Built from your stories - Played by your community
The daily crossword built from your own content
Our game addresses the two biggest problems in publishing today: 1) Audience 2) Revenue. LocalCross turns your news stories into a daily puzzle — and the clues link back to your articles, so readers dig into your reporting to solve it.
More pageviews, more recirculation, more signups.
We host it, we run it, and the game's ads pay you a share — never a cut of your own ad revenue. It's a WordPress plug-in, so it works natively on the most popular CMS in the world.
Watch our demo video to see how LocalCross can work for you!
Local news is hard. Keeping readers coming back is even harder
Your readers want a reason to return every day — and hard news alone rarely gives them one.
The big papers figured this out: a daily game turns casual readers into loyal ones, lengthens visits, and opens a new revenue line.
But building and running games takes a team and a tech stack most newsrooms don't have. So the habit your readers crave gets built somewhere else — and they go play it there.
how it works
Your stories become a daily (or weekly) game
No developer. No puzzle construction. No servers. We handle all of it.
1. We start with your news
Pull stories automatically from your feed — by the categories you choose, daily, weekly, or monthly — or hand-pick the articles you want featured.
2. We build the puzzle automatically
AI does a deep analysis of your stories, and finds a keyword. Then it creates a challenging clue, and QA's it for accuracy. You can set the difficulty level.
3. Readers click to your content
Clues link back to your articles, so players dig into your reporting for the answers — driving pageviews, recirculation, and email signups.
Every puzzle mixes three kinds of clues — words from the headline (easy), from inside the article (medium), and related but not stated (hard) — you can tailor the various difficulty levels (depending on what you see in the scores on your private dashboard, and reader feedback on your site, or when they share their scores on social media. Whatever you choose, studies have shown that giving your readers something fun, but challenging, pulls them to more deeply engage with your coverage.
the flywheel
A game that sends readers into your journalism
Most games pull readers away from your stories. Localcross does the opposite. Because the puzzle is built from your articles and the clues link back to them, players read your reporting to solve it — turning a five-minute game into pageviews, recirculation, and longer sessions. Every play is a doorway back into your journalism.
1. It grows your audience
Capture emails and newsletter signups as people play — building the first-party audience every publisher is fighting for. Readers share their results across their social platforms, building audience awareness.
2. Local by design
Because every puzzle is made from your own coverage, it's inherently your community and your voice — something a generic syndicated puzzle can never be. You don't theme it to your town; it is your town, every day.
3. Multiple revenue streams
Your own pageview and ad lift, newsletter growth, a share of the game's ads, and a sponsor slot you can sell, both on the puzzle and on the leaderboards.
it pays for itself
Most games cost you money. This one can make you some.
It pays you on more than one front. The recirculation drives your own pageviews and ad revenue. The email capture grows your newsletter and audience. And the game itself runs unobtrusive ads, and we pay you a share — a check every month (your own site's ad revenue stays entirely yours). On top of all that, your daily puzzle is premium, high-attention space: readers spend ten to twenty minutes with it, which makes a perfect spot for a local sponsor. Selling a single rotating sponsorship can cover your subscription many times over.
Pageviews & ad revenue
Recirculation drives your own site traffic. Your ad revenue stays entirely yours.
Your site. Your revenue.Game ad revenue share
The game runs unobtrusive ads. We pay you a share - a check every month.
Monthly revenue shareNewsletter growth
Every puzzle player is a potential subscriber. The email capture is built in.
Grows your audienceLocal sponsorship
Premium, high-attention space.
One rotating sponsor can cover your subscription many times over.
Your revenue streams
Hyperlocal
Subtitle Goes Here- Up to 100K monthly pageviews
- A daily crossword built from your stories
- Fully hosted, one-line embed
- We pay you a share of the game's ads
- Sell your own sponsor slot
Table Title
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FAQ
Where do the puzzles come from?
Your own stories. Localcross pulls from your news feed — automatically, by the categories you choose, on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule — or you hand-pick the articles. AI builds a themed, balanced puzzle and QA's it for accuracy.
How does a crossword grow my audience?
Two ways. The clues link back to your articles, so players read your reporting to solve — driving pageviews, recirculation, and longer sessions. And Localcross captures emails and newsletter signups as people play, growing your first-party audience.
Do you take a cut of my own ad revenue?
No — it's the opposite. We never touch the ads on your site or what they earn. The only ads involved run inside the game; those are ours to sell, and we pay you a share of what they earn — a check every month.
Do players have to log in or give an email?
You choose. Let anyone play freely, ask for an email (with a newsletter opt-in they can uncheck), or require a login — whatever fits your audience-growth strategy. One good strategy is to get players to log in to share their high scores with their friends (or rivals), both on a Leaderboard on your site, and on social media.
We suggest you explore selling sponsorships for your readers who prove themselves to be most knowledgeable about your community - as in, "The reader who posts the best score on our weekly LocalCross puzzle and proves they know Anytown, USA the best, wins a free sub sandwich from Local Joe's Sandwich Shop, our sponsor for this month!"
What if my game gets popular — or bots hit it? Will my bill spike?
No. Pricing is flat and we never charge per play, so a viral day or bot traffic can't run up your bill. More real plays just mean a bigger check from us for the game's ads. This is a problem that you should like to have, really.
Can I run my own ads instead of yours?
Yes. We offer a "White Label" version of the game, where we charge a flat fee per month (depending on the size of your site and your page traffic) and up you get full ad control.
You can keep our programmatic (and the share we pay you) or switch it off and run your own stack.