Wordle not quite meeting the desires of the challenger in you? Then, check out its latest fanmade derivative — Nerdle, which is turning heads for its surprisingly addictive formula. And of course, this involves mathematics!

Designed by the Reddit user, TheMann0707, Nerdle is a daily math game that departs just a little from the seed game by replacing letters and words with digits and equations.

As explained in his tweet, Mann expands the scope of the viral word guessing game by creating a mathematical variant that tests your arithmetic skills. The fundamental elements of Nerdle mirror Wordle — that is, you get six chances to solve a daily challenge, it is completely web-based and accessible for free — it’s once a day and one for all. You even get color-coded hints in a familiar fashion.

The dissimilitude only emerges in the “composition” of the challenge, because the original Nerdle game involves an 8×6 grid pattern; that is you get six chances to guess an 8-columned hidden equation. 

Related: Looking for the Original Wordle App and Game? Everything You Need to Know

How to play Nerdle?

Anyone with prior experience playing Wordle can easily grasp the fundamental rules and aspects of Nerdle. Let’s take the linear route to begin — the first step is to go to the official game page www.nerdlegame.com. It is the only authentic site to play the game, so, it is smarter to exit the app store right now because you won’t find the original Nerdle there. 

Instead of the alphabets, your tools to light up the barren grey columns are the digits from 0-9 and the symbols of basic arithmetic operations +,-,*, and /. Evidently, the challenge is to reveal the mystery equation, but the 8 blank grey columns may appear pretty daunting if you are a Nerdle noob.

Like they say, taking off is the most difficult step in flying; it is just the same in Nerdle. To begin, make a daring move by creating a random equation using the available numbers and symbols. Once you successfully enter an equation, the game rewards you with colored- feedback. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Yes, it works just like Wordle.

But, wait, there’s a catch. You cannot enter a bogus equation that defies the laws of maths. The digits and symbols should be arranged in a scheme that is mathematically sound and perfectly logical. Now, this condition, while perfectly reasonable, it at once makes the process of guessing more immersive and cerebral.

This might be the right time to mention that Nerdle is specially designed for math enthusiasts. But, that should not be a reason to dissuade a regular player from taking on the challenge because the equation itself is only limited to the basic DMAS-operations.

Now, let me introduce miniNerdle, the siamese offshoot of Nerdle. MiniNerdle has a more welcoming attribute as it condenses the blank columns per guess from 8 to 6. This allows you to exercise your cognitive and computing skills without frying your brain to a crisp. The number of available guesses remains unaffected, so, it is a total win for those who want to enjoy the rush without jumping off a cliff.

How Nerdle works

To understand how Nerdle works, let’s take a more disciplined approach to analyze and compare it to the representative model- Wordle. Although all the Wordle rules are retained unreservedly, Nerdle has brought in a few twists into the game making it sui generis amongst other Wordle spinoffs.

Daily game

Nerdle challenge is a daily game like Wordle. The challengers are required to figure out the challenge-equation that is universal to all players of the game on a given date. If the equation today is 12+06/03=14, it will be the same for every player who takes the challenge today. The number of challenges a day is also limited to just one.

Game reset

Wordle resets at 12 AM for all players but the time is determined by Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). So, even if the clock struck 12 marking the next day for you, in the official world of Nerdle, the time only follows the standard that makes it protocol.

Digits, Symbols, and Equation

Nerdle uses numbers instead of letters as the objects to maneuver in the game. These numbers are accompanied by symbols for addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), and equal to (=). when combined to make various formulae these objects form equations — they could be acceptable but only partially right or completely acceptable (the correct answer). Nerdle game system rejects the entry of irrational and illogical equations as guesses. For instance, Integers are accepted in Nerdle as they are rational numbers but powers, decimals, etc are not accepted in the game.

What do Green, Purple, and Black mean on Nerdle?

Nerdle follows a standard color scheme similar to Wordle to give hints to the players. Green (which is more cyan, really) indicates that the digit or symbol you entered is completely right ( right number in the right position). Purple clues you in on the presence of the number or symbol in the hidden equation. You are required to rearrange them to find their right position. Finally, if an input number or symbol is not In the mystery equation, they get black feedback.

How to make a “guess” on Nerdle?

Not unlike the use of Wordle strategies, making Nerdle guesses is also an act purely based on deduction by reduction. If you had to bet on a strategy to nail Nerdle in fewer guesses, then the first two moves should show an intention to expose as many unique numbers and symbols into the game. Once the numbers and symbols get appropriate feedback, you can eliminate the black/rejected objects from the successive moves. This allows you a greater window to rearrange the purple-objects and turn them “green”.

As can be observed, in the screenshot above, the player has used mostly unique entries in the first guess. But, when the priority shifted to turning the purple-entries to green in the second move, it affected the process of eliminating other unused numbers and symbols in the game. As a result, the player might need to use more guesses than necessary to solve the equation.

Ideally, the first two moves should be made decisively to strike-off irrelevant objects. If by the third and fourth moves, your grid has more purples and greens without any blacks, it indicates your proximity to the solution. You just have to rearrange the purples to find the greens while maintaining the logic of mathematics to excel in Nerdle.

It is also noteworthy that if an equation you enter is in the wrong order, the system does not accept it as the solution. For example, if the mystery equation is 1+2=3 but your entry is 2+1=3, the feedback you receive would be purple-green-purple-green-green. To solve the challenge, the order of occurrence cannot be overlooked. The screenshot below demonstrates the case of a correct equation making a partially correct solution as a result of two components appearing in the wrong order.

Does Nerdle Repeat Numbers?

As a matter of fact, yes. Because numerical combinations involve the natural numbers and zero, it isn’t uncommon to see repeating numbers or symbols in Nerdle. The repeated symbols are treated as individual and independent objects and get highlighted according to their number of occurrences in a given equation.

In the screenshot below, the numbers 1 and 7 are repeated twice in the second guess. Both the 7’s received black feedback indicating their absence in the solution equation. However, both the 1’s received different positive feedbacks, the green being completely right and the purple being wrongly stationed.

Related: Wordle Same Letter Twice Rules Explained: How Does it Work?

How to share Nerdle

Sharing the Nerdle score is not much different from how things work on Wordle. Just click or tap on the Share button on the score-popup to copy the result and you can paste it into the composition box of your social media like Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, etc.

The result-grid is a reflection of the Wordle color grids that show the feedback you received on each guess and the number of guesses used to solve the challenge.

How many Nerdle challenges can you play a day?

Nerdle is a daily challenge. So, technically you get only one new challenge a day. But, things took a surprising turn when the official game page announced miniNerdle as a complimentary game. That means, in addition to the original 8×6 Nerdle, any player can also select the easy mode in the settings to play 6×6 miniNedle. It equates to two independent yet official challenges a day.

The Nerdle team also offers a fun treat to its Twitter followers with one-line challenges called instantNerdle.

RELATED