There have been board game adaptations, dozens of variations (including four games at a time, eight games at a time, and Absurdle, where the word changes based on your early guesses).
We are casting teams of THREE PLAYERS to compete for a chance to win a HUGE CASH PRIZE!
TEAMS CAN BE MADE UP OF FRIENDS, FAMILY, SIGNIFICANT OTHERS, CO-WORKERS, ETC.
Selected teams will head to Europe to play the game over a 1-2 week period within July 20 – August 1, 2026 (dates subject to change). Must be 21+.
Was “Wordwide” intentional wordplay or a lucky accident?
They’ve already announced a host, Today Show co-host Savannah Guthrie, who is an avid Wordle player, and the show is being produced by Jimmy Fallon’s production company Electric Hot Dog, alongside Universal Television Alternative Studio and, of course, The New York Times.
Naturally, savvy game show fans are already drawing parallels between this proposed Wordle game show and Lingo, a word-guessing game show from 1987-1988. The game was basically Wordle, but each word you spelled gave you chances to draw bingo balls in order to fill out a bingo card.
OLD LINGO? Twenty years ago is OLD?! Man, the Internet is humbling…
Lingo had a very successful revival on the Game Show Network from 2002 to 2007, hosted by Chuck Woolery and lasting 345 episodes! It was briefly revived again in 2011 with Bill Engvall as host, and once more in 2023 with RuPaul as host, trying to capitalize on Wordle’s popularity.
There are currently versions of Lingo in Greece, Turkey, and the UK, and previous versions in another dozen or so countries.
But game shows are constantly being rebooted, adapted, and resurrected for our entertainment, so I’m not surprised to see Lingo return under its more famous sibling moniker.
The real question is… who is gonna pick the words for the show? Because Tracy Bennett has been doing a heck of a job for The New York Times for years now.
Just a quick bonus post on this day, the Mother’s Dayest of all days, to spread the word about a delightful puzzly program that will be debuting on Netflix tomorrow.
It’s called The Puzzle Room With David Kwong, and it’s a video podcast series. If you don’t know David, boy, you are missing out. He’s a crossword constructor, magician, and all-around expert in baffling people with both words and visuals.
He’s consulted on film and TV projects like Blindspot, Now You See Me, and The Imitation Game, and he’s previously combined magic and puzzles for his touring show, The Enigmatist.
Now he’s bringing his linguistic legerdemain and impressive works of mentalism to one of the world’s biggest streaming services.
Sometimes solving a challenging puzzle can feel like magic. That moment when the final piece clicks into place. The gasp before you lock in your answer. After all that time sweating, you finally feel like the smartest person in the room.
In the new video podcast series The Puzzle Room with David Kwong launching on May 11, every episode promises plenty of satisfying aha moments. The renowned magician, mentalist, and New York Times crossword constructor personalizes each puzzle for a pair of celebrity guests, leading to plenty of unexpected epiphanies and clues.
“We’re in a golden age of puzzles and games, and Netflix is the perfect home for viewers to stretch their brains with The Puzzle Room,” says Kwong. “From the intense strategy of Squid Game and the surprising twists of Knives Out, to the daily challenges of Netflix Puzzled and Best Guess Live, Netflix has long been the destination for smart entertainment. Get ready to put on your thinking caps, everyone! I can’t wait to puzzle with you all.”
Produced by Pod People, the series is designed in a way that viewers at home can play along, guests and fans face off in a race to see who can answer first. As the episode unfolds, the puzzles gradually increase in difficulty, with Kwong encouraging and celebrating every breakthrough. Each episode ends with a moment of mentalism or head-scratching illusions.
I know Star Wars Day was a few days ago — check out the Star Wars crossword I constructed for May the Fourth — but while the spirit of that galaxy far, far away is still being celebrated, I want to recommend some Star Wars-infused fun for board game and RPG fans to savor.
