Binary is too easy, but hex can be tricky. I made a hex-based wordle puzzle for my programming game where you have to guess an 8-digit hex string in as few as 6-12 guesses using wordle mechanics... called the level "dwordle" :)
This is obviously improper. The valid strategy for this game unfolds as follows.
Step 1: Guess 11111.
Step 2: Replace all grey cells with 0s.
Thank you for your careful consideration.
nmeofthestate · 20h ago
If you start with 0's you save a small amount of electricity. 1's use up more electricity - any electronic engineer will agree.
justsid · 17h ago
Not to ruin a joke, but does it actually make a difference for SRAM? It’s two inverters in a loop, despite not being the same size they are active components. But I’m also a software guy so I could be totally wrong.
dskloet · 17h ago
I think displaying black or white pixels makes a bigger difference.
bdcs · 16h ago
> does it actually make a difference for SRAM?
I have no idea in practice. But for the thermodynamic limit of actually making a difference, any irreversible change requires heat to be generated, e.g. initializing to zero, truncating, or bitshifts with discarded information. In contrast, addition/subtraction/multiplication/bitshifts without over-/under- flow will not necessarily generate heat.
PS. you can also use mass-energy equivalence to extend this to calculate the lower limit of mass for a given quantity of information. TL;DR: The internet weighs 50g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaUzu-iksi8
heckelson · 1d ago
And for a second, I was proud that I solved mine in 3 steps...
No comments yet
paxys · 1d ago
Step 1: Guess anything
Step 2: Flip all the non green cells.
underlines · 20h ago
afaik, guessing anything not 00000 or 11111 at first step will lead to an optimum strategy of 3 steps. because you introduce possible "right digit at wrong place" as a third state.
guessing 00000 or 11111 removes that third state and leaves you with simple substitution of wrong cells, which leads to an optimal 2 step strategy.
but obviously the shortest strategy is just guessing it right on the first try :D lol
paxys · 20h ago
It doesn't matter.
Right digit at the wrong place = wrong digit = you should flip it.
This puzzle won't take more than 2 guesses no matter what you input the first time.
Jtsummers · 20h ago
It's still two steps. You only ever need to flip wrong digits.
jesse__ · 1d ago
I think it's actually possible to win on the second guess with any initial input. Or at least I did it a handful of times..
vikingerik · 1d ago
This should be correct. For any cell that isn't green after your first guess, there's only one other possibility for its value.
dskloet · 17h ago
It's not guaranteed you will always win in 2 steps because occasionally you will win in 1 step.
Supermancho · 13h ago
Isn't 1 within the bounds of 2?
Sohcahtoa82 · 11h ago
There's a difference between "in 2 steps" and "within 2 steps".
Supermancho · 7h ago
Splitting hairs seems like grammar policing. I can even see action 1 and null action if I squint hard enough.
selcuka · 1d ago
Yes. Yellow and grey mean exactly the same thing in this game: Flip it.
I intended this strategy, but 00000 happened to be correct, so I didn't even need a step 2.
arjvik · 1d ago
Came here to present my strategy for solving it in two tries, and realized it was far more complicated! (started with 00011)
zck · 14h ago
I also made some number-based wordle-variants, which I call "numberdle". I found that it was hard to come up with good ways of guessing because wordle has the restriction that most combinations are invalid. You won't ever have to guess xwqqf, because that's not an English word. And more importantly, guessing some letters gives you information about the other letters. If you find out three letters, and have the target as _a_ts, you can use that to figure out the other two letters.
But if you need to guess a number, and you know it's _5_34, having three correct digits don't help you figure it out.
So I made some variants where guessed values do help you figure out the correct answer.
In rationerdle (https://zck.org/numberdle/?variant=rationerdle), you have to guess a rational number x/y, where both x and y are between 1 and 99, inclusive. It displays the rational number you actually guessed, and whether x and y separately are too high or too low.
This delivers on the title but I wonder if you could tweak it to make it an actual game without wildly overcomplicating it.
Maybe make the string much longer, like 10 bits, and the game only matches on substrings longer than 3. 000...000 would generally return no matches.
