🎯 CONNECTIONS

States Connections

NYT-Connections style: group 16 US states into 4 hidden categories.

Categories0/4 Mistakes0/4

Find the 4 groups of 4 states

Pick 4 states that share a category

Sixteen states, four hidden categories, four states in each. Unlike a capitals quiz this one tests classification rather than recall: you have to know which states border Canada, which levy no income tax, which seceded, which sit in the Rust Belt. One board takes three to five minutes.

How to play

Press Start and a grid of sixteen state names appears in random order. Select exactly four you think share a category, then press Submit. A correct group locks in, turns a solid color, and its category label is revealed above the grid. A wrong group clears your selection and costs one of four mistakes. Four mistakes ends the board. Your score is groups solved out of four, so solving all four is three stars, three groups is two stars.

There is no timer and no penalty for deselecting, so nothing is lost by rearranging tiles before you commit.

Solve the closed lists first

The categories in play are drawn from a fixed set of national groupings, and some of those groupings are tiny. That is your opening move: find the category with the fewest members in the whole country, because on a board of sixteen it has the least room to hide.

Category	States nationally	Why it helps
Border Mexico	4	Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas. The entire list fits on the board, so all four are the group.
Rust Belt	7	Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Nothing south or west of that block qualifies.
No income tax	9	Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming. Scattered across every region, which is the point.
Spanish heritage	9	Mostly the Southwest, but Florida and Louisiana belong too.
Confederate states	11	Eleven exactly. Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland are not among them.
Sun Belt	11	Overlaps heavily with the Bible Belt, so never open with it.
Border Canada	13	Includes Ohio and Pennsylvania through Lake Erie, which surprises people.
Original 13 colonies	13	A closed historical list with no judgement calls.
Landlocked	20	The largest group, so it is usually the leftover four.

Where boards trip you up

Many states genuinely belong to more than one grouping. Texas borders Mexico, has no income tax, was Confederate and sits in the Sun Belt. Florida is Sun Belt, Bible Belt, Confederate, no income tax and Spanish heritage all at once. So a tile that fits your hunch is weak evidence. The strong move is to find the state that fits only one category on the board and build outward from it.

Two specific edges catch people. Border Canada is not just the northern tier you picture: Ohio and Pennsylvania both count through their Great Lakes water boundary, while Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Washington and Alaska make up the rest. And landlocked here means no ocean and no Great Lakes frontage, which is why Michigan, Illinois and Ohio sit outside the group of twenty even though none of them touches salt water.

The groupings behind the board

The regional and cultural categories used here are explained in US cultural belts and US regions. To drill any single category on its own map:

Border States Quiz Confederate States Quiz No Income Tax Quiz 13 Original Colonies Swing States Quiz

Frequently asked questions

How do you play States Connections?

NYT-Connections style: group 16 US states into 4 hidden categories. Scores tracked locally; streak preserved across days.

Is this game free?

Yes, 100% free, no signup, no ads. Just play.

Does it work on mobile?

Yes, fully responsive on phones, tablets and desktop.