Absurdle is a word-based puzzle game that operates very similarly to Wordle. Much like in its predecessor, Absurdle asks players to guess five-letter words using unique letters, and the game responds with yellow and green squares respective of the correct letters and correct positions guessed.
However, Absurdle differs from standard Wordle in that the former is functionally “adversarial.” Rather than starting with a final word and working players toward it as Wordle does, Absurdle first receives the player’s guesses and uses them to cull down Wordle’s several-thousand-word-long traditional word list into smaller “buckets.”
These buckets contain words that could serve as the correct final word based on the letters that still remain unused after each guess. This means that the player’s initial guesses, rather than cornering the correct letters to the final word as they would in Wordle, instead decide which letters will not be included in the final word of Absurdle.
The first Absurdle guess: Practically anything
To the player’s benefit, Absurdle doesn’t cap the amount of words that can be guessed in a single game. As a result, they’re free to fire away with as many potential words as they can come up with, testing out all 26 letters in the process.
The first guess, however, does dictate the bucket of words that players have to maneuver through. As such, certain letters that are more difficult to pin down, such as Q, X, and Z, can be eliminated quickly. Words like queen can easily narrow down the player’s search to more commonly used words.
Alternatively, players can benefit from quickly reducing the number of available vowels, as five vowels can be guessed more quickly than the remaining 21 consonants. Words that pile in vowels, such as piano, can fit this utilitarian purpose, although it’s very unlikely that any of the vowels used in the first word will see placement in the final word.
Related: How and where to play Absurdle
