The Waffle Game

I am always on the lookout for simple games that I can play on my mobile when I have a bit of downtime. They have to be engaging enough without requiring a lot of effort, and I have to be able to put them down and pick them up sometime later without having to re-learn a lot.

I like word games, and I used to play Wordle until it got bought by the NY Times. While it was fun I didn’t like the total random nature of the first guess. You could choose a starting word that would give you a lot of information for your next guess, but getting it right was pure luck if you wanted to try for a “one and done”.

I tried a few other word games but nothing stuck until I found Waffle. What’s funny is that I got introduced to it via an academic paper that examined why “some games are easy to solve while extreme games are very hard”.

It’s like Wordle (or Wyrdle) in that you are trying to guess words, and if you have a letter in that word in the correct spot, this is indicated by one color (green), and if you have a letter in the word but it is not in the correct space, it is a different color (yellow).

A Waffle Game at the Start

The difference is that you are trying to solve for six words with letters that overlap (somewhat like a crossword puzzle). You do this by swapping two letters at a time. Each puzzle can be solved in a minimum of ten swaps, and you have up to fifteen in order to solve it. If it takes more, you have lost.

There are a couple of things I like about this game. As the paper mentioned, some are easy while some are hard, and you have a shot at getting it perfect every time, although it is rare that happens. When it does you get five stars.

A Waffle Game Solved

I find I am able to get a perfect game about as much time as I lose, with most of my games falling in-between.

Plus, you can replay the games if you want to, although it won’t change your score for that particular one.

I find it fun and I’ve played about 10% of the archive. I’m in no rush but figure I’ll get through them all eventually.

Last updated on Jan 23, 2025 09:52 UTC




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