Laugh Lines
Put six New Yorker cartoons in the order they were first published.
Every day: A new dated set of six New Yorker cartoons each day, the same for every reader: place them on a time line by the year each first ran in the magazine. New puzzle: Once a day; the site does not state the time.
Laugh Lines is a cartoon history game from The New Yorker. Each day you get six cartoons from the magazine's archive, spanning decades, and arrange them on a time line in the order they first ran. It began as a weekly game for the magazine's centenary and now has a dated puzzle every day.
About Laugh Lines
Laugh Lines is a time line game made from The New Yorker's cartoon archive. The magazine launched it in December 2024, around its Cartoons and Puzzles issue, as a weekly game for its hundredth year. The numbered weekly editions, each on a theme such as birds or desert islands, have since been joined by a dated puzzle every day.
Each puzzle shows six cartoons, with their captions and the cartoonist's name. A set can run from the late 1920s to the last few years. Your job is to place them in the order they were first published, using whatever the drawing gives away: clothes, technology, the joke's target, the style of the line. When you submit, the game shows the year each one ran.
It is a quick game, a few minutes a day, and part of the fun is the cartoons themselves. It suits anyone who likes Chronle and the other order-the-events dailies but would rather read jokes than dates, and readers who enjoy the history of the magazine's humour.
The New Yorker has said the last week of puzzles is free to play, while older ones in its archive need a subscription.
How to play Laugh Lines
- Open the day's Laugh Lines puzzle on The New Yorker's puzzles and games page.
- Look at the six cartoons and read their captions and bylines.
- Drag the cartoons along the time line, earliest on the left, latest on the right.
- Submit your order to see which places are right and the year each cartoon first ran.
- Share your result, or go back to one of the numbered themed editions.
Tips
- Look at the technology in the drawing: telephones, televisions, cars and computers date a cartoon fast.
- Fashion and hairstyles help; hats on every man usually means an early cartoon.
- Cartoonists have eras; if you know when a name was drawing for the magazine, you can place their panel.
- Fine cross-hatched pen and wash tends to be older than loose, bright, digital colour.
Questions
Is Laugh Lines free?
The newest puzzles are free to play on The New Yorker website. The magazine has said older puzzles in the archive need a subscription.
How many cartoons are in each Laugh Lines puzzle?
Six, which you place on a time line from earliest to latest.
Is Laugh Lines daily or weekly?
Both. It began as a weekly themed game in December 2024, and The New Yorker now also publishes a dated puzzle each day.
Games like Laugh Lines
Chronle
Drag the day's historical events into order, the same time line idea with dates instead of cartoons
Catalogues
The New Yorker's other daily ordering game, sorting seven items by a hidden theme
Chronophoto
Guess the year of a real photograph each day, reading the same clues of clothes and technology
TimeGuessr
Date daily photos from the past, and place them on the map as well
WhenTaken
Five dated photos a day to place in time and space
HistoryGuesser
A daily scene from the past to date, for players who like reading period detail
Propagandle
Tell documented conspiracies from invented ones in five daily rounds.
HistoriaQuest
Sort the day's inventions, figures and events into the order they came.