If you’re anything like me, you have been a fan of the sensational Wordle ever since the beginning. Maybe you’ve just dabbled in it, maybe you do it religiously. Even if you don’t fall into any of these categories, you probably know someone who does. It’s certainly impossible to deny that this game has spelled its way into many daily routines. But what you might not know is just HOW many spin-off games have been made using this ingenious “one-per-day” formula.
There’s actually a fair amount of science that explains why we find these kinds of games so pleasing. The human brain loves instant gratification, accomplishment, and routine, and games like these check all those boxes. To put it simply, it gives us something to look forward to that makes us feel smart. I personally can’t get enough. So much so, that I’ve been able to associate certain personality traits with each spin-off game. Maybe I’m going crazy, but at the very least you’ll have learned about a few fun new games to try. Also disclaimer, I am a Pisces, and these are all examples of the games I play regularly. If none of these tickle your fancy, I guarantee one that you’ll love is just a Google search away.
- Aries – Hello Wordl
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This game is not necessarily one that makes it onto my roster everyday, but during the times when I wish I could have just a little more fun with my word games, I turn to this one. That’s because you can basically play a whole bunch of games of Wordle in one sitting, but with more options and modifiers (like the length). I feel very similar about Aries; I can’t really keep up with their competitive, fiery nature all the time, but they’re almost always there when I need them.
- Taurus – Framed
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Framed is for the pop culture girlies, specifically of the film-loving brand. In this game, you’re given a screencap and you have to guess from which movie that screencap came. Each time you get it wrong, it’ll show an additional screencap that gives more clues and identifying info about the movie. There’s also a TV show version. It can range from being extremely fun and entertaining, to confusing and difficult. Just like a decadently beautiful Taurus, this game may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but those who do will be completely obsessed.
- Gemini – Dordle
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This one was almost too easy to identify. In this game, you have to guess two words at the same time while only guessing one word at a time. It sounds hard, but I promise it’s not. You get seven guesses instead of six as well to help cushion the blow. This game I play more spontaneously, when I want to give myself an extra challenge. It’s not the hardest version, but it’s not the easiest either, and that’s what’s so perfect about it. To me, that perfectly resonates with the fun, erratic Geminis I know.
- Cancer – One Direction Heardle
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I know I haven’t quite talked about the original Heardle yet, but it’ll be soon. In this version of the game, you listen to songs specifically on One Direction’s discography. Now I know this one is only for the people that listen to 1D or were a part of their fanbase back in the day, but it’s seriously one of my favorites. I have NEVER taken more than two tries to get this one, and it very rarely takes more than the first one. I absolutely adore playing this and do it literally everyday without fail. Cancers get a lot of hate for reasons always unknown to me. The emotional-ness just comes from a deep sense of love and compassion that I totally resonate with and appreciate. So even though some might raise an eyebrow at me playing this game, or loving Cancers so much, it won’t stop me from sending my score to the group chat daily.
- Leo – Wordle (ORIGINAL)
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Leo, like Wordle, is the OG and the ‘popular girl’ so to speak. I know I don’t really have to explain how to play Wordle, and I feel like Leos don’t need much explaining either. In my experience, Leos make themselves known, whether they mean to or not, and that’s not a bad thing! Wordle is the well-loved classic that everyone loves, even if some people pretend its overrated.
- Virgo – Quordle
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Like Dordle, Quordle is like Wordle with an extra challenge. In this case though, the challenge is a major one. Quordle challenges you to guess four different words using only nine guesses. I’ll be honest, this one took me a couple tries before I could deduce a decent strategy. Luckily, it provides you with the opportunity to do practice games so you can get used to how it looks. You’d be surprised how much fun this one gets, plus nothing is more satisfying than getting them all right. Virgos sometimes present an extra challenge, or their drive can sometimes be intimidating. But with time, friendships with them can be some of the best and most rewarding, so don’t knock it till you try it.
- Libra – Worldle or Globle
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These two games balance out the same scale and both have the same premise: to guess a country by looking at a picture of its outline. This one is NOT easy. At all. It’s a rare time that I don’t have to sit with one tab on the game and one tab on a map. I could go on a whole separate rant about how the American education system fails its students on global awareness or geography, but because of that fact these games serve a bit of a different purpose than the others. Even though these games don’t validate existing intelligence like the others, they provide me with a means of learning something new that I desperately wish I knew. Plus, when I do get it, I literally think about it for the rest of the day because I get so excited. Libra is a teacher and facilitator, just like these games.
- Scorpio – Heardle
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As mentioned with Cancer’s One Direction themed version, Heardle is the music buff’s dream. This game is one of my personal favorites because I like to think of myself as somewhat of a music aficionado. I was raised listening to and appreciating music of all kinds, and an affixation on memorizing lyrics. I spent lots of time writing down song lyrics I wanted to know in my notebooks, so it’s no wonder I love this game and to flex my skills in it. Scorpios are known to be elusive and mysterious, and I feel like people share similar sentiments about this game. For those who don’t have the same sentiment for listening to music, you might not pick up on how the first few seconds of the songs you listen to start. Which is totally okay – you don’t need to know every song well to love music, but it can make the task that Heardle presents a bit daunting. It might be something that takes some getting used to, but there’s always at least one day, or one Scorpio, that’ll be perfect for you.
- Sagittarius – Taylor Swift Heardle or Swiftle
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As you can probably guess, this version is all for the Swifties, hence one of the reason this gets Sag’s spot. This is just Heardle for TSwift songs, except Swiftle won’t always start the song at the beginning. The game is driven by a quest for knowledge of the world Taylor has built, seeing if we are able to identify its bits and pieces. IMO, you can’t separate Taylor’s lyrics from her astrological identity – both are intellectual, spiritual, and honest. This game may not make it on my daily routine every time, but it always there to remind me of what matters most, just like the sign they represent.
- Capricorn – Semantle
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Another tricky one, this game asks you to bust out your brain’s thesaurus and guess words based on how semantically similar they are. There’s no limit to how many times you can guess because a game could easily take over a hundred guesses. And it’s as hard as it sounds. Here’s a quote from the directions:
“By ‘semantically similar’, I mean, roughly ‘used in the context of similar words, in a database of news articles.’…You will need more than six guesses. You will probably need dozens of guesses. There’s a new word every day, where a day starts at midnight UTC or 20:00 your time.”
Yeah. Pretty terrifying. I’ve only beat it I think 8 or 9 times. Is it worth it? It can be. It does have an option to give up if you need to, but something always keeps me from pressing it. Kinda like a Capricorn, persistence and patience is key. You have to be cunning and creative in order to play this one, perfectly embodied by a Cap’s determination.
- Aquarius – Weaver
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Weaver is a really interesting game because of how different it is from the others. In this game, you are given two four-letter words. Your job is to turn the first word into the second word by changing one letter at a time. It’s super easy on some days and completely hopeless on others. But it’s also certainly one of the most fun and creative. It can be tricky if you don’t know what to look for, but so worth getting good at. This is another one I do every day without fail.
- Pisces – Crosswordle
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Another super fun one, this game is essentially building a Wordle board backwards from a correct word that’s given. You definitely have to think about this one at first – reverse engineering your brain in this way takes a bit of effort. But once you start looking at the board that way, you can never go back. The game gives you unlimited time and tries, but does give you the chance to beat your times if you want some competition. It’s multi-layered and requires some bigger picture thinking, making it the perfect game to represent this water sign.