Starting today, LinkedIn users can play a trio of games created by its News team, via computer or mobile app.
Per VP Dan Roth, the “thinking-oriented games” were made to offer users a break and connect them to other players. Beyond fostering new connections (that could lead to jobs), Roth hopes the games spark a “healthy bit of competition” in the community.
LinkedIn joins the New York Times and Spotify in non-traditional platforms launching browser and app-based games for mass appeal. Its games can only be played once per day, and players can see who among their connections is also playing.
The three games—Queens, Pinpoint, and Crossclimb—will have their stats revealed in a weekly newsletter. Each game is a LinkedIn take on a well-known casual game: Pinpoint is a word association game, Queens is Sudoku, and Crossclimb is a trivia game.
Each game, said product management director Lakshman Somasundaram, is meant to last a few minutes. He called these titles “day 1 in our foray into thinking-oriented games, and I can’t wait to see where this journey takes us.”
To further drive the feeling of community, there’ll also be leaderboards within companies, which goes back to Roth’s point about fostering conversation.
Interestingly, neither Roth nor Somasundaram tease any future games in the pipeline. Those future titles may hinge on the performance of this first batch, either individually or overall.