It’s World Emoji Day—or so they say—and Apple’s doing something quirky with it. Picture yourself opening the Apple News+ app on a random Tuesday in the U.S. or Canada. Surprise! There’s a new game on the block: Emoji Game. It’s like this weird crossword puzzle where you’re dragging emojis into blank spaces.
So, Apple cooked this up in-house (guess they have time). It’s their fifth puzzle game for Apple News+. Already got Crossword, Mini Crossword, Sudoku, and whatever Quartiles is? Yeah, this one’s supposed to be more… Apple-y? You know how they do.
Anyway — wait, where was I? Ah, right. Each day, you’re playing this thing where you solve six phrases. You got this line-up of emojis chillin’ at the bottom of your screen. Imagine the clue’s like Disap_ _ _ _, and there’s a pear emoji. You’d drag that pear up there to make “Disappear.” Pretty slick, but then it gets tricky—’cause like a pear could mean “fruit,” or maybe you’re overthinking it. Who knows.
Then there’s this moment of “Whoa, what?” when you’re solving stuff like _ _ _ _ _ _ Year _ _ _ k. Grab a ghost emoji for “boo” (Yearbook), a fish for “school.” Bam! School yearbook. Confusing enough? Don’t worry, hints got your back when your brain’s about to melt.
And just when you thought the emoji chaos was enough, Apple’s slinging their iOS 18’s Genmoji into the mix. What even is that? I saw someone use an eaten apple emoji for “core.” Make of that what you will.
Honestly, Apple’s taking a page from the Wordle craze. You’ve got daily puzzles, archives dating back to July 1, stats, streak tracking, yada yada. Up to 16 friends can battle it out for high scores. If you’re an Apple News+ nut, add it to the pile of time wasters. If not, well, you might just stick to Wordle.
Anyway, if you’re on iOS, Emoji Game’s here to keep your thumbs busy. Enjoy the emoji madness!
