Six Appeal

About Six Appeal

Six Appeal is Lex Friedman's six-letter word puzzle on Lex.Games. It plays like Wordle with one big change, which the rules put first: your guesses do not have to be real words. You can type any six letters to test where letters go, much as in Mastermind.

Tiles turn green for a letter in the right place, orange for a letter in the word but elsewhere, and grey for a letter not in the answer. You have eight guesses.

Scoring is what makes real words worth the effort. Each real word you guess adds 100 points, each guess you have left when you solve adds 200, and there is a time bonus of one point for every second under five minutes. So a quick solve in few guesses scores well, and a solve built from real words scores better still. Each numbered puzzle has a leaderboard, the share button copies your score, and Six Appeal Rando gives an unscored new puzzle every time you refresh.

Six Appeal is free on the web and in the Lex.Games app for iPhone and iPad; an optional upgrade unlocks the PRO games. It suits Wordle players who want a longer word and more freedom in what they type.

How to play Six Appeal

1. Open lex.games/six and type any six letters as your first guess; it does not have to be a real word.
2. Read the tiles: green is the right letter in the right place, orange is in the word elsewhere, grey is not in the word.
3. Use what you learned for the next guess, using real words when you can for the 100-point bonus.
4. Find the word within eight guesses.
5. See your score (real words, unused guesses and time bonus), then copy it or check the leaderboard.

Tips

• Use a nonsense guess early to test five or six common letters at once, then switch to real words when you are close.
• Each unused guess is worth 200 points, twice a real word bonus, so solving in fewer guesses matters most.
• The time bonus runs out at five minutes; do not overthink one guess.
• Practise in Six Appeal Rando, which does not count towards your score.

Questions