Here are some alternatives for the viral word game, if you can’t get enough of it!
IF you’ve seen posts featuring yellow, green and grey boxes on Twitter, don’t be confused. It’s just people showing off their scores on the new viral word game, Wordle.
Wordle is a daily word game that you can play online. Like a crossword, it can only be played once a day and generates a new game every 24 hours.
The premise of the game is the player has six chances to guess a randomly selected five-letter word. Like the game of Mastermind, you will get a green box if you guessed the right letter in the right spot, a yellow box if you guessed a correct letter in the wrong spot, and a grey box if the letter isn’t in the word.
On Jan 31, 2022, The New York Times Company, the parent of The New York Times, acquired Wordle from the developer, Josh Wardle, for an undisclosed price in the low millions.
In a Reddit post, Wardle explained that he wanted Wordle to feel like a croissant, like a delightful snack that’s enjoyed occasionally. This is explicitly why there’s only one puzzle per day. “Enjoyed too often and they lose their charm,” Wardle explained.
Wordle is fun and simple, and winning makes it a whole lot more addicting. However, since it can only be played once a day, the suspense and delayed gratification has let to everyone looking for another hit.
Since the game went viral, clones and alternatives have been popping up, so if you’re aching to move those brain muscles, here are the alternatives!
1. Wordle Unlimited: As the name suggests, this game lets you play Wordle without the limit of a word a day, so you can play to your heart’s content, Wordle Unlimited is for the addicts among us.
2. Wordle Archive: If you’ve missed a day, fret not! Wordle Archive allows you to play all the Wordles that came before.
3. Nerdle: Instead of words, Nerdle is a numbers-based version of Wordle, where you guess equations instead of words, Nerdle is indeed for the math nerds out there.
4. Numble: Similar to Nerdle, instead of having the choice of the equal sign, you get one hint, which is the value. All your guesses need to equate to the value to be accepted and you get 6 tries to guess the hidden equation.
5. Katapat: A portmanteau of the Bahasa Malaysia words kata (word) and tepat (accurate), Katapat is built by Eugene Low, and also incidentally is shaped like a ketupat.
6. Pinyin Cai Chengyu: The Chinese version of Wordle makes you guess idioms from the Pinyin (the standard system of romanised spelling for transliterating Chinese). With thousands of Chinese idioms, playing a game of Pinyin Cai Chengyu will definitely let you discover and learn new idioms!
7. Tamil Wordle: P Sankar, a software architect from Chennai, initially made a Tamil version for his daughter to pique her interest in the language. When he shared it on Twitter, expecting a few friends to join him, it became a hit. Many told him that it created some quality bonding time with their families, so perhaps you can try Tamil Wordle as a family fun time!
8. Dordle: The evil twin of Wordle. Instead of guessing one five-letter word, you have to guess two words but you can only input one-word guesses at a time. If Wordle is too easy for you and you’re looking for a challenge, give Dordle a try.
9. Quordle: If you think Dordle is too easy, try Quordle, where it’s one, or two, but four games of Wordles at once!
10. Lewdle: Instead of normal words, Lewdle only have a dictionary for rude words. If you’re likely to be offended by the use of profanity, vulgarity or obscenity, this might not be the game for you.
11. Sweardle: Another sweary word guessing game, but instead of five letters, it’s four letters instead.