Hoopler

Hoopler is a daily word game on basketbols.com, a site of NBA tools, quizzes and games. It takes the Wordle format and fills it with basketball: the hidden word is always an NBA player's official last name, such as JAMES, DONCIC or WEMBANYAMA, with no nicknames. The board is as wide as the day's name, so some days are five letters and others ten or more.

You type guesses on the on-screen keyboard or your own. Green means a letter is in the right spot, yellow means it is in the name but elsewhere, and grey means it is not there at all. The game does not check that a guess is a real name, so any string of the right length counts as a try. If you are stuck, three buttons each reveal one hint once: the player's league, country or position. You have six tries.

The day's name is picked from the date, so everyone solving on the same day has the same player, and the puzzle turns over at midnight on your own clock. The list holds 62 current and recent NBA players, from LeBron James and Kevin Durant to Victor Wembanyama and Cooper Flagg, so regulars will meet the same names again after about two months. Your streak and games played are kept in your browser, a share button copies an emoji grid of your tries, and once the daily is done an unlimited mode serves random names.

It is free with no sign-up, and the page carries banner ads around the board. It suits basketball fans who like Wordle and want a quick daily tip-off.