Wordlehas taken social media by storm. The word game challenges players through its individual letter, but more than that World is so popular due to the way players can share their successes and failures without spoiling the answer. With such viral popularity, copycat were just a matter of time. There’sHello Wordl, unauthorized mobile ports,Queerdle, and the raunchyLewdle. Add another homage to the list, asAbusurdle, described as an “adversarial"Wordle-like that actively fights back against being solved.
InWordle, players attempt to guess a five-letter secret word by inputting their blind guess. It then responds by confirming whether letters within the word are also within the secret word via yellow, green, and blank squares. Yellow squares mean the letter is in the word but in the wrong position. Green squares mean the letter is in the word and in the correct position. Blank means the letters aren’t part of the word at all.Absurdlefollows these same rules, but with one catch—there is no secret word.
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Absurdlefollows thesame general structure asWordle. Players start by guessing a word. However, instead of comparing the player’s word with a secret word,Absurdlewill make a list of potential words from the letters the player has yet to guess. In this way, the player will always be as far as possible from the true answer asAbsurdlecan logically manipulate.
The result is aWordle-like gamewhere the puzzle can never be solved in fewer than four guesses and is likely to take significantly more depending on the randomization inherent toAbsurdle’s logic.Absurdleisn’t trying to make the player “lose,” though. WhileWordlehas a limit of six potential guesses before the player loses,Absurdlegives players unlimited guesses. The only losers are those who give up.
In many ways,Absurdleis better at whatWordleis trying to do thanWordleis. WhereWordleis afun word-based puzzle game, players tend to fall into a rhythm of using the same words and patterns to solve each day’s puzzle.Absurdleforces players to stretch their vocabulary every single day. While some patterns may still be efficient,Absurdlewill still encourage players to experiment and try new things.
Like World,Absurdleis a browser game that can be played for free. And sinceAbsurdleisn’t based on a single daily word, it can be played as many times as players want. In doing so, it does lose the social aspect that makesWordleso popular, but it’s a great way to train or continue to play after finishing the dailyWordle.
Absurdleis available now via browser.
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