How to play the daily word puzzle
Word is Octopuzzle's daily word puzzle. You get six guesses to find one five-letter word, and after every guess the tiles change color to show how close you are. Everyone gets the same word, and a new one arrives at midnight your time.
The rules
- 1
Guess a word
Type any real five-letter English word and tap Submit. A word that isn't on the word list is turned away and doesn't use up a guess.
- 2
Green means right letter, right spot
A green tile is in the answer, in exactly that position.
- 3
Yellow means right letter, wrong spot
A yellow tile is in the answer, but somewhere else in the word.
- 4
Gray means not in the word
A gray tile isn't in the answer. The keyboard keeps every letter's color, so you can see what's left at a glance.
- 5
Repeated letters count once each
If you guess a letter twice and the answer has it once, only one of your tiles lights up. A green match is counted first, and the extra copy turns gray.
- 6
Solve within six guesses
Turn all five tiles green in six guesses or fewer to solve the puzzle. After six misses, the puzzle shows the answer.
- 7
Use a hint if you're stuck
After your first guess you can take up to two hints. Each one shows a letter of the answer in its place, picked from the positions you haven't found yet.
An example game
Tips for solving
- Start with a word that has three vowels or common letters such as E, A, R, S and T. A first guess is about information, not about being right.
- Use your second guess to try five new letters if the first one gave you little. Two wide guesses often beat one careful one.
- Move yellow letters to a new spot on the next guess. A yellow letter can never sit in the spot where it turned yellow.
- Remember that letters can repeat. If you're stuck with three or four greens, the missing letter may be one you've already found.
- Before you submit, check the keyboard. Guessing a gray letter again wastes a tile.
How scoring works
A solve on the first guess scores 1,000 points. Each extra guess takes off 150, so a solve on the sixth guess scores 250.
Each hint takes 100 points off, and the app asks before you use one in the daily puzzle. A puzzle you don't solve scores 0.
Your daily scores add up to your points for the week in groups and in your weekly league.
| 1 guess | 1,000 |
|---|---|
| 2 guesses | 850 |
| 3 guesses | 700 |
| 4 guesses | 550 |
| 5 guesses | 400 |
| 6 guesses | 250 |
Streaks
Play any of the three daily puzzles to the end, solved or not, and your streak grows by a day. One puzzle is enough; you don't need all three.
Every 7 days in a row earns a freeze, and you can hold two. A freeze covers a missed day on its own, with nothing to tap.
If your streak breaks anyway, you can get it back for two days. Play the missed puzzle from yesterday or the day before on the Today screen, and the streak is restored.
Questions
Get the app
Word, Number and Logic arrive fresh every day, and Unlimited has classic Sudoku whenever you want more. Free, no ads, and it plays offline. Octopuzzle is coming to iPhone first, with Android planned.
