colors and layout as the official share text.
• The score (e.g. 3/6, X/6, 1 mistake, Failed).
• A small picture of Pumpkin and the address the-pumpkin-app.com in the bottom corner.
• The tagline "Make a game of your games."

The branding is small on purpose — the picture should feel like your result, with a quiet mention of where it came from.

Tips

• Past-day shares work too. Browse to any past cycle using the left/right arrows above the scoreboard, tap a tile from that cycle, and share. Friends will see the puzzle number that matches the day you played.
• Failed puzzles look good too. An X/6 Wordle or a Failed Connections still produces a clean image — the score just shows up in red.
• Picture size is 1080×1080 pixels (square). That fills most social feeds nicely — Facebook, Instagram, and the like.

The Game Stats page

Tap Game Stats in the top-right of the scoreboard for a deep set of stats:

• Lifetime standings — every player's all-time wins, losses, and net dollars.
• Skill breakdown — averages for Wordle and Connections, side by side.
• Wordle distribution — how often each player solves in 1/2/3/4/5/6 guesses (or fails).
• Connections distribution — how often each player solves with 0/1/2/3 mistakes (or fails).
• Recent form — last several cycles, side-by-side.
• Best month — each player's strongest calendar month.
• Head-to-head — wins, ties, and losses between pairs of players.
• Records and extremes — best/worst cycle scores, longest streaks, biggest payouts.
• Badges and achievements — see the section below.
• Cumulative net chart — each player's running total over time.
• Cycle history — every closed cycle, scrollable, with full payouts.

Forfeit Series: the money-based stats — lifetime net, the cumulative-net chart, and the "biggest won / biggest paid" records — are hidden, since there's no money to total. Every score-based stat (skill, distributions, head-to-head, records, days won) stays, and each cycle's history row shows the dare instead of a payout.

This page is your group's shared scoreboard stats, built from everyone's pastes in this Series. For your own all-time NYT totals — including history from before you joined Pumpkin — see Lifetime game stats on your profile.

Badges and achievements

Every puzzle you paste gets evaluated for a handful of named events — the rare, brag-worthy moments that are worth calling out. They show up in three places:

• On the puzzle popup, as small chips under the grid (the rarest two only — common stamps are kept out of the way).
• On the Game Stats page, as a per-player tally of every badge you've ever earned.
• In the weekly recap, as the headline at the top when something rare happened that cycle.

Wordle solve-speed badges. 1/6 keeps the NYT-toast name (Genius); 2/6 and 3/6 use the literal "Wordle in N" naming — those are important wins, no need to dress them up. 4/6+ use NYT's toast words.

The common ones (Splendid, Great) still tally in your lifetime stats but are kept off the puzzle popup so the rare moments stand out.

Grid-shape and narrative badges call out the visually striking or dramatic solves:

• Sea of Greens — NYT's rarest grid pattern (≥80% green tiles).
• Yellow Brick Road — a row of all yellows. Every letter, wrong order.
• Greens Only — solved without a single yellow tile anywhere. Every guess landed letters in place.
• Hot Start — opened with 3+ green tiles on the very first guess. The dream opener.
• In the Bag — you stuffed it in on row 6 with almost nothing on the board.
• Slow Burn — solved on row 5 or 6 with zero greens until the winning row. Pure suspense.
• Streak Saved — you won at 5/6 or 6/6 while a 30+ day streak was on the line.
• Comeback Kid — solved today after a Heartbreaker yesterday.
• Plus the lore patterns: Christmas Tree, Green Sweep, One-Letter Save, Blackout, and a handful of others.

Connections badges call out the named outcomes the community talks about:

• Perfect Puzzle — 0 mistakes.
• Reverse Rainbow — solved purple → blue → green → yellow with no mistakes. NYT's rarest order.
• Rainbow — solved yellow → green → blue → purple with no mistakes.
• Purple First — hardest category solved first.
• Squeaker — solved with 3 mistakes — one slip from a Bust.
• One Away — a wrong guess that was 3-of-1 (the game's signature near-miss).
• Two-and-Two Trap — a wrong guess that bridged two real categories (2+2 color split).
• Total Scatter — a wrong guess with one of every color. Pure chaos, no plan at all.
• Heartbreak Run — three or more One Aways in the same game.
• Purple Bust — failed after solving everything else except the purple category. Wyna's revenge.

Streak tiers light up while your active streak qualifies and disappear if the streak breaks:

• On Fire (7+ Wordle wins) · Hot Streak (30+) · Untouchable (100+) · Ironclad (365+).
• On a Roll (7+ Connections wins) · Puzzle Master (30+) · Perfect Week (7 perfect-mistake Connections in a row).

