Costcodle is a free daily guessing game inspired by Wordle, but with a clever twist: instead of guessing a five-letter word, you guess the price of a Costco product. Each day brings one new item, and you get six tries to land within 5% of its real price — with higher/lower feedback guiding every guess.
What Is Costcodle?
Costcodle is a browser-based daily trivia game that blends Wordle's one-puzzle-a-day format with the familiar thrill of Costco shopping. A new product is revealed each day — anything from a giant pack of toilet paper to a rotisserie chicken — and your job is to guess exactly what it costs at the warehouse.
The game is fan-made and free to play, with no downloads or sign-ups required. It runs at costcodle.com and has been picked up by game directories like Alldle and HahaGames, where it holds a strong 8.6 rating from players. The project is even open source, built by a developer known as Kerm (kermwastaken), and its simple idea has already been forked into clones for other retailers — including a Nemlig variant called Prislig.
Unlike Wordle, where your knowledge of the English language is the skill, Costcodle rewards a different kind of expertise: how well you know the price of a $1.50 hot dog combo.
How Does Costcodle Work?
The concept is simple. Each day, Costcodle presents a single Costco item — usually with a photo so you know exactly what you're pricing. You enter a price guess, and the game tells you how close you were.
Feedback comes in two forms, just like Wordle's coloured tiles:
- Up/down arrows show whether your guess was too low or too high, and roughly by how much.
- Colour feedback — red, orange, and green — tells you whether your guess was far off, getting close, or correct.
An up arrow means your guess was significantly too low (more than 25% below the real price), while a down arrow means you went too high but are at least within 25% of the target. Land within 5% of the actual price and you see the winning checkmark.
The Rules of Costcodle
The rules are as tight as Wordle's:
- Six guesses. You have six attempts to guess the price of the daily item.
- Valid prices only. Each guess must be a valid price — entries like $9.99 or $17.50.
- Win condition. Guess within 5% of the target price to win.
- One puzzle a day. A new item appears each day; everyone plays the same puzzle.
- Feedback is your guide. Arrows and colours after each guess narrow down the price range.
How to Play Costcodle (Step by Step)
Step 1: Open the daily game
Visit costcodle.com in any browser — it works on phones, tablets, and desktops, with no installation.
Step 2: Study the product
Look at the item photo carefully. Is it a bulk pack? A single luxury item? Kirkland Signature branding often signals a lower price than a name brand.
Step 3: Enter your first guess
Type a price using your keyboard and press Enter. A smart opening guess is around the middle of a realistic price range for the item.
Step 4: Read the feedback
Check the arrows and colours. A big up arrow means you were way too low — more than 25% off. A down arrow with orange means you're close but slightly high.
Step 5: Narrow it down
Adjust your next guess based on the feedback. If your $10 guess got an up arrow and your $15 guess got a down arrow, the answer sits between them.
Step 6: Share your score
Like Wordle, the game generates a shareable result grid so you can post your score without spoiling the answer for friends.
Costcodle Strategy: Tips to Win
Start in the middle of the range
Don't open with a random number. Estimate the item's realistic price range and start near the middle — this lets the higher/lower feedback eliminate the largest possible portion of the range, just like a binary search.
Think in bulk
Costco sells almost everything in bulk. A single candy bar might cost $1.50 at the till, but a 36-pack costs far more. Always price the actual item shown, not the single-unit equivalent.
Remember the .99 pattern
Most Costco prices end in .99. If your feedback says you're within a few percent, try the .99 ending — the win zone is within 5%, so a guess like $19.99 on a $19.49 item lands safely inside it.
Use the 5% window deliberately
You don't need the exact price — just within 5%. On a $100 item, any guess between $95 and $105 wins. As your guesses converge, aim for the centre of your remaining range rather than an extreme.
Know Costco's famous price points
The $1.50 hot dog combo, the $4.99 rotisserie chicken, the $5.99 pizza — Costco's most famous items have near-mythical price points that regular shoppers know by heart. If the daily item is one of these legends, the answer may be easier than it looks.
Costcodle vs Wordle: How They Compare
| Feature | Costcodle | Wordle |
|---|---|---|
| Daily challenge | 1 new item per day | 1 new word per day |
| Attempts | 6 guesses | 6 guesses |
| What you guess | A product's price | A 5-letter word |
| Feedback | Arrows + red/orange/green colours | Green/yellow/grey tiles |
| Win condition | Within 5% of the price | Exact word match |
| Skill tested | Price knowledge | Vocabulary |
| Free to play | Yes, no sign-up | Yes, no sign-up |
Where to Play Costcodle
The official game runs at costcodle.com — free, in the browser, no account needed. It also appears embedded on game catalogue pages such as Alldle (alldle.net) and HahaGames (hahagames.com), where you can play it without leaving the page. The game supports multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish, and German, so international Costco fans can play in their own language.
Is Costcodle an Official Costco Game?
No — Costcodle is a fan-made spoof, not affiliated with or endorsed by Costco. It was built by an independent developer (Kerm) and published as an open-source project on GitHub, which is why the concept has spread so quickly to clones and forks. Costco itself has never released an official price-guessing game — though it did make headlines for selling a giant life-size version of the classic board game Guess Who? in its warehouses.
Why Costcodle Works
The magic of Costcodle is that it turns a skill everyone secretly has into a game. Most of us have stood in a Costco aisle and thought "that can't really cost that much" — Costcodle simply formalises that moment into six guesses and a daily leaderboard-worthy result. It's trivia, but personal trivia: the prices of things you've actually touched, pushed in a cart, and debated with your shopping partner.
If you enjoy Wordle but wish your shopping knowledge counted for something, Costcodle is the daily habit you've been waiting for. New to daily puzzle games? Our guide to Plusword explains another take on the one-puzzle-a-day format, and our how to play Plusword walkthrough covers the rules and tactics that transfer to almost any daily guessing game.
Sources
- Costcodle game directory page, Alldle (alldle.net)
- Costcodle game listing, HahaGames (hahagames.com)
- Costcodle README, GitHub (github.com/kermwastaken/costcodle)
- "Costcodle – Play on Wordle NYT", wordle-nyt.org
- "Costco Wordle – Costcodle", Blossom Word Games (blossomwordgame.com)
Is Costcodle free to play?
Yes. Costcodle runs in a browser at no cost, with nothing to install and no purchase or account required.
How often does Costcodle reset?
Once a day. Everyone gets the same puzzle, and a new item replaces it when the game’s day rolls over.
How many guesses do you get in Costcodle?
You get six guesses, and each guess must be a valid price.
How do you win Costcodle?
You win by guessing within 5% of the item’s real price — the exact price isn’t required.
What do the arrows and colours mean in Costcodle?
An up arrow means your guess was too low; a down arrow means too high. Red means far off, orange means close, and green (with a checkmark) means you’ve won.
Who made Costcodle?
Costcodle was built by an independent developer known as Kerm (kermwastaken) and released as an open-source project on GitHub. It is fan-made and not affiliated with Costco.
What languages does Costcodle support?
The game supports English, French, Spanish, and German.
Where can I play Costcodle?
You can play the official game at costcodle.com, or embedded on catalogue sites like Alldle and HahaGames.