Now, there are dozens, possibly hundreds, of Star Wars-themed games. But, as I proved with my history of Godzilla games, it can take a long time for a beloved franchise to get a tabletop game worthy of the subject matter.
Thankfully, there are some choice options out there with Star Wars sauce for your tabletop enjoyment.
Image courtesy of BoardGameGeek.
Star Wars: Asteroid Escape
In this space-based variation on the game Tsuro — one of my all-time favorite board games — you try to navigate your ship through space by laying tiles and following the path as it connects to other tiles. Each player is laying tiles, quickly filling up the board, so you need to grow more and more strategic with your plays as the stack of tiles dwindles.
But with asteroids also roaming the field of play, can you outlast every other ship on the board? This is a terrific mix of Star Wars flavor with everything that makes Tsuro fun and challenging. It might be hard to find, but it will be a welcome addition to your game shelf.
Images courtesy of BoardGameGeek.
Star Wars: Timeline
I love the Timeline games. (I own nearly a dozen of them!) The simple act of trying to place your card in relation to other events on the table is both a great trivia experience and an opportunity to engage in some deduction and logical thinking.
So when I heard about Star Wars versions of Timeline, I happily snapped them up. With editions for both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, it will definitely exact a toll on your memory to see if you can precisely place key moments from the movies in the proper order.
Although easier than some of the other editions of Timeline (like their Inventions edition), this is still great fun for Star Wars fans of all ages.
Image courtesy of BoardGameGeek.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
In this prequel era take on Pandemic, players take on the role of Jedi trying to battle back the onslaught of battle droids across the galaxy. Can you stop the spread of Confederacy forces by saving one world at a time?
While Star Wars versions of Risk and Monopoly are pretty much the same game with Star Wars seasoning, The Clone Wars takes the best of the Pandemic system and feels like it takes it in a fresh direction. This isn’t just another version of Pandemic, this is a very clever marriage of the two that takes the best from both.
Strategy and cooperation is absolutely key in this one, and the cooperative aspect separates it from many of the other games on today’s list.
Image courtesy of BoardGameGeek.
Villainous: The Power of the Dark Side
The Villainous games are amazingly well-designed games. Balancing different mechanics for four different villains as you try to achieve their goals and foil the efforts of the villains played by other players, this Disney franchise continues to expand and never disappoints.
And The Power of the Dark Side, their first Star Wars edition of the game, is one of the best versions of Villainous available today. With five villains to choose from — spanning the original, prequel, and new trilogies, as well as the Clone Wars TV show –there’s truly a villain here for any Star Wars fan.
Can you achieve your villainous dreams, or will the other evildoers at the table outmaneuver you and realize their darkest ambitions?
Embrace your inner scoundrel with this game, where each player strives to complete jobs for their employers, collect bounties, smuggle cargo… you know, your usual day-to-day shenanigans in the Star Wars universe.
This game sorta gives you the roleplaying experience in a one-session microcosm. You’ll make your character, make your choices, upgrade your gear and your ship, and make some money, all while dealing with shady and dangerous folks. It’s a whole narrative arc crammed into a single sitting.
While Outer Rim is a personal journey, Rebellion is Star Wars on a galactic scale. This is full-blown war between the Rebellion and the Empire, where one side has a Death Star to build and an insurrection to crush, while the other builds alliances, plays cat-and-mouse with the Empire, and plots to destroy the Empire’s greatest weapon.
I’ve only played this game a few times — it’s expensive, a bit overwhelming, and takes a while to get good at — but it’s been a blast every time.
The tabletop scene for Star Wars sure is stacked, but there are plenty of terrific immersive options out there as well for roleplaying fans looking to explore the universe of Star Wars.
And while officially licensed games are great (I’ll be mentioning one below), sometimes the best stories are told in the shadows by companies that understand the spirit of that franchise, but can’t afford all the bells and whistles.
This game manages to feel like an epic battle across the stars AND a session of playing with your favorite action figures all at the same time. It’s childhood wonder and all the heroic action we wish we could undertake as adults.
