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You Should Try These 10 Word Games If You Like Wordle

There are spin-offs to the popular game, like Quordle, and more puzzles that everyone can try now.

Josh Wardle launched the enthralling puzzle game Wordle more than four years ago in 2021. Since then, Wordle’s popularity has made it one of the biggest word games in recent memory. Wardle initially created the game for his partner before releasing it to the public, and then The New York Times bought it in 2022. CNET’s Gael Cooper has loads of tips and tricks to tackle each Wordle puzzle, but if you’ve completed today’s game — or just love puzzle games — these alternatives are well worth your time.

Wordle asks players to figure out a five-letter word in six or fewer guesses (we have a two-step strategy to help you solve the puzzle every time). After each guess, the game shows gray blocks for the wrong letters, yellow blocks for the right letters in the wrong spot and green blocks for the right letters in the correct spot. It’s addictive, but after you solve the daily puzzle or use up all your guesses, you have to wait until the next day to play again.

You’ve likely already learned some tips, tricks and lessons from the popular word game, so why not apply your newly honed problem-solving skills to other puzzles, too? After all, Wordle isn’t the only game in town. Here are 10 other puzzle games like Wordle you’ll likely enjoy.

Connections

Another New York Times-owned puzzle, Connections is a tricky word game. «Players must select four groups of four words without making more than four mistakes,» the New York Times wrote on X, formerly Twitter. There are also four color-coded difficulty levels for each game; yellow is the easiest, then green, the blue and finally purple. The game is also similar to the BBC quiz show Only Connect, and the show’s host took to X to point out the connection. See what I did there?

You can play Connections on any web browser, but you need a New York Times subscription (which starts at $1 a week) to play.

Strands

Strands is another New York Times-owned puzzle, but this game resembles a word search more so than Wordle and Connections. This game presents a theme every day to help you find words in a grid. In Strands words can appear forwards, backward, top-to-bottom or any number of ways in a traditional word search, and words can also form in the shape of an «L» or have a zigzag in them. When you find a word, tap the first letter and drag your finger to the other letters. Every letter in the puzzle is used, so if you still have letters that aren’t connected to words, you aren’t finished yet.

You can play Strands on any web browser, but you need a New York Times subscription (again, $1 a week) to play.

Quartiles

Quartiles is a new word game Apple News Plus subscribers can access on their iPhone or iPad that’s running iOS 17.5 or later. In this word game, you’re given 20 tiles with letters on them, and you’re trying to put them together to form different words. The longest words are four-tiles long, and these are called Quartiles. The game can be tough, but finding just one of the Quartiles is as satisfying as remembering something that was just on the tip of your tongue.

You can play Quartiles on an iPhone or iPad, but you need an Apple News subscription (which starts at $13 a month) to play.

Multiple Wordle spinoffs: Dordle, Quordle, Octordle and Sedecordle

Are you up for a challenge? If you love Wordle and want puzzle games that take more brain power, you’ll want to check out either Dordle, Quordle, Octordle or Sedecordle. Each of these word games resembles Wordle, but they add more rows, columns and words to solve. Each game requires you to simultaneously solve a different number of words at once: Dordle has you solving two words, Quordle four at once, Octordle eight at once, and Sedecordle a whopping 16. Good luck.

You can play Dordle, Quordle, Octordle or Sedecordle on any web browser.

Lewdle

«Lewdle is a game about rude words,» this game’s content advisory reads. «If you’re likely to be offended by the use of profanity, vulgarity or obscenity, it likely isn’t for you.» Translation: It’s Wordle, but with bad words. The words range from mild — like poopy — to words that would make a sailor blush. Thankfully, despite this game’s content warning, slurs are not included. Like Wordle, gray, yellow and green blocks are used in the same way and there’s only one puzzle per day. So go forth and let the bad words flow!

You can play Lewdle on any web browser. You can also download this game from Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store.

Antiwordle

Tired of seeing those grey, yellow and green blocks plastered all over your social media feed? Give Antiwordle a try. While Wordle wants you to guess a word in as few tries as possible, Antiwordle wants you to avoid the word by guessing as many times as possible. When you guess, letters will turn gray, yellow or red. Gray means the letter isn’t in the word and can’t be used again, yellow means the letter is in the word and must be included in each subsequent guess and red means the letter is in the exact position within the word and is locked in place. If you can use every letter on the keyboard without getting the word correct, you win. Honestly, I’ve found this version of Wordle to be much harder than the original.