The small "·N" on each chip is your lifetime count — how many times you've earned that badge across every Series you play in. If you've imported your NYT history, the badges NYT also tracks (Wordle in 1/2/3/4/5/6, Sea of Greens, Perfect Puzzle, Purple First, Reverse Rainbow) fold their imported counts into the number too — so a chip can read "·28" the first time it ever fires inside Pumpkin. NYT-only badges (Hard Mode, the seasonal challenges) don't translate.

Streak tiers also carry a "·N" — it's how many times you've ever reached that tier across your full Pumpkin history. A 14-day Connections perfect run is 1 Perfect Week, not 2; the count ticks up the next time you string together another 7.

On a puzzle popup, each badge chip also shows a tiny "prev MMM DD" line underneath — the most recent time you earned that exact badge BEFORE this puzzle. So when Reverse Rainbow fires again you can see at a glance how long it's been.

Personal badge breakdown on the avatar popup. Tap any avatar (yours or anyone else's) to see their badge collection per game — chip rows under both This cycle and All-time, sorted NYT-tracked first (the headline achievements the wider Wordle/Connections community would recognise) then Pumpkin-originals by rarity.

Tap any badge chip anywhere it appears for a small popup explaining what the badge means and how it was earned, plus your personal earning history (including a NYT-vs-Pumpkin source breakdown when you've imported). The popup also tells you where this badge ranks in your collection (e.g. "Your 2nd most-earned Wordle badge" — counting NYT imports + Pumpkin earnings together) and the date you first earned it in Pumpkin.

Install Pumpkin on your phone

Pumpkin is a website, but every modern phone lets you "install" a website so it gets its own home-screen icon and opens full-screen like a regular app. It's the same code either way — installing just makes day-to-day pasting faster and is what makes phone notifications work properly (on both iPhone and Android).

It's a one-time, ~30-second setup per device.

Why install?

• One-tap launch from your home screen — no Safari or Chrome tab to dig out.
• Full-screen view, no browser toolbar eating space at the top.
• Phone notifications open the app, not the browser. On iPhone, Apple doesn't allow push from Safari at all, so installing is the only way to get alerts. On Android, a notification only opens Pumpkin (rather than a Chrome tab) when the app is installed — so Pumpkin asks you to install first before turning notifications on. Either way, installing is what lets you get the "friend submitted" alerts and the nightly nudge, and have them open straight into the app.
• Stays signed in. Same 30-day session as the browser; you just don't have to find the tab again.

On iPhone (Safari)

Pumpkin's icon installer only works in Safari on iPhone. Chrome and Firefox on iOS borrow Safari's engine but don't expose the install option. If you're in another browser, copy the URL and open it in Safari first.

1. Open Safari and go to the-pumpkin-app.com.
2. Sign in (or sign up) so you're past the login screen.
3. Tap the Share button — the square with the upward arrow at the bottom-center of the screen (iPhone) or top-right (iPad).
4. Scroll down the share sheet and tap Add to Home Screen.
5. You'll see a preview with the Pumpkin icon and "Pumpkin" as the name. Tap Add in the top-right.
6. Pumpkin is now on your home screen. Tap it once to launch — it opens full-screen with no Safari chrome.

Turning on push notifications (iPhone only): open Pumpkin from the home-screen icon (not from Safari), tap your avatar → Notifications, and flip the toggle on. iOS will pop a permission prompt — tap Allow.

On Android (Chrome)

1. Open Chrome and go to the-pumpkin-app.com.
2. Sign in (or sign up).
3. Chrome usually shows an "Install app" prompt at the bottom of the screen on its own — tap it and confirm.
4. If you don't see the prompt, tap the ⋮ (three-dot menu) in the top-right corner of Chrome → Install app (sometimes labeled Add to Home screen).
5. Confirm. Pumpkin lands on your home screen with its own icon.

Other Android browsers (Samsung Internet, Edge, Firefox) all have a similar "Add to Home screen" or "Install app" option in their menu — same idea, just labeled slightly differently.

On desktop or laptop

Pumpkin can be installed on a computer too — Chrome, Edge, and Brave on Windows/Mac/Linux all support it. Look for a small install icon (usually a monitor with a down-arrow) at the right edge of the address bar, or use the ⋮ menu → Install Pumpkin. The app gets its own window and dock/taskbar icon. Optional on a desktop, but nice if you use the app daily.

Getting started

Creating an account

The first time you open Pumpkin, you'll need a free account.

1. Tap Create an account (or open a friend's invite link, which leads you to signup).
2. Enter your email and a password (at least 8 characters).
3. Confirm the password.
4. You're in.

Your email is the only thing the app uses to identify you. You'll log in with it on each new device, but on the same device you stay logged in for 30 days.

