Josh Wardle dropped the bomb in 2021. A year later, the NYT bought the whole shebang. It’s been a ride.
You finish your daily grid. You win, maybe. Then you stare at your screen. Nothing left to do.
Wait until tomorrow? No way.
If your brain still needs feeding, there’s plenty of competition. Some games don’t make you wait 24 hours for a hit of dopamine.
Here is where to look.
Connections
Another NYT property. It’s less about spelling and more about grouping.
Four sets. Four words per set. Four mistakes max. The difficulty climbs through color: yellow, green, blue, purple.
It feels a lot like Only Connect on BBC. Even the host noticed.
You’ll need a sub to play. $1 a week isn’t nothing. But the puzzle? It’s tricky. Good tricky.
Strands
Forget guessing words one letter at a time. This is a word search with extra steps.
A grid. A daily theme. Words hiding everywhere—forward, backward, zigzagged. Even in “L” shapes.
Every letter matters. If a letter isn’t connected to a word, you aren’t done. Drag your finger, find the pattern, clear the board.
Same paywall. NYT subscription required. Again. $1 a week.
Quartiles
Apple is playing too. Quartiles is an iOS exclusive for News+ subscribers.
20 tiles. One goal: form the longest words possible. Four tiles makes a “Quartile.”
It’s harder than it sounds. But cracking it feels like that moment you remember the tip of the tongue phrase. Pure satisfaction.
You need the Apple News sub. That’s $13 a month. Steeper price tag for a steeper game.
The Wordle Clones (x4)
Think one word isn’t enough? These games disagree.
- Dordle: Two words. Simultaneously.
- Quordle: Four at once.
- Octordle: Eight.
- Sedecordle: Sixteen. Good luck.
Same mechanics. More brain cells required.
Are you up for the challenge? Or just looking to overwork your vocabulary?
Free. Play on any browser.
Lewdle
Warning labels apply here.
“Lewdle” is exactly what it says. Bad words. Mild to very mild. No slurs, thankfully. Just vulgarity.
It uses the gray, yellow, and green system you know. One puzzle a day.
If you get offended easily, look away. Otherwise, let the profanity fly.
Play on the web. Or download it to your phone, if your coworkers don’t mind what’s on your screen.
Antiwordle
Turn the rules upside down.
Wordle wants you to guess the word fast. Antiwordle wants you to avoid it.
Guess wrong. Keep going. The longer you last without hitting the solution, the better you are. Gray letters stay off. Yellow and red lock in place, forcing your hand.
It sounds easier. It’s not. Honestly, it might be harder.
Absurdle
This isn’t just hard. It’s personal.
Absurdle is the adversarial version of the original game. It hates you. Well, not really. It just won’t give up its secret word.
No word is set at the start. Absurdle reacts to you. Every guess shrinks its list of possibilities to the ones that confuse you most.
The final answer might ignore your yellow clues entirely.
The best score is four. Yes, four. It doesn’t care how many times you guess. It only cares how long it takes to break your spirit.
Play on the web. Just be prepared for a fight.
