Pinpoint

Pinpoint is LinkedIn's daily category puzzle, where you uncover the single theme that links a list of words revealed one clue at a time, from hardest to easiest. You can guess as soon as the first word appears, and the fewer clues you need, the higher you score. It rewards quick lateral thinking, since the connection can be obvious or deliberately oblique, with one fresh puzzle each day.

What is Pinpoint?

Pinpoint is a daily category-guessing puzzle inside LinkedIn's games hub. Every puzzle hides a single category, such as a type of food, a group of countries, or words that share a quirky property, and your job is to name that category from a short list of example words. The catch is that the words are not all shown at once: you see the first clue, take a guess, and only if you miss does the next clue appear. With at most five clues per puzzle, the game becomes a race to recognize the link before you exhaust them.

The clues are not random in order either. Pinpoint arranges them from hardest to easiest, so the first word is the most cryptic and each new reveal nudges you closer to the answer. That ordering is exactly why the game rewards guessing early: cracking the category off the opening, toughest clue is worth the most, while waiting for the fifth and most obvious word leaves you with the lowest score. The tension lives in deciding whether to commit to a hunch or play it safe and reveal one more word.

What sets Pinpoint apart from Wordle is that you are not spelling a word or matching colored tiles; you are reasoning about why a set of items belongs together. That makes it closer in spirit to the New York Times' Connections, but with a key difference in pacing. Connections shows you all sixteen tiles up front, while Pinpoint feeds clues one at a time and rewards you for recognizing the theme before the easy clues arrive.

Pinpoint comes from the LinkedIn News team and launched on May 1, 2024, as one of LinkedIn's first three games, alongside Queens and Crossclimb (a launch widely reported by TechCrunch, Fortune, and other outlets). The games were built to give professionals a quick daily mental break and a low-stakes reason to connect, and Pinpoint leans into that with categories that range from general knowledge to wordplay. Because it sits on a professional network, the social layer is built in: after you finish you can see which of your connections played that day, and results roll up into company and school leaderboards, so coworkers and alumni can compare how quickly they solved it. A streak counter also tracks how many days in a row you have solved the puzzle.

Scoring runs from 5 down to 1. Solve the category on the first clue and you earn the top mark of 5; if it takes all five clues to click, you score 1. After you finish, Pinpoint shows the answer plus a tidy result you can share, which signals how quickly you cracked it without revealing the solution to anyone who has not played yet. There is no timer, so the difficulty comes entirely from the slipperiness of the connections rather than speed. The vibe is light, brisk, and a little sneaky, which is why it appeals to people who enjoy lateral thinking, trivia, and the satisfying snap of a hidden pattern falling into place.

How to play Pinpoint

1. Open the LinkedIn games hub and select Pinpoint to load the day's puzzle.
2. Read the first clue word and brainstorm broad categories it could belong to, such as foods, sports, or countries. Remember that this opening clue is the hardest one.
3. Type your guess for the connecting category, keeping in mind that the system accepts reasonably close wording.
4. If your guess is wrong, the next clue word is revealed, and because clues go from hardest to easiest, each reveal makes the pattern clearer.
5. Keep guessing and revealing, up to five clues total, narrowing your category as the shared theme sharpens.
6. Lock in the correct category as early as you can, since solving on fewer clues earns a higher score out of 5.

Tips and strategy

• Resist guessing on the very first clue unless you are confident, because that opening word is the hardest one and almost always fits dozens of possible categories.
• Watch for 'blank plus word' framing, since many Pinpoint answers are phrases that come before or after a common word, like things paired with 'house' or 'fire'.
• When two clues are showing, look for the narrowest property they share rather than the most obvious one, as the obvious link is often a trap.
• Consider wordplay angles such as hidden words, homophones, anagrams, or shared first letters, not just literal meaning.
• Treat a deliberate pass as cheap insurance when you are stuck: revealing one more easier clue costs a point but often makes the category obvious.
• Phrase your guess simply and generically; aim for the plain category name rather than a clever or overly specific description.

Good to know

Resets

Daily at midnight Pacific Time

Cost

Free to play

Clues per puzzle

Up to 5, revealed one at a time, hardest to easiest

Scoring

5 (solved on first clue) down to 1 (solved on fifth)

Creator

LinkedIn News team

Launched

May 1, 2024

Pinpoint FAQ

Is Pinpoint free?

Yes. Pinpoint is free to play inside LinkedIn's games hub. You do need a LinkedIn account to play and to keep your streak.

How many guesses do you get in Pinpoint?

You can guess up to five times, because each puzzle has five clues that reveal one at a time, ordered from hardest to easiest. The earlier you solve the category, the higher your score, from 5 down to 1.

When does Pinpoint reset?

A new Pinpoint puzzle is released every day at midnight Pacific Time, so the exact local moment depends on your time zone.

Is Pinpoint related to Wordle?

Not directly. Pinpoint is a daily puzzle in the same once-a-day spirit as Wordle, but instead of guessing a word you identify a hidden category. It is closer to the New York Times' Connections, with clues shown gradually rather than all at once.

Who made Pinpoint?

Pinpoint was made by the LinkedIn News team. It launched on May 1, 2024, as one of LinkedIn's first three games alongside Queens and Crossclimb.