Joining a Series

If a friend already created a Series, they'll send you an invite link:

https://the-pumpkin-app.com/join/magical-mystery-word-AB12CD

Open it on your phone or computer. You'll see "You're invited to join [Series name]," which games it tracks, and what you're playing for — the cash/unit stakes, the forfeit dare, or just bragging rights — so you know the deal before you join. Sign in if you already have an account, or create one. Then pick a display name for that Series — this is what your friends see on the scoreboard, and you can use a different name in each Series you join.

Creating your own Series

To start your own Series:

1. Sign in and go to My Series (or /series).

2. Tap Create new.

3. Name your Series. (You can rename it later — the web address changes, but everyone in the Series is moved over automatically.)

4. Pick your own display name for the Series.

5. Choose Group or Solo. Group is the default — a Series for 2–4 friends competing for the cycle payout. Solo is just-you mode for tracking your own scores without a scoreboard. The two differ only in how the first cycle starts (more on this below).

6. Choose which games to track: Wordle, Connections, or both. (You can drop a game later from Admin — closed-cycle data stays visible, but no new submissions for that game can be added. You can't add a game back, so if you might want both, pick both now.)

7. Choose how long each scoring cycle runs (1–7 days). The default is 7 days (a "week"). There's no fixed start weekday — your opening cycle starts when you end warm-up by clicking Start the series (see below) and runs the full length, and each new cycle starts when the last one ends.

8. Set the stakes (optional). First choose how the cycle is played for — Cash-style or Forfeit / dare. (Forfeit is for Group Series only; Solo Series are always cash-style.)

   • Cash-style — pick what the cycle is played for: 💵 Bucks (dollars, shown as $28), or something friendlier like 🦆 ducks, 🍺 beers, ☕ coffees, plain 🎯 points, or a custom unit with your own singular/plural name and icon (these read as a count, like "28 beers"). Then set the base (a flat amount each non-winner covers each cycle, 20 by default) and the per-point amount (added per point of difference from the winner, 1 by default). Set either to 0 if you want only the other to matter, or both to 0 to just keep score.
   • Forfeit / dare — no money. Type what the last-place finisher does each cycle (up to 80 characters, e.g. "buys everyone lunch"), and optionally add an emoji. The lowest score still wins the cycle; the worst score does the dare.

   You can change all of this later in Admin → Stakes; updates take effect immediately on the current open cycle, while already-closed cycles stay locked at whatever was in place when they finalized.

9. Tap Create.

You're now the owner. The app gives you an invite link to share with up to 3 friends.

How a new Series begins (warm-up)

A brand-new Group Series doesn't start scoring the moment you tap Create. Instead, it enters a warm-up phase — the scoreboard shows a today-only progress view, and no cycle is open yet. The first cycle begins only when the owner clicks "Start the series." That day becomes day 1 of cycle 1, and the cycle rolls forward from there using whatever length you picked.

Warm-up exists so nobody loses day 1 of a real cycle while invites are still going out — the owner decides when everyone who's playing has joined, instead of the cycle kicking off the moment any two people happen to submit. Submissions you make during warm-up are still saved to your lifetime stats — they just don't count toward a cycle. If a player doesn't submit before midnight, nothing is lost: warm-up simply continues to the next day until the owner starts the series.

While in warm-up, the scoreboard shows:

• A status row for each member with ✓ / — for each enabled game (today only)
• The invite link, if there are seats open and you're the owner
• (Owner only) a "Start the series" button

As the owner, you start the series with the "Start the series" button — on the warm-up scoreboard or in Admin. It opens cycle 1 today, no matter how many of your players have submitted yet. The button stays disabled until at least 2 players have joined, so invite a friend first; you don't have to wait for anyone to submit.

Solo Series skip warm-up entirely. The cycle starts the day you create the Series.

Friends joining mid-cycle

Once warm-up is over and cycle 1 has opened, anyone who joins partway through a cycle is treated as a pending player:

• They appear on the scoreboard with a "joining next cycle" marker
• Their submissions show up on the grid (so you can see how they're doing), but their Total reads "—"
• They're excluded from running totals, the live "if cycle ended now" banner, and the eventual payout math
• The cycle's stats and payout reflect only the players who started the cycle on day 1
• When the next cycle opens, they're a normal player from day 1

If you'd rather the newcomer play from day 1 of a fresh cycle instead of waiting out the current one, the owner can End cycle now from Admin or the bottom of the scoreboard (see End cycle now, below). The current cycle settles based on whoever's playing, and a new cycle opens immediately with the new member included.

Managing your profile

Tap your avatar in the top-right of the scoreboard to open Me.

