For geography lovers

It’s only logical that geography games really took off back in the days of COVID lockdowns. And yet they remain popular even now. For instance, who hasn’t heard of GeoGuessr by now? Its most prominent (and meme-able) player, Rainbolt, is already interviewing Oscar winners in-game – what better marker of popularity is there?

But today, let’s look at some of the lesser known, but no less entertaining picks for any map geek. And there are plenty to pick from! Take Globle, which tasks you with identifying a world country in the classic “hot or cold” format. Or the shape-based Worldle – how good is your visual memory? And in Flaggle, you’ll test your vexillology skills by looking for similarities and differences between flags of the world’s nations.

If you’re a data nerd, check out Countryle, where you must guess a country based not just on its location, but also average temperature, population, and more – and Tradle, which has you identify the country by its exports stats. It’s fun for the whole family!

 

For amateur detectives

Do you enjoy escape rooms and social deduction games? Do you feel like your life is sorely missing a cork board with some photos and strings stuck onto it? Then it’s about time you try out some of these.

First on the list is Murdle, a daily detective game that has you solve a murder by lining up suspects with weapons, locations, and motives. There are several difficulty levels, a bonus fortune-telling feature, and even an overarching plot with recurring characters!

What do you get if you combine GeoGuessr with OSINT techniques? Probably something like WhenTaken, a thoroughly fun platform where you’ll need to not just guess where you are – but also when you are. There’s even a film-based version for all you Letterboxd dwellers!

Last but not least, we need to mention Decipher – a fun, quick game where you’ll decode a famous quote – and Redactle, its much more challenging cousin that’ll have you un-obscuring a whole text on any manner of topic.

 

For culture vultures

In our earlier article, we’ve already mentioned two cinephile favorites – Framed and Cine2Nerdle, the latter of which has since been updated with a multiplayer Battle mode (check it out!). But, of course, there are many more worthy picks for pop culture aficionados out there:

• Movie fans can test their mettle with Emovi (guess a film based on a series of emojis), MovieGrid (pick movies based on highly specific criteria), or BoxOffice (sort titles based on their total gross).
• Anime fans, meanwhile, can nerd out with Pokedle, Onepiecedle, and Narutodle, which’ll have you guessing characters from each of the long-running series.
• Video games are no exception – similarly, LoLdle, Smashdle, and Dotadle task the player with guessing a character from League of Legends, Super Smash Bros., and Dota 2. Mario Heardle and Zelda Heardle take it up a notch by focusing not on the characters, but in-game sounds and tunes.
• Speaking of tunes: every audiophile will appreciate Bandle, Spotle, and Heardle – three equally entertaining, but different takes on the Name That Tune format.
• Prefer to keep things old-fashioned? You’ll love Artistle, a game all about guessing the classical artist based on their paintings.

 

For erudites

If you remember every random fact, love diving deep into research, and appreciate a good brain-teaser, these are for you! First on the list is Semantle, a properly challenging game that’ll test your internal thesaurus as you try to identify a word based on its similarity to your other guesses. Then there’s Nerdle – an absolute boon for math lovers – and Guessle, where you must ask questions, Jeopardy!-style, to identify the answer to a riddle. 

And what puzzle list would be complete without a bit of chess? Boardle and Chessle take the familiar format and, incredibly, adapt it quite well to this timeless board game.

Finally, we wholeheartedly recommend Metazooa. Named after the Greek word for the animal kingdom, it seems deceptively simple: all you’ve got to do is guess an animal by narrowing down its class, order, family, genus, and so on. If you’re not too familiar with zoology, it can also be a great way to learn new things. For instance, (spoilers ahead!) hints for today’s puzzle will direct you towards therapoda, the dinosaur group that includes T-Rex. Why? Because, it turns out, theropods are the only dinosaurs that are technically still alive today via their descendants – birds, of which the barn owl is one! Terrible hint? Maybe. Cool fact? Absolutely!

For even more suggestions (nearly a hundred!), check out dailygames.xyz.