Show HN: I built a word game. My mom thinks it's great. What do you think?
192 comments
·April 5, 2025Y444
Product manager ex. game designer with a number of puzzle/word game in operation here.
- Having a timer (urgency) is usually not a very good idea for thinky games. If you insist on having a timer consider making it count upwards.
- Additionally as other commenters mentioned is the game is a time trial it needs an explicit “Start” button. Also stop the timer when user is not playing e.g. reading the rules.
- There’s no point of having a “Play again” option for a Wordle style daily game, the thinking part is already done, so any replay is just an exercise in dexterity.
- It’s okay to be US-centric actually, doesn’t matter unless you are very serious about monetizing it, and even then being US-centric will work.
- Consider showing rules for first time users before staring the puzzle.
- Consider having some sort of overarching thing in your puzzle, so it’s not just five words on a specific topic to guess, but something more, like a hidden word across all five etc. This makes a delightful discovery moment and sometimes might work as a clue.
bahmboo
Thank you. I really appreciate product people.
ugh123
>There’s no point of having a “Play again” option for a Wordle style daily game, the thinking part is already done, so any replay is just an exercise in dexterity.
What if i'm handing it to a friend/spouse to play to beat my time?
>Consider having some sort of overarching thing in your puzzle, so it’s not just five words on a specific topic to guess, but something more, like a hidden word across all five etc. This makes a delightful discovery moment and sometimes might work as a clue.
That just sounds like your idea for a different type of game. I like his current idea for this game.
FlamingMoe
"a timer (urgency) is usually not a very good idea for thinky games" 100% agree. I hate the timer on the NY Times mini puzzle. I like these types of simple games for unwinding, and a timer makes it more stressful.
binarymax
Contrarily, I love the mini timer, because it’s something to beat. The mini is too easy of a puzzle. The NYT crossword is more for the thinking type - it also has a timer, but its less in your face and I don’t feel the pressure.
hnlmorg
You can still have that with a count up timer (like the GP suggested) but then you don’t put people off like myself who don’t want to be timed out of games
sharkweek
I agree - me and several friends had a rolling text convo where we’d share our mini times each day in a fun daily competition.
Has since faded but anytime I think about it I like to load up the puzzle app and do it.
fiddlerwoaroof
This reminds me a bit of Boggle which really needs a timer. If anything, the timer on this is too long: I did it in 0:32 and was better than 53% of other users, which suggests to me the timer should be about a minute
JKCalhoun
Agree that timers suck the fun out of a game like this. I avoid any solitaire game with a timer for example.
Y444
Some crossword people like having their timers (see NYT Games app for example), but as I’ve mentioned the timers are counting up, not triggering any negative conditions, and can be turned off completely.
accrual
The OG Windows 3 solitaire has an option to disable the timer, it's one of the first things I uncheck. I did "speedrun" solitaire in my computer classes for fun, though. :)
ohnoabigshark
The overarching "thing" in the puzzle is a great idea. Choose a column that spells another answer when you get them all right. Works even if you expand the size of the word grid.
megadata
> and even then being US-centric will work.
The world has sadly changed a lot in recent months.
bdhcuidbebe
What did I miss, did Trump replace the english language now?
tasty_freeze
The implication wasn't that people have stopped knowing or using English. The implication was that much of the world, except Russia and her allies, suddenly has a much great deal of resentment toward the US.
taneq
There’s a 40% tariff on the letter ‘u’.
zwnow
English? Did you mean USAlish?
labster
You mean the American language
huijzer
> It’s okay to be US-centric actually, doesn’t matter unless you are very serious about monetizing it, and even then being US-centric will work.
As a European who on a typical day uses/watched/reads more English than my native language, I agree. Except sports teams and other more locally phenomena. Those are the worst.
wordglyph
Love your feedback on https://wordGlyph.xyz it just got Webby nomination
coldtrait
Thanks , just found a new fun word game!
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rao-d
First of all, great game, just the kind I love. Personally, I love the timer. I can see varying opinions though. Perhaps a toggle for easy mode (no timer) or hard mode (timer, track and beat your own time)
mft_
Nice concept, but US-centric short/slang sports teams' names is a bit misjudged as the very first puzzle when introducing your new game to an international audience. I solved them because they're (mostly) words rather than them having meaning to me.
enlyth
I wish there was a more internationally friendly version of NYT Games, they're so fun and I play them daily but a lot US cultural knowledge is required at times
angry_moose
It cuts both ways.
Cryptic Crosswords are almost impenetrable from the US as they're so deep in UK specific words, spellings, and trivia.
benrutter
I love cryptic crossword, but there's so many "inside rules" that make them hard to approach for newcomers. It doesn't help that there really aren't a lot of good easy cryptics.
zem
there are some good american and canadian cryptics but i agree, it's a largely uk-centred pastime.
JKCalhoun
Yep, didn't even notice they were supposed to be sports teams. I wondered why there were so many plural words.
spicybright
Same complaint. Also, not to poke fun at us too hard but there's probably less sports fans here than the average population :)
Really like the idea though.
SirSourdough
For those of you who are put off from trying the game by the category for today’s puzzle being sports, note there are other puzzles from prior days with more general topics.
Click the calendar icon at top of page for the archive.
layer8
What the hell is “Planta” though. ;)
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dylan604
These are short little words that are not uncommon even if you are not familiar with sportsball teams. If you struggled unscrambling these words, I'd suggest your vocab is just in dire need of expansion.
godelski
First off, I love the game. Your mom isn't just placating you. It is fun.