• Display name — what your friends see on this Series's scoreboard. Can be different in each Series.
• Avatar — uploaded once, shows up everywhere you're a member. Tap Upload a photo, pick an image straight from your phone or computer (up to 25 MB), then drag and pinch to crop. The app shrinks the result for you before saving — no need to resize first.

Lifetime game stats (import your NYT history)

Your Me page also keeps your personal all-time Wordle and Connections numbers — games played, win %, current and max streak, your guess/mistake distribution, and (for Connections) perfect puzzles. There's a card for each game.

These start working on their own: even before you import anything, each card is built from your Pumpkin pastes across every Series you're in (the same real puzzle counts once, even if you play it in two Series). A brand-new account just shows a small total like "From your 4 Pumpkin games."

There are two things you can import — independently:

• Stats (Played, Win %, Current Streak, Max Streak, distribution, perfect puzzles for Connections) → updates the numbers on the cards.
• Badges (Genius, Wordle in 2/3/4/5/6, Sea of Greens, Perfect Puzzle, Purple First) → folds into the small "·N" lifetime count on each badge chip across the app and on share images.

Each kind has its own baseline. Importing one doesn't touch the other, so you can bring in stats today and badges next week (or the other way around), and re-importing one type later won't blow away the other.

To import your stats:

1. Open the NYT Games app or website and go to your Statistics screen for Wordle or Connections (the panel with Played, Win %, Current Streak, Max Streak, and the bar chart).
2. Take a screenshot. If the whole panel doesn't fit on one screen, take a couple of overlapping shots — you can add up to 3.
3. On your Pumpkin Me page, find the matching game's card and pick your screenshot(s).
4. The app reads them for you and shows a preview of what it found. Check the numbers against your screen.
5. Tap Save as my baseline. (Wrong game or a blurry shot? It'll tell you — just retake and try again.)

To import your badges:

1. In the NYT Games app, open the same Statistics screen — then tap "Show All Badges" (it's a separate page from the stats panel).
2. Screenshot the badges grid. If you have a lot of badges and they don't all fit on one screen, scroll and take overlapping shots (up to 3).
3. Same picker on the Pumpkin Me page — drop the badges screenshots in. The preview shows exactly which badges will fold into your Pumpkin counts (Wordle in N, Sea of Greens, Perfect Puzzle, Purple First) and which NYT-only badges (Hard Mode, the seasonal challenges) won't translate.
4. Tap Save as my baseline. Your ·N lifetime chip counts immediately reflect the added totals.

Once saved, the imported numbers become your baseline as of today, and every puzzle you paste into Pumpkin from then on adds on top automatically. Your earlier Pumpkin pastes are folded into the imported numbers rather than double-counted. Re-importing anytime (say, a month later) simply replaces that kind of baseline with a fresh snapshot.

Streaks follow NYT's rules: a missed day or a loss breaks your streak, and a win the next day continues it. Because Pumpkin recomputes from your pastes, if you forget a day and paste it late, your streak heals itself.

These stats are just for you, and display-only. Nobody else sees your imported history, and it never affects any scores, cycle results, wagers, or winners — those always come only from what's actually pasted into a Series. Importing is capped at a few tries a day. Pumpkin stores the numbers it reads, never your screenshots.

Push notifications

Get a buzz on your phone or computer when something happens in your Series. This is opt-in per device — turn it on once on each phone or laptop you want alerts on.

Open Me and tap the Notifications toggle. Your browser will ask permission to send notifications; allow it. From then on, that device will alert you when:

• Another player in any of your Series submits a puzzle. You'll see who submitted and which game (Wordle or Connections), but not their score — open the app to see the result. If they left a note with their submission, it's quoted in the alert.
• You still have a puzzle due. A single evening nudge around 9:00 PM Eastern (give or take an hour depending on daylight saving), so you don't forget to add tonight's score. You only get this if you actually still have something to submit.

To stop alerts, flip the toggle back off on that device. Each device is independent — turn each one off separately.

On phones, install Pumpkin first. On iPhone, push only works from the installed app — Apple doesn't allow web push from Safari at all. On Android, notifications only open the app (instead of a Chrome tab) when Pumpkin is installed, so the toggle will prompt you to install before turning them on. Either way: install from Install Pumpkin on your phone, open Pumpkin from the home-screen icon (not a browser tab), then flip the Notifications toggle on from there. (On a desktop/laptop the toggle works straight from the browser tab.)

Switching between Series

In more than one Series? Tap the Series name at the top of the scoreboard. A dropdown lists every Series you belong to — tap one to switch. View all Series opens the My Series page, where you can also find Series you've archived.

