Daily Word

One hidden word a day, the same for everyone who visits. Players have six guesses, and each guess comes back with every letter marked: green in the right place, yellow in the word but somewhere else, grey not in the word at all. The fewest guesses tops the day's leaderboard, then the fastest time. Daily Word is a Pro Tool, and can be gifted to a site.

Getting started

1. Open Tools > Games > Daily Word and choose New word set.
2. Give it a title and pick the word length (4 to 8 letters) and the number of guesses (six is the usual).
3. Paste your answers into the box (one per line, or separated by commas) and press Add to the end.
4. Press Shuffle the order so the words do not come out in alphabetical order.
5. Pick the first day. Day 1 uses the first answer, day 2 the second, and so on. A new word comes out at midnight, site time.
6. Press Test and play today's word yourself.
7. Set the status to Open, save, and put it on any page:

[daily-word id="daily-word" /]

The answers

Each row is one day: its number (#1, #2...), its date and its word. The editor flags problems as you go:

• Wrong length - the word does not have the set's number of letters. A set with one of these cannot be saved.
• Twice - the word is in the list more than once.
• Not in the dictionary - players cannot type it as a guess until its own day (from then on your answer counts as a word). Fine for a name, but check for typos.

Remove the flagged takes out the wrong lengths and the words not in the dictionary. Drag a row by its grip to move it to another day.

Once someone has played a day, its word is Played and locked: it stays on its day, and the start date cannot move it. Everything still to come can be changed.

The calendar

Calendar shows which word comes out on which day, from today to the last. Only people allowed to manage Daily Word can see it (or the answers in the editor), because it shows every future answer.

When fewer than seven days of words are left, the list, the editor and the calendar say so, and you get a notification. If the words run out, players see "No word today" until you add more.

Playing

Players type a name and play with the on-screen keyboard or their own. A guess that is not a real word says "Not in the word list" and does not use up a guess. When they finish they see the word, their place on today's leaderboard, a countdown to the next word and a Share button that copies the coloured squares (never the letters) to paste anywhere.

Each name gets one go a day (you can change this). Play an earlier day lets people play past words for practice: those games are timed and marked but never go on the leaderboard and never use up a go.

Streaks

Players do not sign in, so a streak belongs to the name they play under: the number of days in a row they have solved the day's word. The finished screen shows it ("Streak: 5 days in a row"), and says so when running out of guesses ends one. Earlier-day games and tests never count, and neither does a play you hide.

A streak stays alive through the day until the player has used today's go without solving it, so someone who solved yesterday still shows on the streak board this morning.

Hints

Switch on Hints to let players ask for help. Each hint shows one letter in its right place - the first one they have not already found - faintly on the row they are typing. A hint never uses up a guess; it costs time instead (Seconds a hint costs, 15 unless you change it), so it can cost a place on the leaderboard. Hints a game caps how many one game may use (3 unless you change it). Results, the leaderboard (a small H2 beside the name) and the Plays screen show how many hints a game used.

Personal best

When a game is over, the player sees their best go at this word set so far under the same name (fewest guesses, then fastest), or "A new personal best!" when this was it. Earlier days and tests never count.

Animations

The game moves a little: each guess's tiles flip over one after another, a solved row bounces, a word that is not in the list shakes, a hint's letter pops in, and the results and leaderboard rows pop in one by one. Switch Animations off to keep it still. Visitors who asked for less motion (their device's setting, or the motion switch in your site's footer) never see any of it.

Rules you can change

• Goes a day (per name) - 1 unless you change it; 0 for as many as they like.
• Show a leaderboard, and its size.
• Leaderboard shows - which board players see first: today (the usual), this week, this month or all time. Players can still switch.
• Hints, Hints a game and Seconds a hint costs - see Hints above.
• Animations - on unless you switch it off.
• Let players play earlier days - on unless you switch it off.
• Any letters will do - guesses need not be dictionary words. Use it for names, or for another language.

Testing

Test plays today's word (or the first one, before the set starts) right there in the admin, exactly as your players see it. A test go is never on the leaderboard and does not count anywhere. Each new test clears the one before.

The leaderboard on its own

[daily-word-leaderboard id="daily-word" period="today" /]

period can be today (the usual), week, month or all.

With no period, it shows the word set's own choice (Leaderboard shows).

On the game's own shortcode, board chooses what goes on the page: board="show" (the usual - the game with its leaderboard), board="hide" (the game only) or board="only" (the leaderboard only):

[daily-word id="daily-word" board="hide" /]

For a whole page of leaderboards - every open game on the site, Daily Word, Quiz, Crossword and Word Search, grouped by Tool - use:

[games-leaderboards /]

games="daily-word,quiz" keeps it to some Tools, and period and limit set every board on it.

For the longest streaks still going instead:

[daily-word-leaderboard id="daily-word" order="streak" /]

Plays

Plays shows every go at one day's word, with that day's leaderboard; pick another day from the list. Games played from the earlier-days list are marked Earlier day. You can hide a play from the leaderboard, delete it, or reset everything (which also unlocks every played word).

Moving word sets between sites

Export a set from its menu in the list, or Export all. The file holds every answer, its order and the start date, so keep it private; it never holds who played. Import… adds the sets in such a file as drafts with no start date: pick a first day before opening one. Nothing already here is changed.