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Free online daily games have enjoyed a somewhat surprising resurgence in recent years. Though they seem like an “old internet” concept, these regularly refreshed browser-based games have proven to be an irreplaceable part of many routines. Whether you start your day with one or you rely on one to get past that midday hump, these brain-teasers remind people that spending time online doesn’t have to completely destroy your mind.
While that influx of daily games has largely been a good thing, keeping track of them (or even discovering them) can be even more challenging than the games themselves. So, I thought it’d be nice to take a look at some of the best daily games currently out there. With any luck, you might find a new favorite.
Before we get into that, though, please note there is one major daily game you won’t find on this list: Wordle. That’s because we already covered that game and its many unofficial variants in this previous article. While the future of some of those games is currently uncertain, definitely give them a shot.
Chess Daily Puzzle
This daily game embraces the puzzle-like nature of each Chess turn by forcing you to find your way out of a pre-set scenario.
More often than not, this puzzle will start you at a disadvantage (or in a potentially bad spot). However, this game is really about finding yourself a few turns deep and making the most out of often unique “starting” positions. It’s not exactly the best way to learn Chess, but it does allow new players to think of the game in new ways. Veteran players will absolutely love it, though.
Cinematrix
The newest game on this list, Vulture’s Cinematrix presents you with a 3×3 grid outlined by certain pieces of film-based criteria (such as an actor, genre, or accomplishment). The goal is to fill each square with a film that satisfies both the vertical and horizontal criteria that space is associated with.
Encyclopedic film fans may think they’ll be able to breeze through these challenges with little trouble. However, the catch is that you cannot use the same film twice, and the categories are often arranged in a way that ensures major movies will work for multiple squares. You’ve really got to dive deep into your film knowledge to complete some of these puzzles.
Connections
The concept of Connections is about as simple as it gets. You are presented with 16 words and asked to group them into four groups of four words that all have something in common. So, “Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow” may all be grouped together under “Colors.”
What makes Connections so difficult (and compelling) is the fact that the connections between its words are never that obvious. More importantly, some words could conceivably belong to multiple categories but ultimately only fit into one. Each category has escalating ranges of perceived difficulty and finding all of those categories is a shockingly difficult task.
GramJam
GramJam is spiritually similar to some of the other daily word games out there, but it puts a board-game-like twist on that concept that gives it a welcome layer of extra depth.
GramJam asks you to form rows or columns of words by swapping pre-set letters on a grid. The game is finished when there are no more words left to form, but you are only allowed 20 swaps to find all those words. Those rules test not only the extent of your vocabulary but also your ability to successfully think ahead and make the most efficient moves available.
PlusWord
There are many daily crosswords out there, and many of them are worth playing if you enjoy that timeless puzzle. However, PlusWord gets the nod here for the way it adds a compelling twist to that classic game.
In PlusWord, solving a crossword puzzle isn’t quite good enough. You must also use selected letters in your answers to identify a password in the puzzle. It’s a little thing, but it adds just enough of a twist to an already compelling daily crossword to make this an easy recommendation for puzzle fans everywhere.
Quizl
Who doesn’t love a good game of bar-style trivia? Well, ok, that one guy, but we don’t talk about him anymore, and we certainly don’t invite him to Hoolihans on Wednesdays.
Quizl is a daily collection of five trivia questions that cover a wide variety of topics. There’s really not much more to it than that, but the questions are genuinely challenging, the interface is as web-friendly as they come, and there is just something so satisfying about seeing how deep your knowledge bank is with a good game of daily trivia.
Set
Set is a popular card game that challenges players to use cards featuring various shapes, shadings, and colors to create a valid three-card set. It seems pretty simple at first, but you’ll soon realize that it can be challenging to assemble a proper set before your opponents can and keep track of the various possible combinations that can theoretically create a set.
This daily version of that game allows you to experience a solo version of the classic Set experience. The rules may be slightly different, but the thrills remain largely the same. This is just a fantastic outside-the-box brain teaser to start your day with.
Spelling Bee
There are a few games out there like Spelling Bee, but this NY Times puzzle remains one of the best versions of this increasingly popular concept.
Spelling Bee tasks you with forming as many words as possible from a group of seven letters. The twist (because there is always a twist) is that the highlighted letter in the group must appear at least once in every word. Extra points are awarded for longer words, and the maximum possible number of points goes to words that use every available letter. It’s that point system that forces you to look beyond the obvious options.
Strands
I love a good word search game, but even the best and biggest word search puzzles sometimes lose their appeal if you’re not devoting a lazy Sunday morning to them. Well, Strands is that rare kind of word search game that offers something a bit more thrilling.
Like any other word search puzzle, Strands asks you to find words hidden among an apparent jumble of letters. In Strands, though each jumble is secretly made of eight words that all connect to a hidden theme. Seven of those words relate to the theme, and the eighth describes the theme itself. That “puzzle within a puzzle” aspect makes Strands a hopelessly addictive experience.
The Missing Letter
Ok, technically this is a weekly puzzle rather than a daily one, but The Missing Letter is just too good to ignore. Besides, you can always access this game’s extensive archives.
This game from Merriam-Webster puts an appropriate dictionary twist on your standard crossword puzzle. Within each of these often fiendishly difficult puzzles are 25 blank circles. As you fill out the clues, each of those circles will be filled in with letters. The game within the game is to discover the missing “26th” letter that is not one of the highlighted letters in that week’s puzzle.
Wordiply
Each Wordiply puzzle begins with a simple three-letter word. The goal is to form longer words that include that starter word somewhere in them. For instance “Era” may be turned into “Opera.” You have five chances to form a longer word, and points are awarded for the total number of letters you use as well as the length of your words.
It’s a surprisingly difficult task that forces you to comb through your vocabulary in a very specific way. That makes it one of the more challenging (usually) daily word games out there, but the extra time you’ll spend with this one is usually worth the effort.
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