Steps

About Steps

Steps is one of the daily games on Sporcle, the quiz site, edited by Jason Sterlacci and Matt Ramme. Each day has its own dated puzzle and there is an archive of past ladders.

A ladder has seven four-letter words. The first is given, and there are no clues for the rest: each next word differs from the one before by exactly one letter, and you have to work out which. The only guide is the theme, since the last word always has a connection to the first. A ladder that starts at SAVE might climb through SAGE, WAGE, WARE, DARE and DAME to GAME.

You get four attempts per word. A first-try guess scores four points, a second three, a third two and a fourth one, and each wrong guess also locks a slot. After two misses on a rung, a hint underlines the letter that changes in the previous word. Letters can repeat within a word.

It is a short, quiet puzzle that suits players who like Weaver or word ladders but want the extra pull of a theme. It is free to play on the web, with ads unless you have a Sporcle subscription.

How to play Steps

1. Open the day's Steps on sporcle.com; the first word of the ladder is shown.
2. Type a four-letter word that differs from the previous word by exactly one letter; it submits on the fourth letter.
3. Score four points for a first-try guess, down to one for a fourth try; after two misses the letter to change is underlined.
4. Climb all seven rungs; the last word connects to the first and reveals the theme.
5. Share your score, or play past ladders from the archive.

Tips

• Think about where the theme could end before you guess: the last word is linked to the first.
• Vowel swaps are the most common steps; try them before consonant changes.
• Two misses buy you the underlined hint, so a cheap second guess is not wasted.

Questions