Second, I think given all this advice a real clear example can be seen by looking at NYT's Wordle[0]. Instructions are the first thing you see and cover the puzzle. You then click start.
Importantly, the instructions have an example. While the puzzle is extremely intuitive, an example can eliminate almost any ambiguity (intuitive for most people but maybe not kids, non-native English speakers, or just things like someone shoves the game into their friends face. Who knows). There can be a button on the side to show instructions again, which should cover the puzzle and stop the timer.
> Having a timer (urgency) is usually not a very good idea for thinky games.
There's plenty of "thinky games" that have timers: Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are two good examples. Almost any TV game is timed. I don't think there's a problem with this and the pressure can make it fun while also conveying that it won't take a person all day.
> There’s no point of having a “Play again”
esperent
> Personally, I like the timer.
Personally, I hate the timer. It makes me feel stressed. I guessed the first word then decided to stop playing because of the timer.
It's clear while some people appreciate it, many people won't play the game if it has a timer. So, make it optional.
latexr
> Almost any TV game is timed.
For the benefit of the audience watching, not the player. You wouldn’t want someone consuming the whole show because they do not make a move. There’s little reason to care about time limits on a game someone plays by themselves.
linsomniac
A coworker and my wife and I have recently been really enjoying https://bracket.city which is a crossword-clue inspired word game with daily puzzles. It does take a little while to figure out, I'd recommend starting off asking for hints fairly often to decrease frustration, but after a couple weeks my wife and I are on a streak of 3 days of scoring 100.
kbrackbill
Thanks for the suggestion, that was really fun. One I've been really enjoying in the same vein is https://raddle.quest
linsomniac
Thanks for that, I just played todays and it is pretty fun!
tolien
I'll quite often wind up solving this by a sort of parallel construction, as in rather than getting the hint I can work out what word is supposed to be there based on what's around it. Some of the clues can be really cryptic.
linsomniac
Yes, that is the real trick when you get stuck is to start constructing the clues that it will eventually become.
silisili
Same. I saw a show HN on this a couple weeks ago and have been borderline addicted since.
j_bum
Oh we absolutely love bracket city, +1
I’ve showed it to my friends, and it’s stuck. My brother shared it with all of his coworkers and they’re now playing too.
It’s fun watching it “spread” amongst my social group
linsomniac
You've had better luck spreading it than I have it sounds like. Everyone I've mentioned it to has said "It's too hard" and I don't think has really even given it a shot.
xnorswap
Neat puzzle.
My first wrong answer was an international spelling issue. It would be nice if it accepted then silently corrected based on equivalent international spellings, but I can also understand why it doesn't, sometimes it might be more crucial to the solution.
linsomniac
There is a "mayor@" e-mail you can use to submit requests like this and the developer has been pretty responsive.
mildavw
Final score: 4.0 :/
But pretty creative game. Thanks for sharing!
linsomniac
That is probably around where my first score was. :-) My wife and I had a 0 a couple weeks ago.
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genezeta
While the game is ok, there's unfortunately a problem on Firefox on Android.
I know, who cares, only three people in the planet use Firefox on Android. But if you want to know anyway...
The problem is the sizes are not adjusted correctly and so the fixed header/upper part overlaps the scrambled word list, almost completely hiding the first word. You can, through some tricky scrolling, manage to see it and then solve it. But it's tricky. And ugly.
MrJohz
Fwiw, I am one of the other two people with Firefox on Android and am not having this issue, so it might be a question of screen size rather than browser?
stevage
It should show instructions the first time, without prompting. I was just confused for a long time.
The icons at the start and end of each row were distracting and confusing.
spicybright
Just worked through a lot of the puzzles. I love the concept, and I also like how the timer doesn't reset when you switch between them.
3 pieces of feedback:
1. Since your time matters, a start button before a new puzzle is presented would be nice.
2. I wanted to play more puzzles but didn't realize the calendar button up top switched puzzles till reading comments. I think fading the screen with an overlay with the existing buttons and adding a "Play Another?" button would hook people in more.
3. Some of the scrambles are too easy. Maybe that's by design, but an example is "PAWSN" in the apr 4th chess puzzle, it's stupidly obvious compared to the other words.
But again really awesome content and would make an amazing mobile website or app.
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glitchc
Great idea, like the game. Thanks for making and sharing!
dlgeek
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
Today's challenge ("Sports Teams") was particularly easy because each one was plural. That made each one "unscramble a 4 letter word" instead of a 5. Might be a consideration for the future.
khazhoux
Check out the big brain on Brad!!
I didn't spot this :-)
skupig
Nice UI, but I think someone needs to say it: there's no novel concept here, I've seen the exact same game printed in magazines and on kids' menus. If you're trying to catch people's attention, you need a clever gimmick that they haven't seen before.
globular-toast
Yeah, I don't really get it. Five unrelated anagrams? I was expecting something to happen but it's just the anagrams that I did in a fraction of the time given despite not having a clue what sports those teams play, assuming they exist.
Nice job! Pretty fun game. Only improvement ideas I have are for a smoother start for new players: 1. Let the user start the game themselves so that they have a chance to read the rules without a stressful first impression. 2. Use a different label text than "Build your word here" as it sounds like a drag and drop target rather than an output.