You can play Antiwordle on any web browser.

Absurdle

Absurdle bills itself as the «adversarial version» of Wordle. While Wordle nudges you in the right direction with each guess, Absurdle is trying to avoid giving you the correct answer. According to the game’s website, «With each guess, Absurdle reveals as little information as possible, changing the secret word if need be.» Absurdle doesn’t pick a word at the beginning of the game for the player to guess. Instead, it uses the player’s guesses to narrow its list of words down in an effort to make the game go as long as possible. The final word might not even include a yellow letter from one of your earlier guesses either. You can guess as many times as you want, which is helpful, and the best score you can get is four. Have fun!

You can play Absurdle on any web browser.

For more word game fun, check out CNET’s Wordle tips, the best Wordle jokes and everything you need to know about the word game. You can also cehck out what to know about the other New York Times-owned games, Connections and Strands.

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Technologies

Football Fans Scrambling After ESPN, ABC, Disney Pulled From YouTube TV

Several channels were pulled from the service after the two sides failed to meet a deadline for a deal.

Like a desperate quarterback, millions of college football fans could be scrambling. Disney pulled ESPN and ABC from YouTube TV on Friday after both sides failed to meet a midnight deadline to strike a deal over content distribution.

Unless something changes, millions of fans won’t be able to watch the college football games that ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will broadcast Friday and Saturday. That includes No. 5-ranked Georgia versus Florida — aka «The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party» — No. 9 Vanderbilt versus No. 20 Texas, No. 7 Ole Miss versus South Carolina and several other games.

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ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC — all Disney properties — broadcast the most college football games by far. Their schedule is listed here. ESPN and ABC air NFL games on Monday nights and also broadcast NBA games.

A representative for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Disney says YouTube TV is not paying enough to stream its channels. YouTube TV, owned by Google, has the most subscribers of all other internet TV providers, more than 9 million. Hulu, owned by Disney, is second with 4.3 million subscribers through its Hulu + Live TV offering. Disney and Google needed to reach an updated contractual agreement by 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 30, which didn’t happen.

Football fans aren’t the only viewers left sidelined. Here are all the channels that were pulled from YouTube TV:

ABC
ESPN
ESPN2
Freeform
FX
FXX
Disney Junior
SEC Network
Nat Geo
Nat Geo Wild
Disney Channel
ESPNU
FXM
ABC News Live
ACC Network
Disney XD
Localish
ESPNews
ESPN Deportes (Spanish Plan)
Baby TV Español (Spanish Plan)
Nat Geo Mundo (Spanish Plan)

YouTube TV posted on X, «Members, when we renew our contracts with network partners, we advocate for fair pricing to offer you the best TV experience.» The service also said it would offer subscribers a $20 credit «if their content is unavailable for an extended period of time.» You can find updates on the dispute on this YouTube TV page.

«Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny its subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC,» Disney said in a statement to CNBC.

In a memo to employees on Friday that was reported by CNBC, Disney accused YouTube TV of deleting «previously recorded shows and events from their subscribers’ libraries.»

«YouTube TV and its owner, Google, are not interested in achieving a fair deal with us,» Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in the memo. «Instead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service.»

Consumers have alternatives to YouTube TV to get their favorite streaming channels, including Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo and DirecTV Stream. CNET’s top streaming picks ar here.

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Technologies

How to Redeem Every Active Borderlands 4 SHiFT Code

If you act quickly, you can use these SHiFT promo codes to snag epic loot and tons of Vault Hunter cosmetics in Borderlands 4.

The biggest looter shooter of the year, Borderlands 4, is out, and players are already taking the fight to the Timekeeper on Kairos. If you want to put the beat down on someone strong enough to control an entire planet, then you’re going to need an arsenal of powerful weapons and equipment.

Luckily, developer Gearbox Software is willing to lend a helping hand. Instead of having to farm every piece of legendary equipment in-game, you can roll the dice on some loot with Golden Keys unlocked by SHiFT promo codes.

