Looking for more games like Wordle to keep you occupied while you’re staying home during the fifth wave? We’re rounding up the most addictive user-created wordplay games on the internet, inspired by everything from Korean superstars BTS to Mahjong.
Unless you’ve been taking a very long digital detox––and kudos to you if that’s the case––we bet you’ve heard of Wordle. Simple in premise but less so to solve, the game’s cryptic yellow, green and grey tiles started popping up on social media feeds at the end of 2021, and now, just a few months later, the world is Wordle mad. So much so that The New York Times (the home of cult-favourite word games including Spelling Bee) acquired the game from its creator for an undisclosed seven-figure sum in January 2022.
For the uninitiated, the aim of Wordle is to solve the day’s five-letter word in six goes or less. Every guess you make reveals if you’ve found letters from that day’s word. Yellow means the word appears but is in the wrong place, while green means it is the correct letter in the right place. Like so many great trivia games, Wordle is easy––but only if you know the answer.
The game’s simple format and open-source code have inspired numerous copycats which are just as addictive as the original. If you’re looking for more Wordle-inspired games to play while you’re staying home during Hong Kong’s fifth wave, take a look at a few of our favourites.
Don't miss: What in the World Is Wordle? (And How Do I Play It?)
1. Mahjong Handle
Mahjong Handle is a Wordle-inspired game that replaces English words and the Roman Alphabet with 34 Mahjong tiles. Players must guess the order of the day’s hand correctly in six tries or less. With 14 tiles to put in the right place, Mahjong Handle is fiendishly difficult.
Don't miss: How to Play Mahjong: A Beginner's Guide