Cardle

Cardle is a daily guessing game for car enthusiasts. Each day it shows a tight crop of one car's photo (a tail light, a door line, a bit of trim), and everyone playing that date gets the same car. The photos come from auction listings, mostly on Bring a Trailer, and the game credits each one.

You have five tries, and each try asks for three things: the make, the model and the year. Each one you get right is worth a point, and a year counts as right if it is within two years either way. Your points are multiplied by a score multiplier that starts at five and drops by one after every incorrect guess, so naming the car from the first close-up pays far more than getting it from the full view. After each miss, the picture zooms out to show more of the car.

A row of lights for make, model and year tracks your progress through the five tries. Your streak and all-time points are kept in the browser if you play on the same device each day. Signing up for a free account adds leaderboards over one month, three months and all time. The make and model boxes take a pick from a list as you type, so spelling is never the problem.

The first dated car in the game's list is from 30 October 2023, and recent photos also come from Cars & Bids. The site shows Google ads, and a sponsor banner for an auto parts shop sits under the board until you close it.

It suits people who can tell a model year from the shape of a tail lamp, and anyone who wants a short daily puzzle about cars rather than words.