Daily puzzle games like Wordle
Wordle made a daily puzzle into a habit for millions of people: one puzzle, the same for everyone, done in a few minutes, with a result to share. Plenty of games now work the same way. Here are the ones worth your morning, sorted by what kind of puzzle they are, with what each one is good for and whether it’s free.
We make three of them, Lie of Sight, Rex’s Fetch and Lacey’s Web, and they’re in the list where they fit.
A note on NYT Games first
Wordle itself belongs to The New York Times, which bought it from its creator, Josh Wardle, in January 2022. It’s still free. The NYT’s help center lists these daily games as free without a subscription: Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition, Pips, Strands and Sudoku. (It lists Crossplay too, a two-player word game app rather than a daily.) Spelling Bee is free up to a point. The Mini Crossword, the full Crossword, Letter Boxed and Tiles need a subscription. (The Mini went behind the paywall in August 2025, after about a decade free.)
Word games
Connections
The New York Times · free
Sixteen words, four hidden groups of four. Good for: the most popular daily after Wordle, and the best one to argue about with friends. More like it in games like Connections.
Strands
The New York Times · free
A themed word search, where one long word, the spangram, names the theme. Good for: a gentle second puzzle after Connections.
Spelling Bee
The New York Times · partly free
Make as many words as you can from seven letters, always using the center one. Good for: a puzzle to come back to through the day. A subscription opens the whole of it.
Quordle
Merriam-Webster
Four Wordles at once: every guess goes on all four boards. Merriam-Webster bought it in 2023. Good for: when one Wordle takes you three guesses and you want more.
Waffle
Waffle Studio · free, with extras for supporters
A grid of jumbled letters. Swap them until every word across and down is right, in 15 swaps or fewer. Good for: Wordle’s colored-tile feedback, in a puzzle that’s about order rather than guessing.
Squaredle
free, with a paid tier
Find words by joining neighboring letters in a grid, until you’ve used every letter. A small “Express” grid comes daily too. Good for: word-search fans who want a longer daily.
Contexto
Nildo Junior · free
Find a secret word by how close each guess is in meaning. There’s no guess limit, so it’s a slow walk through ideas. Good for: people who think in meanings rather than letters.
Number and logic puzzles
Nerdle
free
Wordle with an equation in place of a word: guess a hidden sum, eight characters long, and every guess has to be a true equation. Made by Richard Mann and his family in London, from January 2022. Good for: the friend who likes math more than spelling.
Pips
The New York Times · free
Place dominoes on a board so each region meets its condition. Easy, medium and hard every day. Good for: a fresh kind of logic puzzle from the NYT, since August 2025.
Queens
Place one crown in every row, column and colored region. LinkedIn says anyone can play, member or not. Good for: a short logic puzzle on a lunch break. Its relatives there: Tango (fill a grid with two symbols, in equal numbers in each row and column) and Mini Sudoku.
Zip
Draw one path through the grid that passes the numbers in order and fills every cell. Good for: path-puzzle fans who like a quick one.
Rex’s Fetch
us · free
A daily path puzzle with no numbers: lead Rex the dog through every open square of the yard, never crossing his own trail, and finish on the ball. Every yard has exactly one route. About two minutes. Good for: Zip players who want one more path, with a dog in it. Play today’s yard, or read how to solve path puzzles.
Lacey’s Web
us · free
Numbered knots on a spider’s web, each showing how many threads it held. Spin them back into one web. In the family of Hashi bridges puzzles, with exactly one answer each day. About two minutes. Good for: Sudoku people who want a different shape of logic. Play today’s web, or read our Lacey’s Web guide.
Geography, film and music
Worldle
Teuteuf Games · free daily, paid extras
Name a country from its outline, with distance and direction for each wrong guess. Created by Antoine Teuf in 2022, now run by Teuteuf Games, with apps too. Good for: the map lover.
Globle
Trainwreck Labs
Guess countries on a 3D globe, which colors each guess hotter or colder. Unlimited guesses. Good for: an easier, more forgiving geography daily than Worldle.
Travle
Teuteuf Games
Name the chain of neighboring countries that joins two others. Good for: anyone who has ever planned a road trip across a map.
Framed
free
Guess a film from a series of its stills. Good for: film fans. Its other modes use posters and title screens.
Bandle
Johann Levy · free in the browser, and an app with in-app purchases
Name a song as it builds up, instrument by instrument, in up to six clues. Good for: music fans, since Heardle (Spotify shut it down in May 2023) is gone.
Costcodle
free
Guess the price of a Costco product, higher or lower, in six tries. Good for: a laugh, and settling arguments about the price of a rotisserie chicken.
Mysteries and deduction
Murdle
G. T. Karber
A short daily whodunit, solved on a logic grid: who, how, where and why. Good for: readers who like a little story with their logic. More in games like Murdle.
Clues by Sam
free in a browser, with packs to buy
A grid of suspects, each innocent or criminal. Every person you sort out can give you the next clue, and you’re never allowed to guess. Harder through the week. Good for: long chains of small, certain steps. More in games like Clues by Sam.
Lie of Sight
us · free
A room seen from above, and a family who each say what they could see from where they stood. Exactly one is lying. You move them around until every story fits but one. No words to read, about three minutes, with every past daily free to play. Good for: people who like deduction but would rather look than read. Play today’s case.
For every daily mystery in one table, see daily mystery games.
A bundle of dailies
Puzzmo
Hearst · free, with Puzzmo Plus
A whole set of daily puzzles in one place, word and logic, led by the game designer Zach Gage. Good for: one bookmark instead of ten.
How to build a morning set
Most people settle on three or four: one with words, one with numbers or logic, and one that’s a bit different. A few that go well together:
- Wordle, Connections, Strands for a word lover’s set, all free.
- Wordle, Queens, Lie of Sight for a word, a grid and a mystery.
- Rex’s Fetch, Lacey’s Web and Lie of Sight if you’d like the whole set with no words at all, all on one page: the Fibbersons’ game picker.
Want dailies with no words? See games like Wordle, but not words.
Questions people ask
What is the best daily puzzle game like Wordle?
It depends on what you like about Wordle. For words, Connections and Strands. For numbers, Nerdle. For logic, Queens, Pips or Sudoku. For a story, Murdle or Lie of Sight.
Are there free daily puzzle games?
Yes, most of the ones on this list are free to play every day in a browser. Some, like Worldle, Squaredle and Puzzmo, sell extras such as an archive.
What daily puzzle games are free on NYT Games?
The NYT lists Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition, Pips, Strands and Sudoku as free daily games. Spelling Bee is partly free. (Crossplay, its two-player word game app, is free too, but it isn’t a daily.)
Is there a daily puzzle game without words?
Yes: Nerdle, Worldle, Queens, Pips, Rex’s Fetch, Lacey’s Web and Lie of Sight, among others. There’s a longer list in games like Wordle, but not words.
More lists like this one
- Games like Murdle
- Games like Clues by Sam
- Games like Murdoku
- Games like Wordle
- Daily mystery games
- Games like Connections
New to Lie of Sight? How to play has the rules and the family, with pictures.
Ready for today’s case?
A new case every day. Free, with no sign-up to start.