For Series owners

When you create a Series, you become its owner and get extra controls. Tap Admin in the top-right of the scoreboard.

Renaming the Series

Changes the URL of your Series. Anyone who bookmarked the old URL will need the new one — but the dropdown switcher follows the rename automatically, so no one gets lost.

Stakes

Choose the stakes type — Cash-style or Forfeit / dare (forfeit is Group Series only) — and switch between them any time. For cash-style, pick the unit the cycle is played for (Bucks, ducks, beers, coffees, points, or a custom unit) and change the base and per-point amount. For forfeit, type what the last-place finisher does each cycle (up to 80 characters, emoji optional). Updates apply immediately to the current open cycle — the "if the cycle ended now" banner reflects the new settings the moment you save, and the cycle closes with whatever's in place at that point. Already-closed cycles stay locked at the stakes that were in place when they finalized.

Game cadence

The Game cadence section shows your cycle length and confirms the rollover rule: a new cycle starts when the last one ends. Cycle length is fixed at creation — changing it mid-Series would conflict with already-closed cycles — and there's no start-weekday setting to manage. See When a cycle starts and ends for the full behavior.

Invite link

Each Series has one persistent invite link. It includes your Series's name so friends can recognize it — for example the-pumpkin-app.com/join/magical-mystery-word-A8BCDE — but the short code on the end is what actually lets someone in, so the link still only works for people you send it to. Share it with up to 3 friends to fill the 4-player cap. Tap the copy icon next to the link to copy it to your clipboard in one click. If the link gets spread too widely, tap Get a new link to invalidate the old one.

Who can join

New players always need your approval. When someone follows your invite link they land on a "waiting for approval" screen — they aren't added yet. A Join requests list appears at the top of your Admin page showing each person's name and email; tap Allow to add them (they can rename themselves and pick a color afterward) or Decline to dismiss it. You'll also get an email and a push notification the moment a request comes in, so a pending approval never slips by — these always reach you, independent of the join-notification toggle below (since an unapproved request keeps that person from playing). When you tap Allow, the new player is notified automatically — an email (and a push notification if they've enabled them) letting them know they're in — so you don't have to chase them down separately. (Declining doesn't notify anyone.)

Notifications

The Admin page has a Notifications section with a single toggle: "Email me when a new member joins." When it's on, you'll get an email at your account address every time someone is added to your Series. The email shows their display name and lets you jump back to the scoreboard.

The toggle defaults to on for new Series. Turn it off if you'd rather not be notified — the joins still happen, you just don't hear about them. Note this toggle covers the "someone joined" FYI only: join requests that need your approval always notify you (email + push), since they're an action you have to take. See Who can join.

Removing a player

If someone needs to leave, tap Remove next to their name. They lose access going forward. Their past submissions stay so the history still makes sense, but they're not counted in future cycles. Owners can't remove themselves.

End cycle now

End the current cycle right now, before its scheduled end date. The same control also lives at the bottom of the scoreboard as End cycle now (owner-only). The payout is computed immediately, any missed days are filled with the maximum penalty (exactly like a natural end), and a new cycle opens — tomorrow if everyone had already finished, otherwise today, so today still counts toward the fresh cycle. A common reason to use it: a new member joined mid-cycle, and you want them in from day 1 of a fresh cycle rather than benched as a "pending player" until the current one finishes. You can also use it when the whole group simply agrees to wrap up early. Closed cycles are never touched, and there's no undo on the cycle you end.

While a Series is still in warm-up, this section is replaced by Start the series, which ends warm-up and opens cycle 1 today regardless of who has submitted (and is also available right on the warm-up scoreboard). It needs at least 2 players. Once the series has started, the section reverts to the end-cycle behavior described above.

Archiving a Series

Puts a Series into read-only mode. Closes the current cycle and freezes everything. Members can still view the scoreboard and history — they just can't add new submissions. Find archived Series under My Series → Archived.

Deleting a Series

This is permanent. Wipes the Series and every submission, cycle, and member entry in it. Available from the Admin page for both active and archived Series. You'll be asked to type the Series's exact name to confirm.

Common situations

"That puzzle is already locked at the max-penalty score"

The puzzle is from a closed cycle and can no longer be backfilled. You can paste a puzzle the day you play it (the scoreboard paste box) or any later day while its cycle is still open by tapping your own tile (see What if I miss a day?). Once the cycle closes, missed slots lock at the max-penalty value and can't be replaced. There's no override; this is how the cycle keeps everyone honest.

"This share is for [date], not today's puzzle"

You pasted a share into the today paste box whose puzzle date isn't today — the scoreboard paste boxes only take today's puzzle. If the share is from an earlier day in the current cycle, don't use the paste box — tap your own tile for that day and paste it there instead (see What if I miss a day?). Days from already-closed cycles are locked.

