SteppedUpdle

About SteppedUpdle

SteppedUpdle takes the Wordle board and builds a staircase out of it. The day's puzzle has four stages, a 4-letter word, then 5, 6 and 7 letters, shown as cards down the page. Only the current stage is open; the next one unlocks when you solve it.

Each guess is marked with the familiar colours for letters in the right place, in the word but elsewhere, or absent. The twist is the budget: instead of six tries per word you have 20 guesses for the whole day, counted at the bottom of the screen. Spend too many on the short word and the seven-letter one gets tight.

A new puzzle appears every day at midnight, the same for everyone, and stats sit behind the icon in the corner. It plays free in the browser with an on-screen keyboard.

How to play SteppedUpdle

1. Open steppedupdle.com; Stage 1 is a four-letter word.
2. Type a guess and press Enter; the tiles show which letters are right, misplaced or absent.
3. Solve the word to unlock the next stage, one letter longer.
4. Work through 4, 5, 6 and 7 letters, all from the same 20 guesses.
5. Finish all four before the guesses run out, then check your stats.

Tips

• Be efficient on the short words: every guess saved there helps on the seven-letter one.
• Use common letters early in each stage: E, A, R, S, T and N cover a lot.
• Longer words often end in -ING, -ED, -ER or -S: test endings early.
• Keep a mental note of letters you have ruled out in earlier stages; they may still appear in later words.

Questions