The Basics

Griddles is a daily word puzzle game where you find hidden words inside a grid of letters. Each puzzle belongs to a specific category — such as Countries, NBA Teams, or Chemical Elements — and your job is to figure out which words from that category are hidden in the grid.

The key rule that makes Griddles unique: every letter in the grid must be used exactly once. There are no leftover letters and no letter is shared between words. This means each puzzle has exactly one correct solution, and solving it requires both vocabulary knowledge and logical thinking.

Step-by-Step Guide

Choose a Category and Difficulty

From the main menu, pick one of 18 categories and select your difficulty level: Easy, Normal, or Hard. Each combination is a unique puzzle that changes every day.

Study the Grid

You will see a grid of letters — 4x4 (16 letters) for Easy, or 5x5 (25 letters) for Normal and Hard. At the top, you will see the category name and how many words you need to find.

Tap Letters to Spell a Word

Tap or click individual letters in any order to spell a word that belongs to the category. Letters do not need to be next to each other — they can be anywhere in the grid. Your selected letters appear in the answer bar at the bottom.

Submit Your Answer

When you have spelled a valid word, tap Submit. If the word is correct and belongs to the puzzle's solution, those letters are highlighted in a unique colour and removed from play. If it is wrong, clear your selection and try again.

Find All Words to Complete the Puzzle

Continue finding words until every letter in the grid has been used. When the grid is fully solved, your time is recorded and you can see how you rank on the daily leaderboard.

Remember: A word might be valid and belong to the category, but if it is not part of this specific puzzle's solution, it will be rejected. Every puzzle has exactly one correct set of answers that uses all letters.

Difficulty Levels Explained

Every category is available in three difficulty levels. Here is what to expect from each:

Easy — 4x4 Grid (16 letters)

The smallest grid size with shorter, well-known words. Typically 3-4 words to find. Great for warming up, learning a new category, or when you only have a minute to spare. Most players can solve Easy puzzles in under two minutes.

Normal — 5x5 Grid (25 letters)

The standard Griddles experience. 25 letters forming 4-5 words from the category. Words are common and recognisable but the larger grid means more possible combinations to consider. This is the most popular difficulty level and the one used for the main daily leaderboard competition.

Hard — 5x5 Grid (25 letters)

Same grid size as Normal, but with less common words, multi-word answers (like "New Zealand" or "San Antonio Spurs"), and trickier letter arrangements. Hard puzzles test the depth of your knowledge in each category and often require you to think beyond the obvious answers. Experienced players find these the most rewarding.

Understanding the Game Interface

The Grid

The central grid displays all letters for the puzzle. Tap a letter to select it (it will highlight), tap it again to deselect. Selected letters appear in the answer bar below the grid in the order you tapped them.

The Answer Bar

Shows the word you are currently building. You can tap letters in any order and rearrange if needed. When you are ready, hit Submit to check your answer.

Colour Coding

Each correctly found word is assigned a unique colour on the grid. This serves two purposes: it shows you which letters have been used, and it helps you see the structure of the puzzle as you progress. When the entire grid is filled with colour, the puzzle is complete.

Timer

A timer runs from the moment the puzzle loads. Your final time is submitted to the daily leaderboard when you complete the puzzle. The timer does not penalise you for wrong guesses, but faster solves rank higher.

Hints

Every puzzle gives you access to three hints if you get stuck:

First Letter Hint (x2): Reveals the first letter of one of the remaining words. You get two of these per puzzle.
Word Length Hint (x1): Shows the number of letters in each remaining word. This can be very helpful for narrowing down possibilities.

Hint trade-off: Using hints will not prevent you from completing the puzzle or appearing on the leaderboard, but players who solve without hints are ranked higher. If you care about your leaderboard position, try to solve without hints first.

Streaks

Griddles tracks your daily playing streak — the number of consecutive days you have played at least one puzzle. Building a long streak is one of the most popular features among regular players.

Play at least one puzzle per day to maintain your streak.
Missing a day resets your streak to zero.
Your longest ever streak is recorded permanently.
Streak milestones unlock achievements.

Leaderboards

Each day, every category and difficulty combination has its own leaderboard. After completing a puzzle, you can see how your time compares to other players. Leaderboards reset daily with the new puzzles.

Your rank is determined by:

Hint usage — fewer hints means a higher rank
Solve time — faster times rank higher among players with the same hint count

Achievements

Griddles includes an achievement system that rewards long-term progress. Achievements are earned by reaching milestones such as:

Completing your first puzzle
Solving puzzles across all 18 categories
Building streak milestones (7 days, 30 days, 100 days)
Solving without using any hints
Completing all three difficulties in a single category on the same day

Achievements are displayed on your profile and visible to other players on the leaderboard.

Strategy Tips

Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned solver, these strategies can help you improve your times and solve more puzzles:

For Beginners

Start with Easy difficulty. Get familiar with how the game works before tackling Normal and Hard.
Pick categories you know well. If you are a sports fan, start with NBA Teams or NFL Teams. If you love geography, try Countries or Capital Cities.
Look for long words first. Longer words use more letters and leave fewer options for the remaining words, making the rest of the puzzle easier.
Count your letters. If you think you have found a word but submitting it fails, double-check that you have not accidentally reused a letter that is already part of a found word.

For Intermediate Players

Use letter frequency. If you see uncommon letters like Q, X, Z, or K, think about which category words contain those letters — they often narrow down the possibilities significantly.
Work by elimination. After finding one or two words, look at the remaining letters and ask yourself what category words could be spelled with exactly those letters.
Think about word lengths. Before using the word length hint, try to estimate how many words of each length might fit. This mental exercise trains your puzzle intuition.

For Advanced Players

Scan the full grid before starting. Spend 10-15 seconds looking at all the letters before tapping anything. Experienced solvers often identify multiple words before making their first move.
Recognise letter patterns. Certain letter combinations are strong signals — "ISTAN" likely belongs to a country name, "BURG" to a city, "IUM" to a chemical element.
Solve the hardest word first. On Hard difficulty, the trickiest word is often the key to unlocking the puzzle. If you can identify the obscure or multi-word answer first, the rest falls into place.
Challenge yourself to go hintless. Once you are comfortable, try solving every puzzle without hints. The satisfaction of a clean solve is worth the extra thinking time.

Accounts and Progress

When you first visit Griddles, you are assigned a randomly generated username and can start playing immediately — no sign-up required. Your progress is saved in your browser automatically.

If you want to protect your progress or play on multiple devices, you can register a username and password. Registered users keep their streaks, achievements, and leaderboard history synced across all their devices.

Premium Features

Griddles is free to play and all 54 daily puzzles are available to everyone. Premium subscribers (£3.99/month) get two additional benefits:

Historical puzzles: Access any puzzle from any previous day using the calendar picker. Perfect for catching up on missed days or replaying favourites.
Ad-free experience: Play without any advertisements.

Ready to Start Solving?

Put these tips into practice — 18 categories and 3 difficulty levels are waiting for you.

Play Griddles Now

How to Play Griddles