What Is New Yorker Laugh Lines?
New Yorker Laugh Lines is a daily browser-based history puzzle created by The New Yorker. It challenges players to arrange cartoons from the magazine's century-long archive according to when they were originally published.
Instead of answering trivia questions or guessing specific dates, you become a cartoon-history detective. Each illustration contains possible clues about its era, including clothing, technology, cultural references, social attitudes, and the language used in its caption.
The goal is to place cartoons in chronological order, from the oldest to the newest. You do not need to know the exact publication year of every cartoon. You only need to work out which one came before or after the others.
Laugh Lines was introduced around The New Yorker's centennial celebrations in 2025. Originally released weekly, it became a daily game in 2026. New puzzles are published at 6 A.M. Eastern Time.
How Does Laugh Lines Work?
Laugh Lines uses an interactive timeline that grows as you place new cartoon cards.
A cartoon appears, and you examine its illustration and caption. Your task is to decide where it belongs relative to cartoons already on the timeline.
You can place it before the earliest cartoon, after the latest cartoon, or between two existing cartoons.
The Core Rules
- Examine each cartoon and its original caption for historical clues.
- Drag the new cartoon into the position where you believe it belongs chronologically.
- Select Confirm to submit your placement.
- Earn one point for each correct placement.
- If your placement is incorrect, the game automatically moves the cartoon into its correct position.
- Continue until all the cartoon cards have been placed.
The current daily format awards a maximum of five points. Some older archive puzzles feature six scoring opportunities instead.
The central challenge is relative chronology, not exact-date guessing. A cartoon from 1950 belongs before one from 1980, regardless of whether you know either publication date precisely.
How to Play New Yorker Laugh Lines
- Open the game. Visit The New Yorker's Laugh Lines page and select the latest puzzle. Read the instructions or start the game to see your first cartoon cards.
- Study the new cartoon. Look closely at the drawing, caption, clothing, objects, and cultural references. Try to estimate the period when the cartoon might have appeared.
- Choose its timeline position. Drag the cartoon into a slot before, between, or after the cartoons already displayed. You can also enable Tap Mode to position cards by tapping instead of dragging.
- Confirm your answer. Press Confirm to check your placement. A correct answer earns one point. If your guess is wrong, the cartoon moves to its proper chronological position, giving you additional information for the next decision.
- Complete the timeline. Repeat the process for the remaining cartoons. Aim for a perfect score by placing every new cartoon correctly.
Example: Guessing Cartoon Publication Order
Imagine a round featuring three fictional cartoon scenarios:
| Cartoon | Historical clue | Likely period |
|---|---|---|
| A | A family gathered around an early television set | Mid-20th century |
| B | An office worker using a typewriter | Potentially early or mid-20th century |
| C | Someone complaining about social-media notifications on a smartphone | 21st century |
Cartoon C clearly belongs later than the other two because smartphones and social-media notifications are relatively recent developments.
Cartoon A and Cartoon B are harder to compare. Typewriters remained in use for decades, so the presence of a typewriter does not automatically mean a cartoon predates television.
You would need to examine secondary clues, such as clothing, office furniture, language, and drawing context, before confidently deciding their order.
This example illustrates the reasoning behind Laugh Lines. It is not an actual puzzle from The New Yorker archive.
Tips for Getting a Perfect Score
1. Identify Technology Clues
Technology is often the strongest evidence for placing a cartoon in time.
Consider whether the illustration includes objects such as rotary telephones, televisions, computers, fax machines, or smartphones.
These objects can suggest when a cartoon was created, although older technologies sometimes appear in modern cartoons for nostalgic or comedic reasons.
2. Examine Clothing and Hairstyles
Fashion can provide helpful clues about the decade.
Look for recognizable clothing trends, hairstyles, hats, accessories, and workplace attire. The overall combination of details is generally more useful than any single item.
Remember that cartoons may intentionally depict historical settings, so the clothes worn by a character do not necessarily match the cartoon's publication date.
