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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

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24 alternatives to Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP

Hi HN, I was late to wordle, so I am also late to making my own version. In Spindle, you rotate words on a grid with the aim of assembling the day’s target word. I enjoy it, so I thought some of you might enjoy it too. From a tech perspective, it’s a very simple Laravel / Livewire app. My happy place in recent years has been Typescript and SvelteKit, so this was a bit of an adjustment, but it allowed me to take advantage of an existing shared hosting server meaning no additional financial outlay. Happy to report a positive experience with PHP and this framework, although I do miss…

Spindle is a daily word puzzle game that combines Wordle mechanics with Rubik's Cube-style rotation. Players rotate words on a grid to assemble the target word for the day. Built with Laravel and Livewire on PHP, the… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Spindle, a cross between Wordle and a Rubik's Cube made in PHP launched in 2023; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1
    Wordle▲301

    A daily word game

    2022 · powerlanguage.co.uk · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Hi HN, Matle is a daily chess puzzle inspired by Wordle. You're shown a checkmate position with 5 hidden squares, and your goal is to guess what’s on them to complete the mate. Someone kindly shared it here a few months ago before I had the chance to post it myself. I’m the creator, and wanted to share a few new features based on feedback, and hear your thoughts. You can now view the original game behind each puzzle, get explanations for why a guess isn’t checkmate, and see daily solving stats. Would love to hear what you think: https://matle.io

    2025 · matle.io · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    My friends and I love playing description games, but got tired of the same old cards - so I made a simple web app with a fresh set of prompts, and a different timer mechanic: Rather than teams taking turns, everyone sits together, and you describe only one prompt at a time. As soon as you're done you pass the phone to the player on your left, who gets a new set of prompts to choose from, and so on. After an exponential (memoryless) random amount of time, the round ends (loudly!), and whoever was holding the phone at the time loses a life for their team. It's like Hot Potato. The prompts are…

    2025 · wilf.live · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    I made this game for my children to play, as they are heavily into Wordle, and I thought they'd also like something maths based! Every puzzle is solvable and has at least one solution (usually more). There is a kids mode in the settings, plus a hard mode for extra difficulty.

    2022 · summle.net · its alternatives →

  5. 5
  6. 6AS

    Hello HN! I've been playing a lot with https://hyperscript.org/ recently (not to be confused with the other hyperhype hyperscript). I threw together a quick Wordle clone in an evening to see what it would look like using this language. The main functionality that is missing is checking for invalid words. The word dictionary is also very small, so it's very easy. The goal here wasn't really to create a good version of Wordle, it was to build 80% of Wordle in a different language to see what it looks like. Turns out, it looks pretty good! Stuff like using CSS rule precedence to…

    2022 · arhamjain.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Make and share your own words! Fun twist on the popular game

    2022 · mywordle.strivemath.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Custom word puzzles for friends

    2022 · its alternatives →

  9. 9
    Scardle▲66

    Wordle with 10k+ obscure words added for difficulty

    2022 · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Play Crosswordle - Recreate a valid wordle grid given the final row and color coded tiles for the guesses. Regular wordle rules apply. Rows cannot reuse letters already eliminated in previous rows. Every row must be a valid five letter word.

    2022 · crosswordle.vercel.app · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Play Wordle on Google Sheets. Contribute to sajadmh/google-sheets-wordle development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  12. 12
    Stepdle▲74

    Word game where you guess a 4,5,6 and a 7 letter word

    2022 · stepdle.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Like a tiny game of Scrabble, generated each day

    2022 · cross-wordle.games · its alternatives →

  14. 14
    Huedle▲65

    A Wordle clone colour game for designy folk

    2022 · huedle.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    I’m a game show nerd who wanted to build a game, despite not being a developer. Using ChatGPT, I created Feudle – a blend of Family Feud and Wordle. Each day, there’s a survey question, and players try to guess the most popular responses—but the twist is that today’s answers come from real players who played yesterday. After playing, you can vote on or submit new questions, shaping future Feudles. If I were to start again, I’d explore newer AI-assisted coding tools like Cursor, but overall, this was a great learning experience. Hopefully, this inspires others to experiment with AI tools to…

    2025 · feudlegame.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    Wordle, but with crypto words, surprisingly hard

    2022 · cryptojobslist.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17NL

    I've been playing Wordle and remembered this puzzle game I used to play with my grandfather. It's inspired by the block puzzles in many newspapers but made to be shorter: just guess the nine letter word. So I made a quick thing to play with my family like we used to. I thought you guys might enjoy it.

    2022 · nineletterwordgame.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    A Wordle inspired daily puzzle game for NYC subway nerds

    2022 · subwaydle.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    A Word Puzzle game Inspired by the New York Time's, Wordle

    2022 · play.google.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    Branded Wordle sites for your fans and followers

    2022 · word.rodeo · its alternatives →

  21. 21WB

    Hi HN, I love building small games (as Pong, Wordle, Tetris, etc.), but they're never quite unique enough to justify their own site. So I built boring.game - a daily "boring" game where the social mechanics (predicting your score, challenging other users) is more interesting than the game itself. I started a HN team if you want to compare your results: https://boring.game/invite/SRhyUStjin You can also play all daily games without signing up, if that is what you prefer. Built with SvelteKit (first time using Svelte - loved it!). Would love feedback on both the concept and…

    2025 · boring.game · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    Wordle but for shapes/doodles that you draw on a grid!

    2025 · addadoodle.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23AM

    Wordle reminded me of Mastermind, a game I played as kid, so just for fun I made a version of the game that plays a lot more like Mastermind. I think this version is way more challenging :)

    2022 · playhurdle.vercel.app · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    Forkle (forkle.co.uk) is a daily word game where two thematically linked crosswords occupy the same grid simultaneously. Every tile contains two letters - one belonging to each puzzle - displayed as a diagonal colour split. Where the two puzzles intersect, some tiles share the same letter, giving you a foothold into both crosswords at once. The mechanic has two layers: the shared grid, and the connected themes. Each day's two crosswords are thematically paired around a central idea. For example, a previous puzzle was "Same House, Different Kingdoms" - same home, same humans, entirely…

    Apr 2026 · forkle.co.uk · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →