What Is Hardl? The Wordle-Mastermind Hybrid Game Explained

Hardl is a harder version of Wordle inspired by the classic logic game Mastermind). You guess a hidden five-letter word, but instead of green and yellow tiles telling you which letters are right, Hardl only tells you how many of your guessed letters are in the answer. Knowing the count without knowing the letters makes every deduction harder — and far more satisfying when you crack it. Where Wordle is a word game with generous feedback, Hardl is a pure logic puzzle where every guess is a hypothesis test.

How Hardl Works

The rules are simple to learn and brutal to master:

1. The game picks a secret five-letter word.
2. You submit five-letter guesses, one at a time.
3. After each guess, Hardl shows two numbers instead of colored tiles:

• The left number — how many guessed letters are in the correct position.
• The right number — how many guessed letters are in the word but in the wrong position.

1. You get a set number of attempts (commonly 10) to find the word.
2. Guess the word within the limit and you win; miss, and the answer is revealed.

The original open-source version was built by developer hughmarch using React with TypeScript, and the project is published on GitHub under the GNU General Public License v3.0. It was explicitly designed as "a harder version of the popular game Wordle inspired by Mastermind."

Reading the Number Clues: An Example

The number system is the whole game. Say the secret word is CRANE and you guess SLATE:

• The two boxes to the right of your guess show the counts — not which letters scored.
• A result of 12 means one letter is in the correct position and one letter is in the word but misplaced. Together, that tells you exactly two of your guessed letters appear in the answer — but not which two.
• A result of 00 means none of your guessed letters appear in the word at all. In Wordle terms, that's five grey tiles at once.

That missing positional information is what makes Hardl so much harder than Wordle. In Wordle, a green A in position one narrows the answer instantly. In Hardl, "one letter in the right place" leaves you with five suspects and no lineup.

Hardl vs Wordle: What's Different

Step-by-Step: How to Play Hardl

1. Open Hardl in your browser. Playable versions are hosted on word-game portals such as wordhurdle.co, dordle.online, and connectionsgame.io; the original open-source build is on GitHub.
2. Pick a strong opener. Choose a five-letter word with five unique common letters — the same strategy as Wordle, since it tests the most letters at once.
3. Read the two numbers. Note both the correct-position count and the misplaced-letter count separately.
4. Track letter sets, not tiles. Keep a running list of which letters are confirmed present (the sum of both numbers tells you how many of each guess's letters are in the answer) and which are eliminated.
5. Use the "00" ruthlessly. A zero result eliminates all five letters at once — that's enormous information.
6. Probe positions with the second guess. Reuse a couple of letters in new positions to test where the confirmed letters might sit.
7. Solve before attempt ten. With limited tries, switch from exploring to solving once you've pinned down three or four letters.

7 Strategies for Hardl

1. Start with two vowel-heavy openers. Letters confirmed early are pure gold when you can't see positions.
2. Count, don't guess blindly. Before each guess, tally how many letters you know are in the word and make sure your guess is consistent with every clue so far.
3. Eliminate aggressively. A "00" on a fresh set of letters is as valuable as a Wordle green — treat it that way.
4. Reuse letters to test positions. If guess one scored 02 and guess two reuses two letters in different slots scoring 11, you now know positional information Wordle would have handed you for free.
5. Avoid repeating confirmed-absent letters. With only number clues, every wasted letter costs you a deduction step.
6. Think in sets. Maintain three mental lists: letters in the word, letters not in the word, letters untested. Update all three after every guess.
7. Watch the total. The two numbers combined tell you how many of your five letters appear in the answer — use that sum to plan each next guess.

Where to Play Hardl for Free

Hardl is free to play in the browser. Portal versions are available at wordhurdle.co/hardl, dordle.online/hardl, and connectionsgame.io/hardl, and the original open-source project is on GitHub (hughmarch/hardl). These portals are third-party hosts, so features and attempt limits may differ slightly between versions.

Hardl on Wordleverse and in the Community

Hardl is listed in the Wordleverse directory of Wordle variants with the wry description "Guess what… Mastermind again." It has also come up in word-game community discussions — for example, players on the Naim Audio forum shared it as a recommendation for anyone finding standard Wordle too easy, quoting its Mastermind-style number clues as the selling point.

Hardl vs Other Hard Wordle Variants

If you like your word games punishing, Hardl has company. Wordle's own built-in hard mode forces you to reuse revealed hints, while variants like Absurdle actively change the answer to dodge your guesses. Hardl's twist is different: the answer stays fixed, but the feedback is deliberately impoverished. It's the purest logic puzzle of the bunch — closer to Mastermind with letters than to Wordle with training wheels. For a side-by-side map of the main daily word games, see our Plusword vs Wordle comparison.

The Bottom Line

Hardl strips Wordle down to pure deduction: no green tiles, no yellow tiles, just two numbers and your own logic. If standard Wordle has started feeling routine, Hardl's Mastermind-style clues will humble you in the best way. Ten guesses, five letters, and nothing but counts to guide you — give it a try if you think you're good at word games. New to daily word puzzles? How to play Plusword takes two minutes to learn.