The simple idea behind wordle – guess the word and get some clues. But that simple concept has inspired some of the most interesting games online.
Wordle is a modern take on classic game types: players guess a five-letter word and are told if their answer has the right letter in the right position (green), a right letter in the wrong position (yellow), or a wrong letter (gray).
The origins of Wordle are surprisingly sweet and humble. Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle created the game for him and his wife to play, and he made it publically available in October of 2021. Since then, the game has exploded in popularity and has inspired a large number of similar games across the web and AppStore. After sifting through the dozens of clones, the following is a selection of some of the most unique, inspired, or creative replicas of the original.
For a simple uptick in difficulty, try out Dordle. This simple take on the Wordle concept applies guesses to two words at the same time. With only one extra guess to make up for the extra word, this game requires players to think creatively when choosing new words.
Whether narrowing down letter choices or honing in on where the letters go, the added layer of two words at once can provide a suitable challenge to those who are after something new to brag about.
Now, some might look at Quordle and think «this is impossible» but this game is actually a bit easier than the Dordle and Wordle. While it requires players to be thinking about four different words at the same time, there are 3 extra guesses – and it’s surprising how easy it is to just stumble across the right answer.
Having so many targets to hit provides many more opportunities to get surprise results, but be careful to not hyper-focus on one word. There are only 9 guesses, and it’s easy to use up too many on a single possibility.
For those who want an all-out challenge, there is now the Absurdle, an absurdly hard version of the guessing game. The main aspect that separates this version from the rest is the way it actively avoids giving you the answer.
The Absurdle will try as hard as possible to keep players from guessing the answer – even changing the secret word. There is a detailed explanation on the site, but the simplest explanation is that this game doesn’t want players to win. This might be the hardest out there, but there isn’t a limited number of guesses – try to get under six to match the feel of the original.
With more than 800 Pokemon today, the Squirdle might prove a trying challenge for even the most experienced pokemon master. With a very simple interface, this game asks players to guess a Pokemon. Squirdle then says whether the guess and answer share type, generation, height, or weight.
These statistics aren’t always easy to remember, but fans of the anime might manage to narrow down guesses. This is a game where it is finally useful to know every pokemon region by heart!
For gamers who are more mathematically minded, Nerdle might be more fitting. In the space of 8 characters, players will have to put in a complete – that is to say, true – mathematical equation. Just like in Wordle, answers will be marked as not present, present, and present and in the right place.
This arithmetic game needs a careful mind to sort out, but because the equation needs to be true, it’s surprising how quickly the answer can be found. Nerdle is a fun way to diversify the brain-game repertoire, or just give the best nerds in life a new way to show off.
Swifty fans will be craving a way to show off their love of the singer/songwriter/superstar Taylor Swift. The Taylordle is a game we can only assume was created by a dedicated fan. With a standard five-letter answer, players have to guess the word which is connected to TayTay.
It turns out that five-letter words show up remarkably often in the songstress’s work and life, resulting in a very tricky game to play. This might be the game for fans who have memorized all of her favorite things or all of the easter eggs in her music videos.
A classic twist on the old and new, the CrossWordle provides players with a very pleasant and fascinating gameplay. Players are presented with a simple two-word crossword. After guessing what the two words are, the correctness of each letter is shown, complete with very smooth animations. The CrossWordle is completed when both words have been guessed right at once.
This Wordle clone is very similar to the Dordle, but having a letter in common makes for a much quicker time of guessing the words. However, having to get both words correct at the same time makes finalizing an answer more difficult.
For the Harry Potter fans among us, there is always the Wizarding Wordle. This Wordle-clone still requires a guess of five letters, but the answer could be anything from J.K. Rowling’s world.
This is a guessing game that will test fans’ knowledge of Harry Potter characters, spells, animals, and more. And surprisingly, it turns out five-letter words show up quite often throughout the series.
Fans of games like Geoguesser will love Worldle. Given the outline of a random country, players have to simply guess which country it is. Big history or geography buffs, will have a big edge here!
After giving guesses, the Worldle will return the guess’s distance away, direction to the answer, and the general proximity of the guess and the answer. These are very useful if you understand the areas of the globe, but proximity can be a tricky hint to use – this is calculated using the center of the countries, so large ones like the USA and Canada would appear far apart despite sharing a border.
While Wordle is made for a single person to be playing, social-media sharing and result-comparing have become a sort of once-removed competition. Players don’t compete head-to-head, all of the competition comes through in showing off how well you did – but what if there was a way to compete directly? This is where Squabble comes in.
Squabble is an innovative take on the Wordle experience in which players are set against each other to see who can solve more words. Every player has a slowly ticking-down health bar which goes down slightly with every guess. However, every correct guess heals the answerer and damages an opponent. This game provides Wordle fans with a way to compete one-on-one or with dozens of other players.
Linden is a creative writer with a passion for stories no matter what form they take – video games, books, film & TV, or just chatting with friends. He is an avid book buyer and wishes to read one day. Linden enjoys taking his favorite things way too seriously and then stepping back and laughing at himself. His professional work has been diverse, leading from medical scribe to marketer to here.
