Build a chain of four-letter words
Start from the word shown on the board. Each new word must keep three letters in the same positions and change exactly one. You cannot rearrange letters, add a letter or remove a letter. Every entry must appear in this edition’s word list.
Try this complete route: TOES → TEES → FEES → FEET. It has three moves. TOES → FEES would change two positions, so that shortcut is rejected. TEES → TEES changes nothing and is also rejected.
Type a word, or edit one letter
Enter a word in the four boxes using your keyboard or the on-screen keys, then choose Enter word or press Enter on your keyboard. You can paste a whole word, too. Tap a letter in the current word to copy it into the boxes with that letter selected. Typing a letter moves to the next box; tap any box to return to it. Deleting a letter leaves a space without moving the others. Enter word becomes available once the four-letter entry changes exactly one position. Green letters match FEET in the same position, but they are still allowed to change.
A rejected word does not add a step. Read the message below the input: it tells you whether the problem is length, a repeated word, changing too many letters, or a word outside the list. Your text remains available to edit.
Undo, restart, hint and reveal
Undo removes the last accepted move. Restart takes an unfinished round back to its original start. Both keep the record of hints already requested. Finishing a round locks its route.
Hint fills the four input boxes with one next word on a shortest path from your current word. It does not submit a move: edit the suggestion or choose Enter word to play it. A hint is counted once per position word, even if you revisit it. Reveal route is below the keyboard. It ends the round and shows a solution; that round cannot enter the leaderboard. Reveal asks for confirmation so an accidental tap does not end your game.
Daily and practice use the same rules
Daily has one shared start per UTC date. It resets at 00:00 UTC, not necessarily at your local midnight. The server saves your accepted moves under a cookie in this browser. At the date change, open the new puzzle; old unfinished games close.
Practice chooses another start and saves the current round in local browser storage when available. Practice is unlimited, can work without the daily service, and never enters the daily leaderboard.
Understand your score
A step is an accepted transition from one word to the next. The initial word does not count. Undo and restart can reduce the length of an unfinished route, while hints remain recorded. The result shows your final route length and the shortest possible length for that start.
The leaderboard orders results by steps, then hints. Equal pairs share a rank, and elapsed time does not affect placement. You must solve the daily game, sign in with Google, choose a nickname and confirm publication before that UTC date ends. Each account gets one published result per day.