It is safe to say the public obsession with Wordle is on the wain. The simple online word guessing game by Josh Wardle exploded in late 2021. It was so popular, The New York Times bought the rights to the whole thing in January 2022. While there is still a dedicated player base who check in daily to keep their streak going, it’s nowhere as big as it was.
Some people have moved on to more challenging versions of the game, such as Quordle. For pop culture obsessives, there are other similar titles that might be more up your alley. All of them provide a unique challenge to frustrate you on your lunch break. Presented here are a list of games in order of difficulty.
Heardle
Rather than guessing words, Heardle brings back the classic game show “Name That Tune” in an online form. Players have six chances to guess a song and artist based on its opening. You start with only the first second of sound and, if incorrect, you are given an additional second of music. The game also gives the option of forfeiting a guess entirely to get another clue. Songs are not limited by genre or year so you really have to know your stuff if you expect to keep your streak up. Along with being a more dynamic game, it might also inspire you to play a song you never heard before or catch up on an old favorite.
Framed
Framed takes the same kind of idea that Heardle does and applies it to movies. You are given a single, random, frame from a movie to figure out its title. The first picture is usually one that is intentionally misleading or vague to provide more of a challenge. With each wrong guess, you are given pictures that are more obvious. There is nothing quite like the feeling of getting the answer with only the opening frame. If you ever wanted to truly find out if you are a movie buff, this is a must play.
Actorle
Now we get to the ones that could really be a challenge for anyone but the truly obsessed. In Actorle, you are given a series of blanked out titles from an actor’s IMDb and figure out who they are. The only information you have to go on is the year of the titles, their genre, and their user rating. An added wrinkle is that you are not given every single title that an actor might have done. On the plus side, you do get hints for every wrong guess such as if the actor is younger or older than your guess. It can be a challenge, but it is not impossible.
Flixle
Similar to Framed, Flixle takes the same format and applies it to television. The reason why this game could be harder for many people is that a TV show has way more footage to draw from. No television show has iconic images or scenes, and it can be hard to just pick out something from one frame of one episode. The kind of time commitment to consistently know what every single TV show looks like is way higher than movies. Only true couch potatoes need apply.
Boxofficega.me
Boxofficega.me game is only for the true movie maniacs. You are tasked with guessing what movies made the most money at the box office on a given weekend. At the beginning, you get their weekend gross, the studio and if it is a new release. The game also grades you using a points system. You start with 200 points for each title, and each clue you need will cost points. Do you need the name of a cast member or the tagline? That’s 35 or 40 points off your score. You also get bonus points if you don’t provide any wrong guesses. Getting a perfect 1200 score is a near impossible task, and you are also given a percentile ranking based on the results of every other player. A truly punishing game that gives bragging rights for people with no lives.
Honorable Mention:
We also have to suggest Lewdle, an app created by “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” writer Gary Whitta. It’s…exactly what it sounds like- a lewd, more adult version of Wordle.
