'Wordle' spin-off games: from 'Worldle' for countries to 'Nerdle' with numbers

The viral word game has inspired a whole bunch of other new, unofficial puzzles

Worldle, the new Wordle spin-off game, is for geography whizzes. Photo: Worldle

At this point, Wordle hardly needs an introduction. Josh Wardle's viral word game, which has amassed millions of players within only a few months and has been bought by The New York Times, has inspired several other game makers, who have followed in its creator's footsteps.

It's beloved so much across the world that it's even been translated into several languages, including Arabic.

The simple premise – whereby players have six attempts to guess a five-letter word – has been adopted and used in a whole range of spin-off games.

Here are some of the best:

Worldle

It's Wordle, except for countries and not words. The general idea is the same: there's a daily puzzle and you have six guesses to figure out what country it is. An illustration of the shape of the country is given to you, and after each guess, you get a percentage of how close you are to the answer and an arrow pointing you in the direction of the correct destination.

Unless you're a geography whizz, this one's tough, but you'll learn a lot along the way, too.

Play it here: www.worldle.teuteuf.fr

Nerdle

Not everyone is a words person – some people are numbers people. That's where Nerdle comes in: it's Wordle for maths whizzes. Instead of five-letter words, you need to come up with the day's equation. There are eight "letters" – numbers from zero to nine and then +-*/= – and you'll always need one equals sign.

The order matters, according to the rules. "If the answer we’re looking for is 10+20=30, then 20+10=30 isn’t close enough."

If you're not a numbers fan, this isn't for you.

Play it here: www.nerdlegame.com

Primel

Primel is another numbers game but arguably not quite as hard as Nerdle. Then again, it's not easy either, as you're meant to come up with a five-digit prime number in six tries. It'll only accept prime numbers as guesses, too, so it can become a real head-scratcher.

Play it here: www.converged.yt/primel

Wordle Unlimited

This is fairly self-explanatory: it's Wordle, but you can play it over and over again.

Only diehard Wordle fans need apply.

Play it here: www.wordleunlimited.com

Squirdle

Are you into Pokemon? If you answered yes, this is the game for you. You have eight guesses to come up with the right character. After each one, you're given tips on whether it's the right generation, type, height and weight, so you can whittle it down to the correct answer.

Play it here: www.squirdle.fireblend.com

Bikle

Know your crank from your cadence? Your bonks from your biffs? Tour de France a staple on your TV screen? Then Bikle is your game. You've got six tries to find a male or female cyclist's five-letter surname. It could be a legend from the past or someone in the present. Tiles go green when they're right and in the correct place, grey if they're wrong. You know the rules by now.

Play it here: www.giop98.github.io/bikle

Lordle of the Rings

JRR Tolkien would have loved this one. It's exactly like Wordle in almost every way, except you're guessing words that relate to the Lord of the Rings books.

Play it here: www.digitaltolkien.github.io/vue-wordle

Lewdle

Wordle, but for rude words. Enough said.

Play it here: www.lewdlegame.com

Here are nine other word games similar to Wordle you might love – in pictures:

• 

  'Hello Wordl' is a remake of 'Wordle' and is played in the same way, except you can do it more than once and change the length of the words.

• 

  'Absurdle' is the 'adversarial variant' of 'Wordle'.

• 

  'Letterle' is a mischievous spoof game that makes players guess a single letter each day.

• 

  'Letterpress' is an unlimited, free game where you unscramble tiles to spell words against friends and random opponents.

• 

  'Word Forward' features a 5x5 grid of letter combinations that you can use to make words.

• 

  'Kitty Letter' is from the makers of 'Exploding Kittens'.

• 

  'SpellTower' is like 'Tetris' meets 'Boggle'.

• 

  'TypeShift' allows players to spell words using sliding letters in columns.

• 

  'Word Master' is strikingly similar to 'Wordle' except you can play more than one a day.

• 

  'Wordle' has gone viral and amassed hundreds of thousands of players in a few months. AFP