"Couldn't parse that as a Wordle share"

The paste box only accepts the official NYT share text. Common reasons it fails:

• You copied a screenshot of the result instead of the text.
• The share text was edited (extra commentary added between the grid rows).
• You copied something other than the share output (like a URL).

Fix: in the NYT Games app, tap Share Your Results again and pick Copy (or Copy to clipboard) cleanly. Don't edit the text before pasting.

"This puzzle was max-locked and can't be edited"

A puzzle already in the database at the max-penalty score can't be overwritten with a real result. This happens when a previous day's puzzle was auto-assigned the max score and the submission window has since closed.

My avatar isn't showing

Your avatar uploads once and shows up in every Series you're in. If it's not appearing, refresh the page. If it's still missing, go to Me and re-upload it.

I forgot my password

On the sign-in screen, tap Forgot password? below the password field, enter your email, and tap Send reset link. You'll receive a reset link shortly — check your inbox (and spam folder). The link expires after 30 minutes. If it doesn't arrive, reach out to support and we'll get you back in.

I'm on a new phone — do I lose my history?

No. Your account lives on the server, not the device. Sign in with the same email and password on the new phone and everything will be there.

FAQ

Does the app actually charge me or move money? No. Payouts are completely voluntary and happen outside the app. Pumpkin tracks scores and tells you what each loser would owe the winner under your Series's payout settings — that's it. It doesn't connect to your bank, doesn't process payments, and doesn't store any payment info. Your group settles up however it already settles up (cash, Venmo, beer, a running tab). If you want the scoreboard without any money math, set the base payout and per-point amount to $0 in Admin.

How is the winner decided each cycle? Lowest total points wins. Wordle (1–6, or 7 for a fail) and Connections (0–4 mistakes) are added for each day, then summed across the cycle. This is true whether you play cash-style or for a forfeit.

Can we play for a dare instead of money? Yes — pick the Forfeit / dare stakes type when you create the Series (or switch in Admin → Stakes). Instead of a payout, whoever finishes the cycle with the worst total does one thing you agree on up front ("buys lunch", "does laundry next week"). The lowest score still wins the cycle; the worst score is on the hook. A tie for last means everyone tied does it; an all-around push means no forfeit. Forfeit is Group Series only — Solo Series are always cash-style. See Two stakes types: cash-style or forfeit.

What happens if I tie with someone? If two or more of you tie for the lowest score in a 3- or 4-player group, you split the pot equally from whoever finished above you. The cycle is only a "push" (no payout) when every player ends on the exact same total — which, in a 2-player group, is what any tie comes to.

What if I miss a day? Paste each day's puzzle the day you play it. If you forget, you can still paste a missed day any time before the cycle closes by tapping your own tile on the scoreboard (it counts at face value — no late penalty). Miss the whole cycle and the slot locks at the max-penalty score (Wordle = 7, Connections = 4) and counts in your cycle total. You stay in the running for the payout either way. See What if I miss a day? for the visual tile guide and a worked example.

Can I edit a submission after I paste it? Yes — re-paste the share for today's puzzle and tap Save. You can also update or remove the optional note the same way: leave the comment field blank or type a new one before saving. Missed days from earlier in the current open cycle can still be added by tapping your own tile; once a cycle closes, its slots lock for good.

Can I add a note to my submission? Yes. After you paste a valid share, an optional 280-character note box appears under the paste field. The note is quoted in the submit-time push notification, anchors the puzzle's discussion thread, and is collected in the end-of-cycle recap.

Is there a faster way than copy-and-paste? Yes — three shortcuts, all next to the normal paste box. A "How do I paste my score?" helper with a visual walkthrough; clipboard auto-detect, where Pumpkin spots a copied result and offers a one-tap Submit when you open the app; and (on Android) Share → Pumpkin straight from the NYT app's share menu. Full details in Faster ways to add your score.

Pumpkin asked to read my clipboard — is that safe? Yes. When you open Pumpkin with a Wordle or Connections result copied, the app checks your clipboard so it can offer to fill the score in for you. It looks only for a puzzle result — anything else on your clipboard is ignored — and nothing is saved unless you tap Submit this score. On iPhone you'll see Pumpkin's own explanation first, then iOS's system prompt, so the read only ever happens with your say-so. You can always ignore it and paste manually instead.

Can I share my result straight from the NYT app into Pumpkin? On Android, yes: install Pumpkin to your home screen and it appears in the NYT app's Share menu — tap Share → Pumpkin and your score is ready to confirm, no copy-paste. On iPhone, Apple doesn't let apps register as share targets yet, so use the clipboard auto-detect instead (open Pumpkin after copying and it offers your score). See Faster ways to add your score.

