The acquisition of Wordle by the New York Times left fans expectant for the future of online gaming. To the possibility that I fall prey to the paywall (paywall) of the American newspaper -although they assured the opposite- generated the appearance of free clones that are guaranteed to be just as addictive as the popular word puzzle title.
While it’s unlikely that any other game will achieve Wordle’s viral success, there are several browser-based alternatives as well. The majority of them managed to copy its main features: They cost nothing to play, run in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, and are ad-free.
Variants range from direct copies (often without Wordle’s one game per day limit and with additional difficulty options) to versions in other languages, including Mandarin Chinese. There are also the themed versions.which include insults, queer culture and even Pokémon elements.
There are also truly weird options, like Letterle which asks you to guess a single letter; Absurdlewho describes himself as “Adversarial Wordle” , and word.rodeo which allows you to create custom challenges for a friend.
While, Numble challenges players to reverse engineer a mathematical equation, and Quordle where you can try yourself in four Wordle games at once.
Play Four from Merriam-Webster is a twist on the mini-crossword puzzle that offers a daily solution, while there are the old online Sudoku resources and my personal obsession, Nonograms (better known to Nintendo fans as Picross).
Of course, there are always various Guardian deals online or on iOS or Android, though the apps do require a paid subscription.
Nerdle
There is also an ideal variant for those users who prefer numbers to letters: Nerdle.
It is a game more inspired by Wordle that consists of guess a mathematical operation in six attempts. This time there are eight holes to fill in with numbers —from 0 to 9— and symbols —addition, subtraction, multiplication and division—.
Basically, if in Wordle you have to find a word in the dictionary, in Nerdle you have to enter a correct mathematical operation.
Wikitrivia
This game requires players to place random historical events in chronological order. Wikitrivia begins with a historical event which is already on the board. The player will then need to draw cards and place them in a timeline in relation to the other events in play.
Three mistakes can be made before the game is over, and the score will show how many cards were placed correctly before the mistake.
The highlight of Wikitrivia is that you need to have some knowledge of when historical events happened, at least relative to other things, and having it ends up being a satisfying experience.
GeoGuessr
Through Google Street View you will not only be able to have a panoramic version of a street, it is also used to play. The browser game GeoGuessr drops the player in a random location on Earth, at least mapped by Google, and challenges them to guess where in the world they are, awarding more points the closer they are to the mark.
The game has various modes different ones that limit you to a handful of countries, or place you only near landmarks, and the “daily challenge” feature replicates the spirit of Wordle.
What stands out about GeoGuessr is the need to analyze the context. Signs are especially valuable for determining the primary language in your mysterious location, but other context clues (forms of architecture, flora and fauna, which side of the road the cars are on, etc.) activate your brain in a different way. way that most other puzzle games don’t.
On a free account, you can only play for five minutes every 15 minutes, but that’s more than enough to get your daily fix.