CraftWord

CraftWord is a word ladder puzzle by Luke White, played in the browser at craftword.game or in a free iPhone app. You get a start word and a goal word, and you have to turn one into the other through a chain of real words. Unlike a classic ladder, a single step can add a letter, remove a letter, swap a letter or rearrange the whole word, so the length of the word can change along the way.

The daily challenge has three rounds, the same for every player, and they grow from short words to longer ones. On 26 October 2026 the rounds went from those to shore, yield to wades and snug to pit. The game knows the shortest path for each pair and compares your route with it at the end of the round, showing both chains side by side. Scoring works like golf: matching CraftWord's solution scores 0, each extra move adds one and each move fewer takes one off. Hints are there if you get stuck, and finished days go into an archive you can go back to.

The freedom to anagram is what makes it different: a word can jump to a completely different spelling in one move, so the shortest route is often not the obvious one. Matching or beating the game's own solution earns a trophy, and the app also has an Infinite mode with generated puzzles and a Zen mode for play without pressure. It suits people who like Weaver or other ladders but want more ways to move.

The website plays with no sign-up and no ads, and an optional login keeps your stats. The iPhone app is free too. It sells a small Remove Ads purchase and adds Infinite and Zen modes and offline play.