If there’s one game that has defined 2022 thus far, it’s Wordle. The viral game created (and cleverly named) by software engineer Josh Wardle (get it?) first caught the attention of the Twitterverse thanks to users posting their cryptic results to their feeds, causing many a future Wordle addict to wonder what the varying formations of black, green and yellow squares could possibly mean.
And like any passing trend in the Internet age, the game spawned countless copycats, reinventions and hyper-specific niche versions as it continued to blow up. Which brings us to the musical subgenre within the the wide world of Wordle. Some versions are artist specific, catering to fans of Taylor Swift, BTS or Weezer. Others set to challenge the broad knowledge of any given listener by incorporating actual music into the game’s simple format.
Billboard has rounded up several of the music-related offshoots of the OG game made for fans of every type. Check them out below.
Developed shortly after the launch of Wordle, Heardle is the original audio take on the viral guessing game. Music lovers must correctly identify songs by hearing only snippets of each track’s intro.
Taylor Swift — Taylordle
The Wordle clone perfect for Swifties of all types was developed by the Holy Swift podcast. Within six tries, users have to correctly guess the word related somehow to the superstar’s sizable canon of lyrics, songs and career. And they’ve recently expanded beyond five-word answers to include more Taylor-related terms.
Weezer — Weezle
Rivers Cuomo himself announced the Weezer-themed offshoot via Twitter on March 3, writing, “If you like Wordle and Weezer, you’ll probably like Weezle,” along with a link to the web-based interface.
BTS — BTS Wordle
While it doesn’t come with a clever play on the name of the game like other artist-specific takes, BTS Wordle immerses ARMY into the universe of their favorite idols with a daily litany of five-letter words related to the band’s ongoing legacy.
BTS — BTS Heardle
If you thought the rabid fandom of BTS had only inspired one version of the game, think again: There’s also a Heardle spin-off dedicated to the boy band. The rules go like this: ARMY get seven guesses to predict the game’s BTS song of the day. For their first guess, fans can only use lyrics as an initial hint. With each successive round, ARMY can then listen to more and more of the song’s intro to get it right.
