Wordle meets Wheel of Fortune in addictive new Hangman-style game WordHuddle | Gaming | Entertainment
While most Wordle clones are instantly forgettable and doomed to fail, every now and then one comes along that really hit the sweet spot. This includes newly released brain teaser WordHuddle, which mixes elements of Wordle with classic games like Hangman and TV’s Wheel of Fortune. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, then read on for more on how to play WordHuddle.
The aim of the game is to figure out the title of a book, movie, or popular phrase using as few guesses as possible.
The longer it takes and the more letters you use, the lower your score when it’s time to solve the puzzle.
WordHuddle creator Michael Katz explains more about the origins of the game, and how the current version successfully merges Hangman and Wheel of Fortune with a splash of Wordle.
“The game was inspired by Wordle in that it has a daily puzzle with the ability to share how you did without giving the puzzle away,” Katz explains. “The original version was very much like hangman, with a fixed number of guesses until you lose.
“Then I made the number of guesses variable based on the puzzle difficulty. But players didn’t like that you could lose the game entirely if you made bad guesses. So I added a scoring mechanism, with a ‘par’ score that had to be reached to win, but even if you don’t get par, you can complete the puzzle and be satisfied with your accomplishment.”
Inspired by Wheel of Fortune, Katz decided that game would benefit from the player being able to “put a stake in the ground and commit to a complete solution”. Needless to say, the earlier a player commits, the higher the score.
Indeed, you get more points per letter when solving a puzzle, compared to when you are still working things out. Likewise, the penalty for an incorrect guess is -20 points, so it’s not the end of the world if you guess prematurely.
When you solve a puzzle you’ll receive some information about the answer (a Wiki article about Alice in Wonderland, for example), while each teaser is accompanied by a general hint to point you in the right direction.
Katz continues: “Overall, I like that the game fits the “bite-sized” daily pattern established by Wordle, but that it’s different from Wordle because it involves real-world phrases and information.
“In fact it can be thought of as a bite-sized, one-clue crossword puzzle. (It’s more of a crossword puzzle than Wheel of Fortune because I give quite specific hints, whereas Wheel of Fortune always uses general categories.)”
You can play WordHuddle by visiting the official website. Similar to Wordle, there’s a new puzzle each day, so keep checking back if you want to build up a winning streak.
