Puzzles are a good way to keep our brains sharp: They help combat stress, improve mental speed, and boost short-term memory, proving they’re so much more than a time suck. They are also incredibly addicting and, yes, a good way to pass time.

Media companies have cemented their place as puzzle masters thanks to institutions like The New York Times Crossword, but companies aren’t just sticking to the crossword and sudoku classics anymore. The craze over new exciting puzzles is a clear opportunity, one that Hearst Newspapers jumped on when it acquired Puzzmo.

A puzzling opportunity

Looking to compete with the likes of Wordle and crossword puzzles, Hearst hitched its wagon to three massively creative and talented innovators in the puzzle space.

Award-winning game designer Zach Gage is the mastermind behind Puzzmo, and when Hearst acquired Puzzmo, his game apps had 15 million installs. He and chief technology officer Orta Therox, as well as leading female crossword constructor and editor Brooke Husic, had been working on Puzzmo quietly for three years before penning the deal with Hearst.

Puzzmo is much loved for its modern take on classic newspaper games. Besides the classics, Puzzmo releases four new exclusive games every year. Every day there’s a new set of puzzles, including its midi crossword. The games are meant to be clever, simple, easy to play, and hard to forget.

Fan favourites

Customers love the games, especially their custom features. Editors love how Puzzmo is thoughtful about how it fosters conversation and community around games. Tech teams love how easy Puzzmo is to set up and integrate with little to no maintenance. And publishers love how quickly Puzzmo moved into profitability.

Launching an innovative puzzle platform required an innovative strategy: At random times every day, the Puzzmo Web site would allow the first 500 players who completed the puzzle of the day to enter their address and be sent a “key” in the mail.

Once they received their key, players were instructed to complete the puzzle which, when achieved, gave them a unique password to enter the Web site. Players who got in were then allowed to share a key with two friends. 

This strategy resulted in 104,000 players trying 932,000 times to get into the Puzzmo site. Hearst spent zero dollars on ads to promote the platform this way.

The Puzzmo platform gave readers some more engaging Internet games they can play anywhere and anytime. It offered both free and paid options and the new, daily, free puzzles accounted for nearly an hour of gameplay a day. Subscribers also get access to bonus content, archived games and fewer ads. 

The launch began on desktop and mobile, and in 2024 Hearst launched the Puzzmo app. The platform features more advanced social, sharing, competitive, and collaborative gameplay than its competitors.

In the first 40 days following its September 2023 launch, Puzzmo was a hit with publishers, achieving widespread praise. The games platform initially launched across more than 30 Hearst publications and more than 100 new sites, including PostMedia’s Canadian brands. 

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