3. Read the Caption Carefully
The New Yorker preserves cartoon captions as originally published. Older captions can contain unusual spelling, dated expressions, or references that are no longer common.
Pay attention to how characters speak and what they joke about. References to changing social norms, economic conditions, or popular culture may help narrow the likely era.
4. Use Historical Events as Anchors
Some cartoons reference political developments, cultural milestones, economic events, or major social changes.
A clear historical reference can provide a useful earliest possible date, but a cartoon can also revisit past events years later.
Avoid assuming that a reference proves an exact publication year.
5. Compare Cartoons Instead of Guessing Years
You do not need to determine whether a cartoon appeared in 1958 or 1962 unless that distinction affects its position.
Ask a simpler question: Does this cartoon seem older or newer than the ones already on the timeline?
If the timeline contains cartoons from noticeably different eras, you can often identify the correct interval without knowing specific dates.
6. Enlarge the Artwork
Use the Expand button, represented by two diagonal arrows, in the upper-right corner of a cartoon to inspect it more closely.
On compatible mobile devices, you can pinch to zoom after expanding the image.
Small details in a drawing or caption may reveal information that is easy to overlook at normal size.
Is Laugh Lines a Daily Game?
Yes. As of October 2026, Laugh Lines is published daily, with new games appearing at 6 A.M. Eastern Time.
Earlier puzzles are accessible through The New Yorker's Laugh Lines archive, giving players an opportunity to explore different historical themes and cartoon collections.
The game originally launched as a weekly challenge celebrating a century of New Yorker cartoons before expanding to daily publication.
Can You Play Laugh Lines on Mobile?
Yes. Laugh Lines can be played through The New Yorker website in a compatible browser and is also available in The New Yorker app for iOS and Android.
The interface supports both dragging and Tap Mode, which allows players to position cartoons by tapping rather than dragging.
The Expand feature makes small captions and illustration details easier to inspect on phones and tablets.
Is New Yorker Laugh Lines Free?
The New Yorker's official Puzzles & Games FAQ confirms that users of its iOS and Android apps receive free access to Laugh Lines.
On the website, access may vary depending on the page and subscription or sign-in requirements. Players who encounter an access restriction can try the official mobile app.
Laugh Lines vs. Other Daily History Games
Laugh Lines shares the timeline-based deduction concept used in other historical ordering games, but its cartoon archive gives it a distinctive focus.
| Feature | Laugh Lines | Traditional History Trivia | Photo-Dating Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main task | Place cartoons chronologically | Answer historical questions | Estimate when photographs were taken |
| Main clues | Cartoon art and captions | Historical knowledge | Clothing, objects, architecture |
| Exact year required | No | Sometimes | Often |
| Core skill | Cultural and chronological deduction | Factual recall | Visual historical reasoning |
| Primary content | New Yorker cartoons | Historical facts and events | Historical photographs |
The biggest difference is that Laugh Lines uses humor as historical evidence. Cartoons can reveal how people talked about technology, relationships, work, politics, and everyday life during different periods.
Who Should Play New Yorker Laugh Lines?
Laugh Lines is especially suited to players who enjoy history puzzles, visual deduction, classic cartoons, cultural trivia, or games about placing events in chronological order.
It is also a good choice for fans of The New Yorker's humor who want to explore its archives through a more interactive experience.
You do not need to be a historian or recognize individual cartoonists to play. Careful observation and sensible comparisons can be just as valuable as knowing historical facts.
Final Thoughts
New Yorker Laugh Lines turns a century of magazine cartoons into an entertaining historical puzzle. Its clever combination of visual clues, changing cultural references, and interactive timeline placement makes it stand out from conventional trivia and word-guessing games.
The simple rules make it approachable, while ambiguous historical details create enough uncertainty to reward thoughtful reasoning.
Play New Yorker Laugh Lines and see whether you can place every cartoon in its correct historical position.
Official game and archive: https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/laugh-lines
Official game instructions: https://www.newyorker.com/info/puzzles-and-games-frequently-asked-questions