• by Colin Kirkland , May 1, 2024

Less than two months after app researchers discovered code highlighting LinkedIn's development of in-app games, the Microsoft-owned business-to-business social platform has released its first three games on mobile and desktop.

Similar to the popular New York Times games like Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections and Strands, LinkedIn users can now play Pinpoint, Queens and Crossclimb once per day.

After each game session, they will be provided with cumulative scoring metrics, leaderboards and information on other people in their network who have played.

Each game is designed to offer users a new take on classics like sudoku and word searches.

Pinpoint, for example, asks players to guess which category a group of words belongs to. As new words are revealed, the objective is to guess the category with as few words as possible.

Crossclimb is a trivia and wordplay game and Queens is a twist on sudoku without numbers.

“We're playing with adding puzzle-based games within the LinkedIn experience to unlock a bit of fun, deepen relationships, and hopefully spark the opportunity for conversations,” a LinkedIn spokesperson told TechCrunch back in March.

By adding gaming to the professional-networking platform, LinkedIn is likely trying to increase the amount of time its 1 billion users across the globe spend on the app while also trying to attract a more diverse user base. The move aligns with the company’s recent testing of a TikTok-like video feed filled with short videos highlighting business-related content.

Microsoft has also been a major player in gaming for years, as the owner of Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax.

LinkedIn's new in-app games are currently free for all users.