Will you stop Baron Deathray and his Killtroopers with a handful of dice and a lot of gumption? Only one way to find out.
Scum and Villainy
If you really like the Han Solo-esque scrappy smuggler making his way through the universe sorta thing, Evil Hat Productions have you covered with Scum and Villainy.
While the Evil Galactic Hegemony is ever-present, this game is more about criminal dealings, clever negotiation, devious schemes, and profiteering adventure. It feels like the day-to-day trials and tribulations of a struggling spaceship crew.
I love the focus in Scum and Villainy on the roleplay aspect of RPGs. So much of the game is about character and the worlds you visit, and not as much about swinging lightsabers and dodging turbolasers.
As you can see, there are many different ways to play a Star Wars game. It can be a war game, an exploration game, a scheming game, a storytelling game… sometimes all of them at once. And Fantasy Flight Games brings a seriously impressive narrative tool to the table with their Star Wars Roleplaying Game.
Like most RPGs, you pick a class and build your stats and roll dice to determine the outcome of your choices. But unlike many RPGs where the number you roll declares your action a success or a failure, the narrative dice of Star Wars FFG offer a much more exciting and engaging answer.
It’s not just a binary option, you succeed or you fail. With narrative dice, you can have additional complications, both positive and negative.
You could fail, but with some unexpected advantage: You missed a swing of your lightsaber, but you cut through the awning supports and blinded your foe for a round.
You could succeed, but with some negative consequence: You might have caught the bad guy with your blaster, but you also shot the engines of your ship, and now they need repairs.
Your actions tell a story that goes well beyond yes and no. And in a world where scoundrels often make mistakes while trying to do good, it’s a more interesting, more immersive journey every time, and it truly brings those adventurous moments to life.
Whether you’re a scoundrel on the Edge of the Empire, a hero during the Age of Rebellion, or someone caught between the Light Side and the Dark Side in Force and Destiny, they’ve got a place for you to tell your story.
Did your favorite Star Wars game or RPG get mentioned? Or are you miffed I left out Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and its bweepy little R2-D2 dice roller?
Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
D&D goblin, third edition. Image courtesy of Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast.
Goblins aren’t just a threat in roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, they’re also an annoyance at the offices of OpenAI, stewards of ChatGPT, according to this article from The Wall Street Journal.
Now, my opinion on generative AI has been clear for quite a while now. I think it is morally abhorrent, creatively bankrupt, artistically insulting, and environmentally disastrous. It is intellectual theft, pure and simple.
But this news story is too funny not to cover.
There is an open source line in ChatGPT’s base instructions for its coding assistant that now reads:
“Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant to the user’s query.”
This is because the AI chatbot has been bringing up goblins for no apparent reason in conversations with users.
D&D goblin, fifth edition. Image courtesy of Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast.
For those who have never interacted with ChatGPT — keep on doing what you’re doing, you’re awesome — it has different “personality” types that users can select from a series of instructions in order to make their interaction with ChatGPT more convincing, memorable, engaging, whatever.
And the “nerdy” personality just loves GOBLINS for some reason. OpenAI reported that mentions of goblins in one edition of the AI program increased 3,881% from previous versions.
Man, it really loves goblins.
And despite the claim that OpenAI eliminated the “nerdy” personality option back in March, ChatGPT still loves it some goblins.
Which led to that open source line I mentioned above.
Wild.
D&D goblin, second edition. Image courtesy of Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast.
Now, can we look at that list again?
“Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures…”
I get the nerdy connection to goblins, gremlins, trolls, and ogres, sure.
How did raccoons and pigeons get on the list?
Because the venn diagram for all these creatures isn’t quite venning.
If we’re talking fantasy creatures, you’ve got those four, but the real-world animals don’t fit.
If we’re talking annoyances associated with mischief, then goblins and gremlins and raccoons still fit, but pigeons, trolls, and ogres don’t. Any D&D player worth their salt knows ogres are far from idle caperers. They’re a genuine threat.
