As my Twitter feed loves to remind me, Wordle has very much become integrated into the mobile lives of the word-savvy world. And even though it’s been a while since I’ve taken up the original daily challenge myself, I can’t deny the addicting dopamine that comes with the success of guessing the day’s word — or its many other variations.
Worldle. Heardle. Taylordle. Quordle. Absurdle.
With the success of Wordle comes its many spin-offs, which include a daily challenge of countries, songs, Taylor Swift-related words, and more. How many times can we refigure an English word puzzle into yet another daily guessing game?
As it turns out, the answer is a lot. And it doesn’t stay limited to English either. In fact, there are more than a couple in Chinese! And that’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it?
Let it be said that the world is full of limitless possibilities. Here are five Chinese Wordles that you should definitely check for a worthy challenge:
拼音猜成语 (Pinyin Cai Chengyu)
The game is in the name, which translates to “guessing a Chinese idiom with pinyin.” We recommend this Wordle variation to those especially fluent in Chinese since it requires a reliable stock knowledge of chengyu (成语) or Chinese idioms which are typically made up of four characters. To make a guess, the player has to input the pinyin (拼音) of each “character,” with each character consisting of its own set of blocks. Just like the original version of the game, each block can become green, yellow, or black depending on the correct positioning of your letters. However, unlike said original version, this game presents itself as an hourly challenge.
Play the game here: 拼音猜成语
猜成语 (Cai Chengyu)
Another guess-the-chengyu game has arrived! But this time, players may have up to five attempts to input four hanzi (汉子) or Chinese characters from the selection provided in the game. As a hint, this Wordle variation also provides an example of the chengyu being used in a sentence.
Play the game here: 猜成语
Chengyu Wordle
There are quite a lot of chengyu Wordles, aren’t there? Like Cai Chengyu, Chengyu Wordle requires players to make guesses using characters that are already on the screen. However, what makes this version of the game different is that it not only does it allow a maximum of six guesses, but it also does not permit a random selection of any four characters. Each guess has to be a legitimate chengyu!
Another positive feature is that Chengyu Wordle also displays the pinyin of each character on the screen, which makes it a great game for language learners starting to learn their Chinese idioms.
Play the game here: Chengyu Wordle
JNDLE 字道 (JNDLE Zidao)
In this Wordle variation, each guess is inputted using the cangjie (仓颉) input method, with each attempt requiring a player to add in five Chinese radicals to form one character. The system is especially popular for those who are not in the habit of using pinyin and the standard Chinese Mandarin language. Those who speak Cantonese, for example, would probably have JNDLE Zidao be their go-to choice for Chinese Wordle since the game would not be reliant on standard Mandarin tones.
Play the game here: JNDLE 字道
注得了：注音繁体版本Wordle (Zhudele: Zhuyin Edition Wordle)
If you don’t use pinyin, then chances are that you probably use zhuyin (注音) or bopomofo, which makes Zhudele perfect for you! As with most Wordle games, the player gets six attempts to guess the correct answer that would be generated by the five zhuyin characters you input. However, in this case, the answer is not limited to a single one-character word and can instead be a phrase. Does that sound challenging enough to you?
Play the game here: 注得了
