Redthread

Redthread is a browser word game from Boomchuk, the independent studio of Brian Kim Stefans in Los Angeles. It borrows its shape from the mesostic, a kind of poem John Cage used, where a word runs down the middle of the lines and each of its letters sits inside a line of text. Here you build that poem yourself.

Every date has three puzzles, marked Easy, Medium and Hard, and each has a title of its own. On 7 November 2026 they were "An inward measure", "A measure of quiet" and "What heat leaves behind", with two, three and four hidden words, which the game calls threads. The Easy one had fifteen letters to find. The board is a 14 by 14 grid. One phrase starts placed for you, and the rest wait in a tray below, a few at a time, with a new one arriving after each placement.

You drag a phrase onto a row. Its letters run left to right, and spaces take no square. When a letter falls on a square of a hidden word, it turns red and underlined, even while you are still dragging. A red letter tells you that letter belongs in that column, though the phrase may still sit on the wrong row. You can move phrases again or send them back to the tray. Each hidden word you complete earns one placement, which puts a phrase in its right spot when you ask for it.

A puzzle ends when every phrase is on the grid, each with at least one red letter, and every hidden letter is found. The phrases read like small images ("MOTH DUST", "WAXED OAK", "A NEEDLE SKIPS") and each set hangs together around its title.

There is no account and no ad. Progress, a streak for finishing all three puzzles on their day, and a record of results stay in the browser. An archive holds every released date, and a share card sums up a finished day. It suits players who like slower word puzzles with a bit of poetry in them, and the keyboard controls make it playable without a mouse.