How to play Blurdle

Every day there’s one new photo, and everyone gets the same one. It starts out heavily blurred. Your job is to work out what it shows in six guesses or fewer.

The basics

1. Look at the blurry photo and start typing a guess.
2. Pick an answer from the list that appears. You can only guess things on the list, so spelling never costs you a turn.
3. If you’re wrong, the photo comes a little more into focus.
4. Name it within six guesses and you’ve won.

Whether you win or lose, the full, sharp photo is revealed at the end, along with a short note about the subject and a credit for the photographer.

How the blur works

The photo has six levels of blur. You see the strongest one first, and each wrong guess removes one level, so your last guess is made with the clearest view you’ll get before the reveal. Early on you’re reading colours and shapes more than detail: a patch of blue sky, a pale stripe that might be a beach, a dark blob with something like ears.

Warm guesses

Every answer belongs to a category, such as animals, landmarks or food and drink. If a wrong guess is in the same category as the answer, it’s marked as warm. A warm guess tells you you’re in the right area, so stay there and narrow it down rather than jumping somewhere new.

Hints

• After two wrong guesses, you’re told the answer’s category.
• After four wrong guesses, you’re also given its first letter.

Hints don’t cost anything. They just arrive when you could probably use them.

Streaks and stats

Win today’s puzzle on the day and your streak goes up by one. Miss a day or lose a game and it starts again from zero. Your stats track games played, win rate, your current and best streaks, and how many guesses your wins usually take. There are achievements to unlock along the way, too.

A new puzzle arrives every day at midnight UTC, which is 1am in the UK during British Summer Time. Everything is saved in your browser, so play on the same device and browser to keep your streak going.

The archive

Missed a day, or just want more? The archive has every past Blurdle going back to the first one in May 2022. Archive games are just for fun: they don’t affect your streak or your win rate, but they do count towards some achievements.

Tips

• Squint, or lean back from the screen. It sounds silly, but it helps your brain fill in the shape.
• Think about colour first. Greens and blues suggest outdoors; warm browns and oranges are often food or animals.
• Use your early guesses to test a category, not to land the exact answer.
• Once you’ve had a warm guess, stick to that category until you’re sure it’s wrong.
• Don’t rush. There’s no timer, and a few seconds of looking is often worth more than a quick guess.

When you’re done, share your result. It’s a grid of squares rather than the answer, so nobody gets the photo spoiled.