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If you’re already swimming in more loot than you know what to do with, some SHiFT codes also unlock special cosmetic looks for your favorite vault hunters. Special in-game challenges have already unlocked promo codes for Amon, Rafa and Vex vault hunter skins, with a Harlowe skin unlocking soon. Here’s how to use the latest SHiFT codes in Borderlands 4.

All active SHiFT codes for Borderlands 4

You can hunt down SHiFT codes on social media, but we’ll keep all of the active promo codes in one place for ease of access.

Below, you’ll find a chart that contains every active SHiFT code for Borderlands 4, what it unlocks and its expiration date:

Active Borderlands 4 SHiFT codes

Reward SHiFT code Expiration date
Vex Mass Market Appeal Skin BZ6JJ-CB6CT-WXJJW-3TT3B-56FZ5 Jan. 1, 2031
Amon Cult Classic Skin JZ6BJ-SBR5J-WF3BK-BT3BB-TX9HB Dec. 31, 2030
Rafa Savings Savior Skin TZXT3-XJXCB-CXBJW-BTTJT-9SK6B Dec. 31, 2030
Harlowe Maliwannabee Skin J96JT-BCXKT-C6JJ5-JTJBB-BZTXJ Dec. 31, 2030
Break Free Cosmetics Pack JS63J-JSCWJ-CFTBW-3TJ3J-WJS5R Jan. 1, 2031
Halloween Cosmetics Pack 3S6BB-ZXT93-KRT3W-BT3T3-JW6TZ Jan. 1, 2031
Golden Key J9RTT-KWCK3-CFBB5-BTBT3-FKRB6 Nov. 1, 2025
Golden Key BHRB3-XCWCJ-WFJTK-JTJJT-FCWF9 Nov. 1, 2025
Golden Key 3SRB3-95CC3-K6TB5-BTJTB-66ZHW Nov. 1, 2025
Golden Key T9RJB-BFKRR-3RBTW-B33TB-KCZB9 No expiration

How to redeem SHiFT codes for your Borderlands 4 account

While SHiFT codes are totally free rewards for you to accumulate, you must make a SHiFT account to input any active codes in-game.

SHiFT is a service that Gearbox integrates into its biggest games, and making an account unlocks forums and exclusive beta participation. It’s also necessary to create an account to turn in any promo codes, which is what most fans care about.

Once your account is created, you can enter your SHiFT codes in two separate places. Within your SHiFT account settings, you can find a Rewards tab with a field to enter any Borderlands promo codes. Once you enter the codes, any unlocked items will be added to your account the next time you open the game.

However, an easier way to input your SHiFT codes is within Borderlands 4 itself. Within the game’s pause menu, you can access a SHiFT. Select the Rewards tab from the resulting menu, input your codes and the unlocked items will be immediately available on your save.

Where are SHiFT codes normally released?

SHiFT codes are released frequently on Gearbox and Gearbox-affiliated social media channels. For the best chance at catching every new SHiFT code that gets released, you should follow Gearbox on X and on Facebook.

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford also releases promos on his X account, so if you’re brave enough to follow him despite his frequent outbursts toward fans you can find SHiFT codes there as well.

What are SHiFT codes?

SHiFT codes are promo codes that Gearbox occasionally releases that reward players with loot and cosmetics in Borderlands games. The main SHiFT code reward is a Golden Key, which opens the Golden Chest in most Borderlands hub areas.

But don’t spend them immediately — it’s worth saving your Golden Keys until you reach the level cap and are playing on the hardest difficulty, as the loot rewards will scale to your character accordingly. This is a great way to begin farming some endgame legendaries quickly and easily.

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Technologies

SNAP Benefits Expire Tomorrow. Here Are 3 Easy Ways to Help the Food Insecure

States are scrambling to find ways to offer emergency food relief and aid amid the federal government shutdown.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are expiring tomorrow amid the nearly one-month-long government shutdown. Based on 2024’s fiscal year, nearly 42 million low-income Americans relied on SNAP to afford groceries and receive crucial food assistance. 

States are scrambling to find ways to offer emergency food relief and aid after Nov. 1. Over two dozen states have sued the Trump administration for not funding SNAP. And some online companies are stepping in to help, including HelloFresh and DoorDash. 

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Why SNAP benefits are expiring and why it matters

The Department of Health and Human Services’ website notes that the federal government shutdown is impacting November SNAP benefits and the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Starting next month, recipients will only be able to access funds from previous months on their EBT cards. 