That's still probably solvable with superpermutations but wordle is "solvable" with a dictionary, so don't let perfect be the enemy of "better than 2 guess bordle"
lazerman · 20h ago
The number of guesses should be written in binary too!
bitwrangler · 18h ago
I like the UI and cute idea, nice animation. great way to learn xor $FF haha.
mulmen · 1d ago
Got it in 10.
Black616Angel · 1d ago
I was a bit sad, when it didn't display my number of tries as a 10.
mccolin · 1d ago
There’s 10 types of people in this world: those that get that joke and those that don’t.
makerofthings · 1d ago
There are 2 kinds of people in this world, those that can extrapolate from incomplete data.
taneq · 23h ago
And fence post errors.
rodnim · 1d ago
And those who know this joke is actually in base 3. :)
thehours · 1d ago
Feedback: I'm unable to input with keyboard after typing anything but '0' until a full refresh (and selecting the input area with mouse).
Jtsummers · 1d ago
You may not need the refresh, with Safari I have to select the game board again after focus is moved by clicking "play again".
nickburlett · 1d ago
Feature request: a "share" button, à la base-26 Wordle.
soneca · 1d ago
I guessed my first game in the first attempt! (10011)
drooopy · 18h ago
Guessed my first game in 2 attempts.
teekert · 1d ago
What are the odds!
soneca · 1d ago
3.125% I believe :)
thrance · 1d ago
1 in 32
eckesicle · 1d ago
Me too!
dhsysusbsjsi · 1d ago
I guessed 00000 and won first go!
thinkingemote · 1d ago
hmm. I guessed something different (010001 maybe, I cant remember) and won first go too. I looked in the comments hoping to find the joke. I guess I'm 1 of the 10 people who don't understand binary jokes.
thih9 · 1d ago
For context, the original joke is:
> There are 10 kinds of people in this world — those who understand binary and those who don’t.
I love that not only are the inputs binary, but so are the results.
drdec · 17h ago
With this game, there is no try. There is do or do not.
citizenfishy · 1d ago
Isn't this just Mastermind?
maaaaattttt · 1d ago
Apologies for opening a tangeant on a tangeant, but am I the only one who thinks there are 2 levels of playing master mind (and therefore wordle)? Easy level, you let the player know exactly which spots are correctly placed and which ones are there but incorrectly placed. Hard level, you let the player know only that some are correctly placed and some are there but incorrectly placed without identifiying which ones.
I personnaly don't enjoy the easy level when playing mastermind, but I do enjoy the hard version which is much more investigative and in my opinion triggers the same brain process as when I'm debugging code.
madcaptenor · 23h ago
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Wordle implemented in what you call “hard level”. But there’s no reason it couldn’t be.
zaik · 1d ago
No, this is much simpler.
jansan · 1d ago
More like Minionmind.
sarmadgulzar · 1d ago
So, this can be solved in at least one and at most two attempts.
celticninja · 1d ago
Isn't it always possible to get this on guess 2?
oneeyedpigeon · 1d ago
Yes. I think that's the joke.
neuroelectron · 1d ago
I see what you did there
kcaseg · 1d ago
Bit masking : the game
b0a04gl · 15h ago
bitmask bruteforce took 5 ops max.solving fizzbuzz with a GPU.
lo_zamoyski · 19h ago
Why 5 rows? Just have two.
sidcool · 1d ago
It should be solvable in no more than 2 moves.
UnreachableCode · 1d ago
Don’t you mean 10 moves?
amanverasia · 1d ago
The only reason I logged into my account is to give you an upvote!
itishappy · 1d ago
Is it possible to get yellow cells?
Jtsummers · 1d ago
Use a mix of 0s and 1s, if the answer is "00110" and you put in "11000" you'll have 4 yellow and 1 green. If you use only 0s or only 1s for your first guess, you'll just get green and grey, no yellow.
itishappy · 20h ago
Huh, surprisingly difficult to get. Took me 8 or so attempts.
october8140 · 1d ago
Got it. Second try.
alloysmila · 23h ago
only two attempts are ever needed :-(
HenryBemis · 19h ago
So....
1st line, all zeros. It shows me where the zeros are.