Can I comment on someone else's puzzle? Yes. Open the puzzle popup (tap any tile on the scoreboard) and use the discussion thread at the bottom. Anyone currently in the Series can post — 280 characters per comment, no edits but you can delete your own. Comments support 👍 😂 😮 🔥 reactions. See Comments and reactions.

Can I share my Wordle or Connections result somewhere else? Yes — Pumpkin can turn any puzzle into a 1080×1080 picture you can post on Facebook, Instagram, or text to a friend. Tap your tile on the scoreboard, click Share image in the popup, and choose Share (on phones — opens the OS share sheet) or Copy image / Download (on computers — paste it anywhere with Ctrl/Cmd+V or upload the saved file). Works for any past day too. Full details in Sharing your result.

Can I be in more than one Series? Yes, as many as you like. Use the Series switcher (the dropdown on the Series name) or My Series to navigate. You only need to paste each day's puzzle once — submissions (and their comments) automatically flow to every active Series you're a member of that tracks that game.

Do I need to be in the same Series as my friend? Each Series is independent. If you and a friend are in two different Series, those Series never see each other.

Can two players in the same Series have the same name? No, display names must be unique within a Series. Pick a nickname or initial if there's a clash.

Can I leave a Series? Ask the owner to remove you. The owner can't leave themselves — they have to delete or archive the Series.

Can someone outside the Series see our scoreboard? No. Only signed-in members can view a Series. Sharing the URL won't let outsiders in unless they have an invite link.

Why is "X/6" treated as 7 points? It's the worst Wordle score — failing the puzzle. Counting it as 7 puts it one worse than a 6-guess win, which is intuitive on the scoreboard.

Does the live banner match the closed banner when the cycle ends? Yes. The live banner uses the same submission set the grid's Total column uses — every real submission plus the max-penalty placeholder for any missed day. The only thing the live banner ever holds back is today's submissions while today is still incomplete (some players haven't submitted today's games yet). By the time the cycle closes, today is no longer "today" and the math agrees with the closed banner exactly.

Are my Wordle/Connections stats kept if I miss a day? Yes. Skill stats, distributions, head-to-head numbers, and streaks only count real puzzles you actually played — the auto-assigned max-penalty entries are filtered out everywhere. So missing days hurts your cycle total but not your skill record.

Can the owner edit a player's submission? No. Submissions are locked to the player who pasted them. The owner can remove a player from the Series but can't reach into someone else's puzzle history.

Do I get an email when someone joins my Series? Yes, by default. The Admin page has a Notifications section where you can toggle this off if you don't want the emails. Notifications are sent to your account email and show the new member's display name.

Will I get reminded if I forget to play? Only if you turn on push notifications. Go to Me → Notifications and tap the toggle on each device you want to be alerted on. After that, you'll get a friendly nudge around 9 PM Eastern any night you still have a puzzle to log. On iPhone you need to install Pumpkin to your home screen first — Apple doesn't allow web push from Safari directly. See Install Pumpkin on your phone.

How do I get notified when my friends submit? Same toggle. With Me → Notifications turned on, that device will alert you whenever someone in any of your Series posts a Wordle or Connections result. The alert shows the player's name and which game, but not their score — open the app to see how they did. If they left a comment with their submission, it'll appear in the alert.

Does uninstalling Pumpkin from my home screen delete my account? No. Removing the icon just removes the shortcut. Your account and all your data stay on the server. Reinstall any time by repeating the home-screen install steps.

What's the difference between archiving and deleting a Series?

• Archiving puts the Series in read-only mode. Everyone can still view the scoreboard and history forever.
• Deleting wipes it out completely. There's no undo. Type the Series name to confirm.

What devices does this work on? Anything with a modern browser. iPhone (Safari), Android (Chrome), iPad, Mac, Windows, Linux. The site is mobile-first but works just as well on a big screen.

Does it work offline? Not really. You need an internet connection to paste a result. (Your account stays signed in for 30 days, so you don't have to type your password every time.)

What if the NYT Games app changes its share format? The app's parsers are designed to tolerate small format changes (extra commentary, different punctuation). If a future NYT update breaks the parser, let us know — drop a note describing the issue and we can update it.

Is my password stored safely? Yes. Passwords are hashed with bcryptjs at 11 rounds. The database never stores the actual password text, and there's no way to recover it (only to reset).

Who sees my email address? Other members of your Series don't see your email — they see your display name. Only you and the Pumpkin team can see your email.

How is the data stored? On a managed Neon Postgres database (hosted by Vercel's official integration). Backups are handled by Neon. The Pumpkin team has direct DB access for support purposes.

