Novlr

About Novlr

Novlr is the literary game on novlr.com, by Mike Linsey and Nathan Haslewood, who also make the film version, Reel Haiku, and the site's other daily fiction games, Forgery and Escape (or die). Its share card puts it in three words: guess the story.

Every day there are three puzzles, the same three for every player, changing at midnight UTC; the daily count started on 7 September 2026. Each puzzle is a haiku about one written work. The pool is about 186 works, from ancient epics and folk tales to novels of the last decade, with about three haiku each, and the same work is kept from coming back within a few days.

The first line appears in large type. You type a title and choose it from the list; a wrong guess, or Next clue, reveals the next line, and after three lines without the answer the puzzle is missed. A solved puzzle shows the work, its year (or BC, or no year for folk material) and three squares marking the clue you got it on, ready to share. When the day's three are done, a countdown and your streak appear.

It suits readers who enjoy a riddle: the lines point at a plot, a hero or a famous image rather than quote the text. A clean view and a print layout let you keep the poem as a poster.

How to play Novlr

1. Open novlr.com and read the first line of the day's first haiku.
2. Type the title of a book, play, poem or story and choose it from the list.
3. If you are wrong, or press Next clue, the next line of the haiku appears.
4. Name the work within three lines to solve it.
5. Play the day's other two haiku, then share your squares or save the poem as a poster.

Screenshots

Tips

• Lines often name a hero's deed or a famous image, so think of the scene before the author.
• The pool runs from ancient epics to recent novels, so do not rule out the classics.
• Next clue costs the same as a wrong guess: guess when you have a real candidate.
• A work does not come back within a few days, so yesterday's answers are out.

Questions