NYT Spelling Bee Badges: What They Are and How to Earn Them

NYT Spelling Bee badges are small rewards the New York Times gives you for milestones in the game: reaching Genius, reaching Queen Bee, finding pangrams and more. They appear under your stats after you finish a puzzle and in a trophy case in the NYT Games app. This guide explains every type of badge, how the milestone levels work, where to see them, and how they connect to the stats Spelling Bee keeps.

What are Spelling Bee badges?

The NYT Help Center describes badges as "rewards you can earn through gameplay" that let you "celebrate specific achievements, mark important milestones, and look back on the moments that made your journey special." Badges are available for Wordle, Connections, Strands and Spelling Bee.

They are not points and they do not change your score or rank in a puzzle. Your rank still comes from the points you earn that day, which our Genius rank guide explains. Badges sit on top of that as a long-term record.

Spelling Bee badges list

The NYT does not publish a full table in its help pages, so the list below combines the NYT's own description with the in-app list compiled by Beebom, a puzzle site that tracks the badges.

The Genius levels (5, 10, 15, 25, then 50) come straight from the NYT Help Center's own example. The other milestone numbers are from Beebom's list and may change as the NYT adds levels, so check the progress bar in your app for your exact next target.

How milestone badges level up

Many badges level up. The NYT's example: "you can earn a new badge for hitting 50 Geniuses, after earning the previous levels of 5, 10, 15, and 25." When you have earned a badge more than once, a counter shows how many times, and the date shown is the most recent time you earned it.

When you view all your badges, a progress bar shows how many more times you need to complete the action to reach the next level. That makes it easy to set a goal: if you are three Geniuses away from the next level, you know how the next week of puzzles counts.

Earned Retroactively

When badges launched, the NYT awarded some automatically for things you had already done. Those badges are labelled Earned Retroactively. Badges you earn from now on show the exact date.

Seasonal and holiday badges

The New York Times Company's announcement of badges told players to "look out for seasonal events and special challenges", adding that "some badges celebrate special holidays or special puzzles" and that you need to play on those days to earn them. Beebom describes the Spelling Bee versions as hat badges earned by reaching Genius on a themed date.

With Thanksgiving, the winter holidays and New Year's coming up, this is the time of year to watch for them. Because they are tied to a specific date, a missed day usually means a missed badge. If you want help reaching Genius on a big day without seeing the answers, our Spelling Bee hints guide and the 15-minute Genius workflow are built for exactly that.

Does Spelling Bee have streaks?

Not in the way Wordle does. The NYT's badge help notes that streak badges cannot be earned twice, but those streak badges belong to games such as Wordle and Connections. Spelling Bee's own help page lists stats without a daily streak counter, and puzzle sites such as Beebom note that Spelling Bee does not use a traditional streak. That is good news if you skip a day: your Spelling Bee stats and badges are not reset by a missed puzzle.

Spelling Bee stats: what the game tracks

Badges and stats live side by side. According to the NYT Help Center, the Spelling Bee Stats screen shows:

• Number of puzzles played
• Number of words found
• Number of pangrams found
• Highest rank you have achieved
• Number of times you have reached Genius
• Longest word you have found

Your stats link to your New York Times account and count puzzles played from 1 August 2023 onward. The help page also notes that Spelling Bee streaks and statistics cannot be reset once they are broken, so there is no way to wipe a bad patch and start again.

Where to see your badges

• After a puzzle: if you earned a badge, it appears below your stats. Tap it to learn more.
• Stats icon: select the Stats icon to see your three most relevant badges, then use the button below them to see the rest in the Games app.
• The Games app: the NYT Company announcement calls it your "very own trophy case" on iOS and Android.

You need a New York Times account to earn and keep badges, because they are linked to your account rather than your device.

Can you earn badges on old puzzles?

The NYT says that if you are a NYT Games subscriber, you can play puzzles in the Archive to make more progress on badges. Spelling Bee's help page adds that from the Spelling Bee hub you can see the puzzles from the current week and the week before. If you play the free version, you can still earn badges from the daily puzzle, but our guide to whether NYT Spelling Bee is 100% free explains the limits of free access.

Tips for earning Spelling Bee badges faster

Genius badges

Genius is 70% of the puzzle's total points. Work in two sessions: one pass early in the day and one later, when fresh eyes find the words you missed. Our Genius points thresholds post shows typical targets.

Queen Bee badges

Queen Bee means finding every word. Use a two-letter tally to see which word starts you have not found yet. Our two-letter tally guide and how to reach Queen Bee walk through it.

Pangram and Pangram First badges

For Pangram First, you must find the pangram before any other word. Look for common endings such as -ING, -TION and -ABLE among the seven letters before you type anything. Our find the pangram every day masterclass covers the patterns.

Long Word badges

Long Word needs 10 or more letters. Long words often come from stacking a prefix and a suffix on a root. See the prefixes and suffixes guide for the most useful ones. Need help with the Long Word badge? Learn how to find the Spelling Bee longest word every day.

A simple badge plan for the holidays

If you want to collect a seasonal badge this year, plan around the dates rather than the puzzle:

1. Check the app on holiday mornings. Themed badges are tied to specific dates, so open Spelling Bee early on days such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
2. Aim for Genius, not Queen Bee. Genius is the usual target for themed badges, and it is reachable in one or two short sessions.
3. Use hints before answers. A nudge such as a two-letter list keeps the badge feeling earned.
4. Keep your account signed in on every device. Badges are tied to your NYT account, so play while signed in.

The same plan works for milestone badges: a steady habit of reaching Genius most days is what moves the Genius counter.

Are badges worth chasing?

Badges do not change the puzzle, but they add a long-term goal to a game you play one day at a time. For many players, the Genius and Pangram counts become a personal record. Badges also make a nice shared goal for families and friends who play the same puzzle. Just remember that a badge is a reward for playing, not a reason to rush: the puzzle is more fun when you find the words yourself. When you are truly stuck, check today's Spelling Bee answers only after you have tried the hints.

Frequently Asked Questions