Ask HN: What are your favourite daily puzzle games?

12 pointscookie_monsta11mo ago16 comments

I got hooked on daily puzzle games like a lot of people, with Wordle and since then have been collecting them here and there. Most of my faves have been posted here by creators or fans, others I don't remember how I found them. Anyway, it's been a while since we've had a dedicated thread for people to share their favourites, but there are new ones coming out all the time, so I'm curious to know if there are any good ones I'm missing out on. I guess my only real criteria are that they are browser-based, mobile friendly, free to play and somewhat original. Below are the ones I regularly play:

From the NYT: Wordle, connections and the mini

https://wordchase.semantle.com guess the word guided by AI hints

https://travle.earth/ get from one country to another by passing through bordering countries

https://wafflegame.net/ drag and drop letters to make a "waffle" of words

https://imsqueezy.com/ insert letters to make other words, to form 3 words connected by a theme

https://truncate.town/ kind of an adversarial scrabble, PvP or against the computer

https://ziggurwords.com/ unscramble letters to find increasingly longer words

https://crosswordle.com/ a crossword/wordle hybrid

https://www.threemagicwords.app/ more word unscrambling

https://www.theatlantic.com/games/bracket-city/ hard to explain - uncover a famous event in history by unwrapping nested clues?

https://www.omiword.com/ drag tiles within sectors to spell 4 common words

Am I missing any good ones?

16 comments

JoshTriplett11mo ago

I enjoy good puzzle games, but I really dislike the trend towards "daily" games. Whenever I find one, I look for whatever option they have for randomly generated "practice" games (ignoring the "daily" puzzle), and if they don't have one, abandon the game entirely. I can understand that people enjoy comparing their results on a particular game, but to me, that's much less interesting than being able to actually play the game for more than five minutes.

The latest small browser-based puzzle game I've enjoyed: https://danielben.itch.io/dragonsweeper

cookie_monstaOP11mo ago

Fair enough. I would guess that daily games prevent me from bingeing and getting bored. The exception would be https://truncate.town/ - something about that game really clicks with me and I often play a "regular" (non-daily) game against the computer when I have a spare few minutes

enhdless11mo ago

Someone posted a daily logic puzzle in the "What are you working on?" thread yesterday, titled Clues by Sam: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43821457

I enjoyed it! Not too difficult but still required some thinking.

cookie_monstaOP11mo ago

Yeah, that's a good one thanks

zippyman5511mo ago

Lichess.org has great chess puzzzles. I like that you get a puzzle rating and have metric to track cognitive decline.

mtmail11mo ago

https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/ - guess the country

https://timeguessr.com/ - guess a photo's year and location

anenefan11mo ago

So not daily but maybe three days or so if I need to put the mind into neutral I do something repetitive [1] there are other puzzles at the site as well that are bit more challenging eg [2]

[1] https://www.mathsisfun.com/games/towerofhanoi.html

[2] https://www.mathsisfun.com/games/arrange.html

savorypiano10mo ago

https://wordcrux.com

This is a mini crossword played semi-Wordle style. You get a one word hint, and guess the words. Three wrong guesses on any square and the game is over.

LarryMade211mo ago

How about wordle x 8 - Octordle - https://www.britannica.com/games/octordle/?mode=daily

ecesena11mo ago

I played bonza for a few years https://www.bonzapuzzles.com

cookie_monstaOP11mo ago

Looks nice but definitely in the "Why is this an app and not a webpage?" category for me

austin-cheney11mo ago

Worldle. https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/

Jeremy102611mo ago

I like NYT Strands. It's a word search where you're given a theme, but not the specific words you need to find.

luhego11mo ago

Tango from Linkedin

OnionBlender10mo ago

How do I stop Linkedin from sending me notifications trying to get me to play games on their app?

Quinzel11mo ago

Blockudoku

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

Ask HN: What are your favourite daily puzzle games?

12 pointscookie_monsta11mo ago16 comments

From the NYT: Wordle, connections and the mini

https://wordchase.semantle.com guess the word guided by AI hints

https://travle.earth/ get from one country to another by passing through bordering countries

https://wafflegame.net/ drag and drop letters to make a "waffle" of words

https://imsqueezy.com/ insert letters to make other words, to form 3 words connected by a theme

https://truncate.town/ kind of an adversarial scrabble, PvP or against the computer

https://ziggurwords.com/ unscramble letters to find increasingly longer words

https://crosswordle.com/ a crossword/wordle hybrid

https://www.threemagicwords.app/ more word unscrambling

https://www.theatlantic.com/games/bracket-city/ hard to explain - uncover a famous event in history by unwrapping nested clues?

https://www.omiword.com/ drag tiles within sectors to spell 4 common words

Am I missing any good ones?

16 comments

JoshTriplett11mo ago

The latest small browser-based puzzle game I've enjoyed: https://danielben.itch.io/dragonsweeper

cookie_monstaOP11mo ago

enhdless11mo ago

Someone posted a daily logic puzzle in the "What are you working on?" thread yesterday, titled Clues by Sam: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43821457

I enjoyed it! Not too difficult but still required some thinking.

cookie_monstaOP11mo ago

Yeah, that's a good one thanks

zippyman5511mo ago

Lichess.org has great chess puzzzles. I like that you get a puzzle rating and have metric to track cognitive decline.

mtmail11mo ago

https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/ - guess the country

https://timeguessr.com/ - guess a photo's year and location

anenefan11mo ago

So not daily but maybe three days or so if I need to put the mind into neutral I do something repetitive [1] there are other puzzles at the site as well that are bit more challenging eg [2]

[1] https://www.mathsisfun.com/games/towerofhanoi.html

[2] https://www.mathsisfun.com/games/arrange.html

savorypiano10mo ago

https://wordcrux.com

This is a mini crossword played semi-Wordle style. You get a one word hint, and guess the words. Three wrong guesses on any square and the game is over.

LarryMade211mo ago

How about wordle x 8 - Octordle - https://www.britannica.com/games/octordle/?mode=daily

ecesena11mo ago

I played bonza for a few years https://www.bonzapuzzles.com

cookie_monstaOP11mo ago

Looks nice but definitely in the "Why is this an app and not a webpage?" category for me

austin-cheney11mo ago

Worldle. https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/

Jeremy102611mo ago

I like NYT Strands. It's a word search where you're given a theme, but not the specific words you need to find.

luhego11mo ago

Tango from Linkedin

OnionBlender10mo ago

How do I stop Linkedin from sending me notifications trying to get me to play games on their app?

Quinzel11mo ago

Blockudoku

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse