Every word has a rule. Discover it.
Play Inkwarden — free, in your browser
Inkwarden is a free daily word deduction game for your browser. You are not guessing a word: you are working out a rule. The Warden holds one hidden rule about how words are spelled — it starts with a vowel, it has a double letter, it never uses an E, its letters alternate vowel and consonant, it has exactly five letters — and lets through every word that obeys it. Type any real word and the Warden admits it or turns it away. Every verdict goes in your ledger, admitted on one side and turned away on the other, and the game is choosing the next word that tells your suspects apart. When you know, open the Casebook — every rule the Warden could hold, across eight kinds: repetition, length, first and last letters, vowels, particular letters and letter groups, the alphabet, the shapes of capital letters, and pairs of conditions — and name it exactly. A wrong naming costs one of three and is answered with a word that proves it wrong. Up to three clues narrow things down, and the score rewards solving in few tests without help. One daily case, the same for everyone, on a daily leaderboard; a Laboratory of endless cases that grow harder as you solve them; past cases to practise on; and a one-minute guided lesson. Every case is checked by machine before you see it: the rule admits a fair share of everyday words, and it disagrees with every other rule in the Casebook on hundreds of them, so there is always a word that tells your guess from the truth.
The Warden holds one hidden rule about how words are spelled. Type any real word — three letters or more, no names or abbreviations — and press Test. It is either admitted or turned away, and it goes into your ledger: admitted words on the left, turned-away words on the right. A word that is not in the dictionary, or that you have already tested, is refused and costs nothing.
Every case opens with two exhibits, one admitted and one turned away, so you have something to compare from the start. Look at what the admitted words share that the turned-away ones do not, then test words that would split your suspicions.
When you know the rule, press Name the rule. The Casebook lists every rule the Warden can hold, in eight kinds: repetition, length, first and last letters, vowels, particular letters and letter groups, the alphabet, the shapes of capital letters, and two conditions at once. Choose one, fill its blank if it has one, and the Casebook tells you whether your own ledger already rules it out before you commit.
You have three namings. A wrong one is answered with a word your rule and the real one disagree on, added to the ledger. The third wrong naming ends the case and shows the rule.
Three clues, taken in order: the kind of rule, what it looks at, and then two everyday words one letter apart that the Warden treats differently. Each costs 75 points.
Y is always a consonant. Capital-letter shape rules use plain block capitals, and say which letters they mean.
Score: 500 for solving, plus up to 400 for using few tests (full marks at par — six, seven or eight tests by difficulty, nothing at twice par), minus 75 a clue and 100 a wrong naming, then times 1, 1.2 or 1.4 for difficulty. The opening exhibits, clue words and the Warden’s answers are free. A solve is never worth less than 100 before the multiplier.
One daily case, the same for everyone, changing at midnight UTC. Only your first attempt is ranked, and it is saved after every move. The Laboratory deals endless cases, easy at first and harder as you solve them; Past cases replays earlier dailies, unranked.
Inkwarden is a free daily word deduction game that runs in your browser. Instead of guessing a hidden word, you work out a hidden rule: the Warden admits every word that obeys it and turns the rest away. You test words, read the verdicts in your ledger, and name the rule exactly.
Yes. No login, no paywall, no download. Open the page and play.
Rules about spelling only, never meaning or pronunciation: letters that repeat, the length of the word, the first and last letters, vowels and consonants, particular letters or letter groups, where the letters sit in the alphabet, the shapes of the capital letters, and pairs of those conditions. The Casebook lists every rule the Warden can hold, so the answer is always one you can find there.
Any real English word of three letters or more, including plurals and other inflected forms. Names, abbreviations, hyphenated words and contractions are not accepted. A word that is refused, or one already in your ledger, costs nothing and the Warden says nothing about it.
Every rule the game can hide is checked by machine: it admits a fair share of everyday words, and it disagrees with every other rule in the Casebook on hundreds of them. So whatever you wrongly name, the Warden can answer with a common word that proves it wrong, and two rules that mean the same thing never both appear.
500 for solving, plus up to 400 for solving in few tests (full marks at par, nothing at twice par), minus 75 for each clue and 100 for each wrong naming, multiplied by 1, 1.2 or 1.4 for the difficulty of the rule. The opening exhibits, clue words and the Warden’s answers to wrong namings never count as tests.
Every day at midnight UTC, the same rule for every player, on a daily leaderboard. Only your first attempt each day is ranked, and it resumes exactly where you left it if you close the tab. Earlier days are under Past cases for unranked practice, and the Laboratory deals endless cases.
No. It shows one mark per move — a test admitted, a test turned away, a clue, a wrong naming — and never a word or the rule, so you can post it without spoiling the day.
Yes. Everything works from the keyboard, every verdict is announced, and admitted and turned-away words are told apart by a word and a mark, never by colour alone. Animations stop when your device asks for reduced motion.
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