Since the shutdown began on Oct. 1, federal funding for multiple agencies has come to a halt. Many federal workers, such as TSA employees and air traffic controllers, have either been furloughed or missed paychecks due to the shutdown. Now SNAP — a Depression-era government-funded program that is also commonly referred to as food stamps — is at risk.

According to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in 2024’s fiscal year, more than 62% of people who received SNAP benefits were families with children. The average SNAP benefit for one household member was $163 per month. 

According to CNN, if the government doesn’t find a solution within the next two days to fund SNAP, the program’s benefits will be cut off for the first time in its history.

«The well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued on November 1,» a message at the top of the USDA’s website states. 

Democratic leaders from 25 states are behind the lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Trump administration for its refusal to use a $6 billion contingency fund to maintain SNAP. Point 5 of the lawsuit, which Politico shared, reads: «USDA suspended SNAP benefits even though, on information and belief, it has funds available to it that are sufficient to fund all, or at least a substantial portion, of November SNAP benefits.»

1. Go online and find a food bank near you

If you aren’t reliant on SNAP, there are ways you can help those who are. To find a food bank near you, visit Feeding America’s website and type in your Zip Code. Some state government websites provide similar information, but not all do. You can donate food or volunteer to work in food banks.

You can also look for ways to help your community. Check charity, nonprofit and service organization websites, as well as mutual aid services, including community fridges, for information on local resources. Facebook groups, online forums, local schools and hospitals and religious entities are also running programs to help families buy groceries or get meals delivered. Before donating food, double-check with the organization on what is most needed.

2. See if your state offers assistance

Some state governments are activating emergency assistance programs for people and food banks, including those in California, New York, West Virginia, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Washington. There will also be week-to-week state emergency benefits in Delaware, rent and utility payment relief in Hawaii, funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in Kentucky and a new Emergency Nutrition Assistance initiative to distribute funds in Virginia. 

Some other states have also declared states of emergency or ordered the National Guard to assist in distributing food.

3. Spread the word about meal delivery donations

Donations and charity alone won’t address the food needs of more than 42 million people, but temporary measures can help alleviate some hardship during the benefit suspension for some households.

Food delivery company DoorDash has launched an emergency food response to the expiration of SNAP benefits. According to a press release, the company will deliver 1 million free meals to more than 300 Project Dash food bank partners, waive delivery and service fees for SNAP recipients, and donate food to local food banks from its DashMart stores. 

«We know this is a stopgap, not a solution. But doing nothing simply isn’t an option,» said Max Rettig, vice president and global head of public policy at DoorDash.

Food delivery service Gopuff is offering SNAP recipients a $50 credit in November for all SNAP-eligible items, which will be delivered free of charge. 

HelloFresh will donate $1 for each fall-themed meal kit purchased from its seasonal menu, up to a total of $50,000, to benefit No Kid Hungry, which helps SNAP and school meal programs. (Available during the weeks of Nov. 8 and Nov. 15, the two HelloFresh meal kits include creamy sun-dried tomato stuffed chicken with mashed potatoes and garlicky green beans; and crispy chicken cutlets and rigatoni in a creamy butternut squash sauce.) 

Although it is not related to the SNAP program, another popular meal kit, Home Chef, donates $100,000 each year to Feeding America.

How to get your $50 SNAP credit from Gopuff

If you’re a SNAP recipient, here’s how to get $50 in credit this November:

  • Make sure a SNAP EBT card has been added to your Gopuff account.
  • Add SNAP-eligible items to your Gopuff shopping cart (those items will be clearly marked if eligible).
  • Use code SNAPRELIEF1 at checkout for $25 off and free delivery from Nov. 1 to 15.
  • Use code SNAPRELIEF2 at checkout for $25 off and free delivery from Nov. 16 to 30.

How to get SNAP items delivered for free on DoorDash

If you’re a SNAP recipient, here’s how to get free delivery and no service fees on one order during November:

  • Make sure a SNAP EBT card has been added to your DoorDash account.
  • Place an order at a SNAP-enabled store on DoorDash. They will be clearly marked and include Sprouts, Dollar General, Schnucks, Food Lion, Giant Foods, Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Hy-Vee, Giant Eagle and Wegmans.
  • Use promo code SNAPDD at checkout.
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