Glossary

• Series — A friend group's scoreboard — the competition you and your friends compete in. Each Series is independent: different members, different settings, different history.
• Player — Your role inside a single Series. You can use different display names in different Series.
• Member — Anyone currently in a Series (not removed).
• Owner — The person who created the Series. Has access to the Admin page.
• Cycle — A scoring period. Default is 7 days. The owner sets the length (1–7 days) when creating the Series. There's no fixed start weekday: the first cycle begins the day the Series gets going, and each new cycle starts when the last one ends (or early — see End cycle now).
• End cycle now — An owner-only control (bottom of the scoreboard, or Admin → End cycle now) that ends the current cycle on the spot, settling it exactly like a natural end (missed days max-locked, winner + payouts computed). The next cycle starts tomorrow if everyone had already finished, otherwise today.
• Stakes type — How a Series is played: Cash-style (a payout that grows with the score gap, shown in a wager unit) or Forfeit / dare (no money — the last-place finisher does a named thing). Chosen at creation, switchable in Admin → Stakes. Forfeit is Group Series only. Each closed cycle remembers the stakes it was played for.
• Forfeit / dare — A stakes type with no payout: whoever ends the cycle with the worst total does one agreed-upon thing ("buys lunch", "does the dishes", up to 80 characters, emoji optional). The lowest score still wins the cycle. Tie for last → everyone tied does it; full push → no forfeit. Shown with a 🥄 on the banners, recap, history rows, and share card.
• Wager unit — In a cash-style Series, the label its payouts are shown in: Bucks (dollars, "$28"), or a count-style unit like ducks, beers, coffees, points, or a custom name + icon ("28 beers"). Purely cosmetic — the payout math is always plain numbers. Each closed cycle remembers the unit it used.
• Warm-up — The opening phase of a new Group Series, before any cycle has started. The first cycle begins only when the owner clicks Start the series (on the warm-up scoreboard or in Admin); there's no automatic trigger, and it needs at least 2 players. Submissions during warm-up are saved to lifetime stats but don't count toward a cycle. Solo Series skip warm-up.
• Solo Series — A single-player Series, opted into at creation time. No warm-up, no payouts (Solo Series have no second player to owe), just personal score tracking. Inviting a friend later doesn't change the cycle cadence.
• Pending player — A member who joined a Group Series after a cycle already started. Visible on the scoreboard with a "joining next cycle" marker; submissions show but Total reads "—"; excluded from cycle totals and payout. Becomes a normal player when the next cycle opens.
• Push — A cycle where every player ends on the same total. No payout. (In a 3- or 4-player group, two players tying for the lowest score is not a push — they split the pot from whoever scored above them.)
• Max-lock — A submission slot filled in automatically at the maximum penalty score (Wordle = 7, Connections = 4) because the player didn't paste a real result before its cycle closed. The penalty counts in the cycle total and the payout math; the player stays in the running. Skill stats ignore max-locks (they're not real plays).
• Late paste — Tapping your own missed tile on the scoreboard to paste the real result of a past day's puzzle. Available for any past day in the current open cycle. Until you paste, the slot shows (only to you) a soft amber ＋ badge and counts as the max-penalty score; once you paste, your real score counts at face value — no late penalty. Once the cycle closes, unpasted slots lock permanently as max-locks. A late paste flows to your other Series too, and re-settles a cycle that already closed if the miss was on its very last day.
• Invite link — A persistent URL friends use to request to join your Series (the owner approves every new player). The owner can regenerate it to invalidate the old one.
• Submitter's note — The optional 280-character message a player attaches to their own paste. Anchors the puzzle's discussion thread and is quoted in the submit-time push notification.
• Thread comment — A reply anyone in the Series can leave on any puzzle, in the discussion thread at the bottom of the puzzle popup. 280-character limit, deletable but not editable, supports 👍 😂 😮 🔥 reactions.
• Clipboard auto-detect — When you open Pumpkin with a copied Wordle/Connections result, the app offers it in a banner with a one-tap Submit, skipping the paste. Reads only for a puzzle result, nothing else; nothing is saved until you confirm. Silent on Android/desktop; on iPhone it asks first ("Check my clipboard") because iOS prompts on every clipboard read. Also offers yesterday's puzzle as a late paste. See Faster ways to add your score.
• Share to Pumpkin — On Android, an installed Pumpkin appears in the NYT app's share menu, so Share → Pumpkin sends your score straight in with no copy-paste. Not available on iPhone (iOS doesn't allow app share targets yet) — iPhone users rely on clipboard auto-detect.
• Archived Series — A Series the owner put into read-only mode. Still viewable forever; no new submissions accepted.