It’s World Emoji Day and Apple is celebrating with a new puzzle game available now on its Apple News+ app in the U.S. and Canada. Emoji Game is an original word game that has players fill in incomplete phrases by dragging emoji into blank spots.
Developed internally at Apple, Emoji Game is now the fifth puzzle game available to Apple News+ subscribers. It joins Apple’s daily Crossword, Mini Crossword, Sudoku, and the original Quartiles that was introduced last year. Emoji Game is the most unique offering in that list, as it’s built with iOS’ features in mind.
Here’s how it works: Every day, players get a new puzzle in which they have to solve six words or phrases. A collection of selectable emoji appears at the bottom of the screen, which need to be used to solve the puzzle. Say the clue is Disap_ _ _ _ and there’s a pear emoji available. You’d drag that into the blank spots to form Disappear. Though not unlike Blue Prince (if you know you know), an emoji can have multiple meanings, so that pear could also be used as “fruit” in another context.
Complexity comes in as players have to solve multi-word phrases that require some extra interpretation. In one puzzle, you may have to solve the phrase _ _ _ _ _ _ Year _ _ _ k using a fish and ghost emoji. Dragging the ghost into the second word will form Yearbook (with the ghost being used to form the letters “boo”) while the fish fills in the word “school,” as in a school of fish. The final answer? School yearbook. And if that feels like a lot of brainwork, each puzzle features a quick hint to point players in the right direction.
In addition to using emoji groupings that ask players to decode what a few bundled images represent, the game also utilizes iOS 18’s Genmoji feature. In one puzzle I saw, an eaten apple emoji was used to fill in the word “core” in a phrase.
It’s very clear that Apple is trying to ape the same kind of format that turned Wordle, and games like it, into a phenomenon. Emoji Game features the same daily format, an archive that will date back to July 1 at launch, stats, streaks, and social features that allow up to 16 people to compete for high scores. Even the overarching goal of Emoji Game, which challenges players to solve puzzles in six turns, is very Wordle-coded. It may not be a reason to subscribe to a new app, but it’s another daily distraction to add to the pile if you already happen to have Apple News+.
Emoji Game is available on iOS devices starting today via the Apple News+ app.