Alphalock
Crack the day's four-letter word from Mastermind-style counts, in ten guesses.
Every day: One hidden four-letter word a day, plus a five-letter one, the same for everyone, to crack in 10 guesses from Mastermind-style counts of right letters. New puzzle: Midnight UTC by default; a setting switches it to midnight local time.
Alphalock is a daily word puzzle that mixes Wordle with the board game Mastermind. You have ten guesses to find a hidden four-letter word, but the feedback only counts how many of your letters are in the right place and how many are in the word elsewhere, without saying which. A five-letter version runs beside it each day.
About Alphalock
Alphalock looks like Wordle at first: a grid of rows, a keyboard, and a hidden word to find. The difference is in the feedback. Instead of colouring each letter, the game puts a small box of squares beside your guess. A green square means one of your letters is in the right spot, a yellow one means one is in the word but somewhere else, and grey squares stand for letters that are not in it. The squares do not line up with the letters, so you have to work out which letter earned which colour.
That turns each day into a deduction puzzle more than a vocabulary one. You get ten goes for the four-letter word, and a single guess rarely tells you much on its own; the answer comes from comparing guesses. With a setting turned on, you can tap letters in the grid to change their colour as notes to yourself while you reason it out. A bigger Alphalock with a five-letter answer is a separate daily puzzle on the same site.
The game was designed by Elizabeth Wilson, who says it grew out of her earlier daily number game PADLOCK, and her husband Mark built the site over a weekend in April 2024. It is free in the browser with ads, keeps your streak and results, and lets you choose whether the day turns over at midnight UTC or at your local midnight. It suits Wordle players who want less luck and more logic.
How to play Alphalock
- Type any real four-letter word and submit it as your first guess.
- Read the box of squares beside it: each green square is a letter in the right place, each yellow square a letter in the word but elsewhere.
- Compare guesses to work out which letters earned which colours; the squares are not in letter order.
- Tap letters in the grid to colour them as your own notes if that helps.
- Find the word within ten guesses, then try the five-letter version for the day.
Tips
- Change one or two letters at a time between guesses so you can tell which change moved the count.
- Use early guesses with no repeated letters to find which letters are in the word at all.
- A guess that scores all grey is useful: it rules out four letters at once.
- Keep a note of each letter's status by tapping it; it is easy to lose track by guess six.
Questions
How is Alphalock different from Wordle?
Wordle colours each letter. Alphalock only tells you how many letters are right and in place and how many are in the word elsewhere, like Mastermind, so you have to deduce which ones.
How many guesses do I get?
Ten for the daily word.
Is there a five-letter version?
Yes. The bigger Alphalock on the same site has a five-letter answer each day.
When does a new puzzle start?
At midnight UTC by default. A setting lets you switch to your local midnight.
Who made Alphalock?
Elizabeth Wilson designed it and her husband Mark built the site in 2024, under the name Fun Thinking.
Games like Alphalock
Wordle
The daily word guess Alphalock builds on, with feedback on every letter
Cryptle
Another daily word lock where you turn letter dials to open the answer
Dordle
A harder daily Wordle variant: two words at once
Quordle
Four Wordles at a time for players who want a longer daily session
Today's Hurdle
Several daily word guesses in a row, each building on the last
Blunderwall
Pick the secret word out of a wall of 16 in four tries.
All/Some
Pick the circle diagram that shows how the day's words relate.
Blockle
Fit letter blocks into a square so every row spells a word.