I suppose they’re all nuisances in some way, but boy, is that casting a wide net.
Crap, wrong goblin. Image courtesy of Marvel/Sony Pictures.
I do have another theory.
There are plenty of Dungeon Masters and other game runners out in the world who use generative AI to give them adventure ideas, create artwork for their games, etc.
It’s entirely possible that one user or a handful of users accidentally trained the “nerdy” personality to associate these things with general queries.
And if that’s the case, please tell me about the raccoon- and pigeon-related adventures you’re running in your games that puts them on the same threat level as ogres, trolls, gremlins, and goblins.
Inquiring minds like mine want to know!
In the end, I guess people will have to go elsewhere for their goblin-centric AI content. And with Ask Jeeves officially gone, where are the people to go online to ask about goblins OR be told about goblins when asking unrelated questions?
I usually make brain teasers for Star Wars Day — check out these ones from 2021, 2018, and 2017 — but this year, I felt inspired to create a crossword puzzle!
Now, this 19x puzzle might be a little challenging if you’re not steeped in SW knowledge, since the theme involves bits of Star Wars-specific wordplay.
But hopefully the crossings will help you unravel what’s going on here!
After decades of movies, TV shows, novels, comic books, and all sorts of adventures, the saga of Star Wars still remains one of my favorite fictional universes. And I’m happy to bring two of my most enduring passions — Star Wars and puzzles — together again today.
Some of the many fey creatures that populate Dungeons & Dragons (image courtesy of WOTC / Nerdarchy)
It’s Monster Week, a yearly celebration of the many creatures and beings that make the world of fantasy roleplaying games so immersive. Created by D&D content creators Ginny Di and Pointy Hat, Monster Week is a celebration of roleplaying game creativity, and this year’s theme is the Fey.
Otherwise known as fairies, fae, the fairyfolk, or a number of other names, fey are known for making bargains, outwitting unsuspecting mortals, and toying with tricky words and devious deceptions.
So naturally, I couldn’t resist crafting a puzzle celebrating fey bargains and fantasy-fueled frippery. Please enjoy this deduction puzzle loaded with D&D-friendly flavor!
A party of adventurers stepped into a fairy ring and found themselves transported to another realm: the mysterious domain of the fey. Each sought to acquire something from this strange place, well aware of the dangers that come with bargaining with the fairyfolk, but hoping to escape without any dangerous debts or unpleasant consequences.
Can you determine what each adventurer sought (one adventurer is Ludo the Quick, one adventurer sought the gift of eternal youth), in which order they were forced to bargain with the fey for their goal, and what cost or promise they made in exchange?
On the night of the first day, while they were setting up camp for the evening, one adventurer promised a year of their life to the fey. It wasn’t Makavia Magehound, although Makavia also made their bargain that first night.
On the morning of the second day, one adventurer made their bargain, promising to perform a song that would lure others into the fairy ring. Later that day, both Handsome Jak Two-Axe and the adventurer who sought a bountiful harvest made their fey bargains.
On the second day, one adventurer made a pact with the fey, promising to spread a harmful rumor around his city when he returned. On the same day, the adventurer who sought an enchanted lute that could bring fame and fortune made their bargain with the fey.
One adventurer promised their firstborn child to the fey. This was sometime after the adventurer who sought eternal beauty, but before Elowen Sharpthistle made their bargain.
Either Bethany the Bold (who wasn’t the adventurer who sought a bountiful harvest) or the adventurer who sought a rare medicinal flower from the fey bargained away a treasured memory (which was not the first or second bargain made), and the other promised to perform a song that would lure others into the fairy ring.
The adventurer who sought the rare medicinal flower did not make their bargain immediately before or immediately after Bethany the Bold.
Did you unravel my fey-filled logic puzzle? Do you have a favorite fairy or fey creature in your game? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you.
PuzzCulture 