Wordle, this season’s must-play puzzle game, is made all the more appealing by the fact that you can only play it once a day. But that’s part of the annoyance as well.
While it’s nice to think to yourself, “Ah, a coffee break,” it’s also nice to think to yourself, “Ah, a coffee break.” You sometimes want to scratch that puzzle itch for a bit longer (part and parcel of the indulgent “treat brain” we all seem to have developed during the pandemic), so you sit down and do your Wordle.
With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best and most ridiculous Wordle spoofs we’ve seen thus far. They either push the format to absurd levels, provide truly enjoyable challenges, or are one-click jokes that may, at the least, momentarily alleviate your Wordle desires.
Before we go into the alternatives, let’s take a look at the tips and tricks that will help you be an expert at any word game.
Wordle Tricks & Strategies
1. Choose your first five-letter word with care.
Choose a word made up of five different letters, three of which are vowels, to begin solving the puzzle.
2. Acquire a list of the most commonly used five-letter terms.
It’s great if you memorise or maintain several 5-letter word lists on hand.
3. Do not reuse letters that have already been used.
To some extent, the bottom-right keyboard can assist you with this, but it’s preferable to utilise a word finder that includes this capability.
4. Use a Wordle solver to help you out.
When playing word games, using an anagram solver or word unscrambler will always offer you an advantage over your opponents.
5. Consider Thinking Outside the Box
To solve Wordle, you must combine useful resources such as Word Tips and your linguistic skills into one. Don’t limit yourself to the terms you already know; think bigger and better. If you need more Wordle help, we recommend using a Wordle word finder and learning how to play the five-letter word game for yourself!
The best strategy is to try two different five-letter words in each of the first two attempts. This allows you to think of more letters than you would if you only tried once and then tried to think of more and more words based on the letters you already knew. The combination of clues from the first two trials can then be used to start narrowing in on the real word.
The Alternatives to Wordle
SPELL TOWER
For both Android and iOS, SpellTower is a quick and engaging method to play “guess the word” with a humorous twist. This game combines Wordle with Tetris and word searches. It also offers 11 interesting game modes to select from, including Tower Mode, Daily Tower Mode, Puzzle Mode, Zen Mode, and Bubble Puzzle, as well as the chance to earn rewards.
To play, you must find words to clear the tiles while racing against the clock and avoiding the letters reaching the top. You’ll be competing against yourself for the best score, best word, and highest number of words found, in addition to the clock.
QUEERDLE
With a pastel background and on-theme compliments (“Shantay you stay!”), Wordle gets yassified. The designer warns that winning words are more likely to be NSFW than those found on Wordle, although there are ways to win faster. “The secret to Wordle is knowing the distribution of letters in English and opening with terms that have a lot of common letters in them,” one Twitter commenter put it. Queerdle’s secret is to do this once and then guess the gay word.”
SWEARDLE
This one does exactly what it says on the tin. Instead of terms from Wordle’s larger vocabulary, you’re guessing swear words. “Correct. “, the results are provided with snippy small remarks. “I’m sure your mother is ecstatic,” and so on.
LETTERLE
We all enjoy a good one-click spoof as much as the next person, and Letterle does not disappoint. Every day, a fresh and intriguing problem is presented! Every day, you can put your brains and intelligence to the test by guessing a single hidden letter! How cunning!
ONLINE LINGO
Do you want a simpler version of Wordle that gives you useful instructions as you go? You should look at Online Lingo. This web-only option gives you the option of a five-letter or six-letter puzzle, as well as a bright and colorful background to play from. But don’t get too comfortable—Online Lingo’s hints aren’t grayed out for letters you’ve previously used, so you’ll have to keep track of them as you play.
ABSURDLE
This is an “adversarial variation” of Wordle, according to the creator. Absurdle modifies the rules of Wordle to make the game increasingly difficult as you make more guesses, as detailed here. While Wordle’s goal word is fixed every day, Absurdle alters the word you’re looking for every time you make a correct guess.
HELLO WORDL
This one is identical to Wordle, except that you can play it numerous times every day and modify the length of the word you’re guessing. Congratulations if you are able to solve anything with more than six letters. I spent ten minutes trying to solve a ten-letter puzzle just to be told the answer was… adrenergic. Warning: this is just for masochists.
If you know of any additional good Wordle parodies (or just amusing alternatives), please share them in the comments section below. Wordle junkies have taken over the Verge Slack, and we could use a new way to get our fix.
SQUIRDLE
Squirdle isn’t exactly the same as Wordle, although it does have a similar pattern. You have five turns to guess the Pokémon, modifying your answer depending on generation, type, height, and weight.
If you haven’t kept up with Pokémon over the years, you can play with simply the oldies like Pikachu and Charmander by switching to a first-generation version.
KITTY LETTER
Kitty Letter (Free) is a cat-centric word game from the creators of Exploding Kittens that will have you pawing at your smartphone screen in no time! In it, you’ll compete against other players to decode words, acquire power-ups, and prevent your cat-hoarding neighbor from destroying your home.
You can play one-on-one online games with friends or strangers, or you can go head-to-head in the single-player campaign. It’s the best of both worlds: word games and kitten cuteness! What more could we possibly want?
BYRDLE
Byrdle is a specialized form of Wordle, but that’s part of what makes it so appealing. It has the same look and feel as classic Wordle, with the exception that the word you must identify is related to choral music. Yes, most of us will have to do some research to figure out what words are included, but that’s all part of the fun.
Conclusion
These games take the popular Wordle premise and turn it into something amusing or unique. Unlike some of the cash-grab Wordle clones that have appeared on the App Store, these pay homage to the original Wordle and sit comfortably alongside it.
