During the New York Times Tech Guild’s November 4–11, 2024 unfair-labor-practice strike, Guild members and supporters published a collection of browser games as an alternative to NYT Games and NYT Cooking. The strike is over: the Guild ratified its first contract on December 19, 2024.
What were the strike games?
The Times Tech Guild’s Guild Builds page introduced the projects with the line “Games for you to play while we are on strike.” Its list included a mix of word puzzles, arcade games, trivia, and other formats:
- Frogger 8th Ave
- Scabby’s Fair Contract Builder
- Match Strike
- Word Search
- Connections: Strike Edition
- Strikle
- STRIKEMAN
- Trivia and Jokes
- Mini Crossword: Strike Edition
- Guild Adventure
- Wide Guild Brick Breaker
The Guild’s page says the games were built by union members and supporters and “are not affiliated with the New York Times company.” They were strike-campaign projects, not official New York Times products or commercial releases. The Guild also linked recipes and strike chants alongside the games.
Why reported game counts differ
These lists reflect different moments, not a single fixed total. Fast Company’s November 7, 2024 snapshot described seven games, while the Guild’s page listed more. Fast Company reported that Guild members created all the games in its snapshot except Strikle, which came from an external supporter. A NewsGuild spokesperson said updates might not arrive daily and would be made “when they can be.”
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- Collection includes 100 classic board games, from Chess and Checkers to Parcheesi and Ludo
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Why the Guild made them
The Guild urged Times subscribers not to cross its “digital picket line” by avoiding NYT Games—including Wordle and Connections—and NYT Cooking during the work stoppage. Its own games gave supporters something else to play while observing that request. Engadget reproduced the Guild’s November 6 description of the projects: “In the great tradition of strike publications, we offer our tech-worker version.”
The games were part of a broader campaign, rather than a substitute for bargaining. The Guild said the dispute involved workplace protections and bargaining issues. Its timeline records “Zero Bargaining Sessions” during the November 4–11 strike.
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- Great Christmas Gift for Kids: Fast and smart game, enhancing competition and interactive ability. An easy to understand instruction is attached to provide some extra help to use the game board. They are perfect gift for various occasions, such as a Christmas gift, children party gift, birthday gift, classroom teaching, coffee table decor and so on. Attention- Not suitable for children under the age of 3 years. Small parts! Choking hazard
How many people played?
Audience figures were reported by the union and should be treated as union-reported rather than independently audited. In its December 11, 2024 announcement, the NewsGuild of New York said the games site had received more than a half million page views and more than 320,000 active users. The Washington Post separately reported more than 300,000 users, attributing the figure to the union. These are differently worded metrics; page views, active users, and users are not interchangeable.
What happened after the strike?
The strike ended November 11, 2024, without a contract agreement. The Washington Post reported that a majority of the roughly 600-person unit walked out. The Guild’s later timeline describes the strike as running from November 4 through November 11.
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- GAME OF SWEET REVENGE: Enjoy classic Sorry! gameplay with this Sorry! board game for kids. It's an edge-of-your-seat race to home, so hurry up and get there first
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- CLASSIC SORRY! GAMEPLAY: Remember playing the original Sorry! game as a kid? Bring back memories of playing the Sorry! game with family members and introduce it to a new generation
- FAMILY GAME NIGHT FAVORITE: A go-to game for family time or anytime indoor fun, the Sorry! game for kids is one of the best family games for game night
- December 11, 2024: The NewsGuild announced a tentative three-year agreement.
- December 19, 2024: The Tech Guild said members ratified their first contract, with 93% voting yes.
The Guild’s retrospective lists gains including just-cause protections, salary minimums and annual raises, on-call pay, remote-work protections and return-to-office schedules, gender-identity protections, improved immigration and visa support, layoff protections, conference budgets, grievance and arbitration processes, member-led committees, and protections relating to generative AI. These were the eventual contract outcomes; they should not be confused with terms already secured when the strike ended.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Can you still play the games?
The Guild’s page is the primary source for the project list, but the current availability of every individual game is not established. Some projects may be hosted elsewhere, so check the Guild’s links before assuming a specific game remains playable. The collection’s significance is clear even apart from current availability: it turned a digital picket-line request into a playable, member-and-supporter-made part of the strike campaign.
Quick Recap
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