Redactle is like Wordle crossed with Wikipedia and I'm hooked (2024)

There are now more Wordle clones on the planet than people, but fresh takes on the format are still possible and Redactle might just be the best I've played in weeks.

Anyone who enjoys falling down a Wikipedia wormhole will love it because it challenges you to uncover a redacted Wikipedia page, word by word, until you reveal what the subject is. And let me tell you now: it is tough.

Though Redactle gives you common words (such as 'of, 'the' and 'in') up front, you're essentially stumbling around in the dark when you begin. And because you have no idea what the subject matter is — merely that it's one of Wikipedia's 10,000 'vital' articles — it's not even clear what sort of words to guess initially.

As you play a word, it appears on the right of the screen with a tally for how many times it features in the article — if indeed it's in there at all. And of course it's also revealed within the page, so you can start to uncover whole sentences and get clues as to what else to guess. Helpfully, you can also click on a word in the list and be taken to each instance.

I've only played one game so far, but I realized after a while that the key was to narrow down that subject. Go too broad, with words such as 'time', and you won't necessarily uncover much info. But go too specific and you'll probably just be told your word doesn't feature at all. Categories of things seem to be the way to go, and that's what I'll be trying tomorrow in order to improve on my pathetic first attempt, which took me 130 guesses.

The Wordle aspect is pretty tangential, with the only similarities being that it's played online, it's free, and there's just one a day. The latter aspect is important, though, because I've wasted far too much of my life visiting a Wikipedia page about something simple like London and two hours later finding myself reading about the gestation period of sloths or whatever.

Once you've found the answer, you're given some stats including your guess count, your accuracy (how many words you correctly guessed were in the article), and how those figures compare to those of everyone else who's played the game that day. Not well, in my case.

In true Wordle fashion, you also get the chance to share your score, though this merely copies a stats message to the clipboard. No funky green and yellow squares here.

One game was enough for me to know that I'll be playing it daily from now on, and that it will join the list of our best Wordle alternatives alongside the likes of Hurdle, Quordle and Adverswordle. Although I'll still wait until I've found today's Wordle answer to move on to this even more challenging puzzle.