Well.. that's it. Any non-zero is a 1.
So.. finished on the second line.
Am I the only one?
morcus · 19h ago
Yeah, it's definitely meant to be a joke.
You also don't need to start with all zeros, any input will allow you to finish on the second try.
IAmBroom · 19h ago
That didn't get it?
No, sadly.
nicwolff · 16h ago
I, uh, got it in two. Is it creepy that the answer is my ZIP code?
schindlabua · 1d ago
Hilariously dumb
anon84873628 · 1d ago
Made me chuckle out loud.
odo1242 · 1d ago
I somehow got lucky and guessed the answer in just one try lol
rossant · 1d ago
How lucky of you. You had one chance out of 100000.
Odds in two attempts: 1 in 1
You won!
You guessed 01111 in 4 attempts!
[1] https://apnews.com/article/new-york-times-wordle-clones-take...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_(computer_architecture)#T...
(video from like 3 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity2D/comments/sq4anb/i_added_a_w...)
Gemini self-improved version (added the "Hint" and "What could it mean?" features): https://g.co/gemini/share/05c8cce3b2ff
Step 2: Replace all grey cells with 1s.
Step 1: Guess 11111.
Step 2: Replace all grey cells with 0s.
Thank you for your careful consideration.
I have no idea in practice. But for the thermodynamic limit of actually making a difference, any irreversible change requires heat to be generated, e.g. initializing to zero, truncating, or bitshifts with discarded information. In contrast, addition/subtraction/multiplication/bitshifts without over-/under- flow will not necessarily generate heat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landauer%27s_principle
PS. you can also use mass-energy equivalence to extend this to calculate the lower limit of mass for a given quantity of information. TL;DR: The internet weighs 50g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaUzu-iksi8
No comments yet
Step 2: Flip all the non green cells.
guessing 00000 or 11111 removes that third state and leaves you with simple substitution of wrong cells, which leads to an optimal 2 step strategy.
but obviously the shortest strategy is just guessing it right on the first try :D lol
Right digit at the wrong place = wrong digit = you should flip it.
This puzzle won't take more than 2 guesses no matter what you input the first time.
Spoiler alert: There is a nice video by Captain Disillusion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou7KSmfC3lA (the relevant part is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou7KSmfC3lA&t=275s )
There is no such thing as a two, Bender!
https://thedailywtf.com/articles/what_is_truth_0x3f_
But if you need to guess a number, and you know it's _5_34, having three correct digits don't help you figure it out.
So I made some variants where guessed values do help you figure out the correct answer.
In rationerdle (https://zck.org/numberdle/?variant=rationerdle), you have to guess a rational number x/y, where both x and y are between 1 and 99, inclusive. It displays the rational number you actually guessed, and whether x and y separately are too high or too low.
In factordle (https://zck.org/numberdle/?variant=factordle), the player has to guess the factors of a target number.
In formuladle (https://zck.org/numberdle/?variant=formuladle), there is a graphed straight line, and the player has to guess the mx+b formula that graphs that line.
I would like to make more, but didn't have any other great ideas when I ran out of interest.
…though now that I’m playing it in my head that’s too easy too. (Start at MSB and shift right if too high and add bits if too low)…
Maybe if you reduced the number of guesses to 5 that’d add enough chance to make it fun?
I similarly made a binary one before this version, but unsurprisingly, a lot of people said they found it too easy!
Maybe make the string much longer, like 10 bits, and the game only matches on substrings longer than 3. 000...000 would generally return no matches.
That's still probably solvable with superpermutations but wordle is "solvable" with a dictionary, so don't let perfect be the enemy of "better than 2 guess bordle"
> There are 10 kinds of people in this world — those who understand binary and those who don’t.
There are other versions too[1][2][3].
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7036594
[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7040175
[3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25854900
https://imgur.com/a/W4OjObH
Hope you like it!
https://semenar.itch.io/lost-in-space
1st line, all zeros. It shows me where the zeros are.
Well.. that's it. Any non-zero is a 1.
So.. finished on the second line.
Am I the only one?
You also don't need to start with all zeros, any input will allow you to finish on the second try.
No, sadly.