How to Play State Connections
State Connections is a daily logic puzzle about the 50 U.S. states. The board shows 16 states, and your job is to sort them into four hidden groups of four. A group might be based on geography, borders, capitals, statehood history, abbreviations, population, or a shared regional pattern.
Rules
- Select exactly four states, then submit the set.
- If the four states belong together, they lock into a solved row.
- If the set is wrong, you lose one mistake. The daily board ends after three mistakes.
- Everyone gets the same puzzle each day, so your result is easy to compare without a global leaderboard.
How to Find the Hidden Groups
Start with the most concrete facts first. Coastal states, Great Lakes states, Four Corners states, and states bordering Canada or Mexico are easier to verify than vague regional guesses. If a state seems to fit two possible groups, leave it aside until you have three stronger matches elsewhere.
Common Traps
Some boards include near-matches on purpose. A state might share a region but not the exact border condition, or a capital might start with the same letter but fail another category rule. Treat every group as a clean four-state rule, not just a loose theme.
More Ways to Practice
If this puzzle feels hard, warm up with Neighboring States for border logic or State Path Challenge for route thinking. If you want faster map recall, use State Map Guesser.