Free · new puzzle at 00:00 UTC
CIPHER
The answer is on screen from move one.
It's just written in a language you don't speak yet.
Six symbols. Behind them, an ordinary six-letter word — scrambled by a substitution wheel that changes every day. Put a letter in its correct position and you prove what that letter becomes, and the mapping is yours for the rest of the puzzle. Prove enough of the wheel and the word simply decodes itself in front of you. This is deduction, not luck.
- See the code first — you're decrypting, never blind-guessing
- One a day — same puzzle worldwide, no repeats within a year
- Difficulty rises through the week: Gentle → Standard → Cryptic
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Cipher
#— —Practice Replaying an earlier puzzle — this one won't touch your streak or stats. Today's Cipher →
Today's ciphertext
The wheel · plain → cipher
How to play
two minutes to learn, a week to get goodYou start with the answer
Six cipher symbols sit at the top of the board — that's today's word, run through a scrambled alphabet. Repeated symbols mean repeated letters, so the shape of the word is yours before you type anything. The puzzle is the code, not the word.
Correct placement proves a mapping
Guess any six-letter word. For every letter you put in exactly the right position, the wheel permanently records what that letter becomes. Wrong positions prove nothing — which is why a careless guess costs you more than a turn.
The word decodes itself
Each proved mapping is applied to the ciphertext immediately, so letters light up under the symbols as you earn them. Get enough and the answer is simply readable. Eight guesses; the best solves need only a handful of the alphabet.
The rules, in order
- 1
Read the shape before you type. Six symbols sit at the top of the board — today's word under a scrambled alphabet. Repeated symbols mean repeated letters in exactly those places, so a doubled letter is free information that rules out most of the dictionary.
- 2
Guess a real six-letter word. Anything in the accepted list will do; it does not have to be a word you think is the answer. A guess is a probe.
- 3
Only correct placement proves anything. Each letter you put in exactly the right position permanently records what that letter becomes on the wheel, and that mapping is applied to the ciphertext at once. A letter that is in the word but in the wrong seat proves nothing at all.
- 4
Eight guesses, one word. Most solvers need three to five. The elegant solve isn't the fastest — it's the one that needed the least of the alphabet, which is what the share card records.
Strategy that actually helps
- Open with spread, not certainty. A first guess made of six different common letters teaches you more than a word you happen to like.
- Chase positions, not letters. Because only placement proves a mapping, re-placing a letter you already suspect often beats introducing a brand-new one.
- Let the wheel do the reading. Every mapping you earn fills in every matching symbol, so a single proved letter can light up two or three squares at once.
- Mind the day. Monday and Tuesday are Gentle, midweek is Standard, Friday and Saturday turn Cryptic. The band is printed next to the puzzle number before you start.
All of it in one paragraph: one puzzle per UTC day, identical for every player on Earth. Six letters, eight guesses, real words only. Correct placement proves a wheel mapping; wrong placement proves nothing. No answer repeats within a year. Your streak and statistics live on your own device — there is no account and nothing to sign up for.
Want it slower, with a worked example? There's a longer write-up with a demo puzzle, or practise on a finished one in Practice.
The week gets harder
a shared rhythm, like a crosswordEvery player on Earth gets the same puzzle each UTC day, and the difficulty band moves through the week. Monday and Tuesday are Gentle — common letters, forgiving shapes. Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday are Standard. Friday and Saturday turn Cryptic, leaning on rarer letters and awkward patterns. No answer repeats inside a year, and every past puzzle stays playable in Practice.
FAQ
How is this different from Wordle?
In Wordle the answer is hidden and you hunt for it. In Cipher the answer is shown to you immediately — encoded. Your job is to work out the substitution wheel that scrambles it. That flips the puzzle from vocabulary recall to logical deduction: you're breaking a code, and the word falls out at the end.
Is Cipher free? Do I need an account?
Free, no download, no account. Your streak, statistics and today's progress are saved in your browser's local storage on your own device. That's a house rule across every Playdeck24 game.
How many guesses do I get, and when does it reset?
Eight guesses. A new puzzle unlocks at 00:00 UTC and is identical for every player worldwide, so a shared result means something. If you close the tab mid-puzzle your progress is still there when you come back.
What does the number beside each guess mean?
It's how many letters of that guess are in the correct position — deliberately without saying which. The wheel answers "which" for you, because every correctly placed letter permanently adds its mapping. The count and the wheel together are enough to reason your way home.
Why did my guess prove nothing?
Because none of its letters were in the right position. A letter that appears in the word but sits elsewhere doesn't prove its symbol — you can only pin a mapping down when you place the letter exactly. It stings, but it's what keeps eight guesses meaningful.
Are some days harder than others?
Yes, on purpose. Monday and Tuesday are Gentle, Sunday and midweek are Standard, and Friday and Saturday are Cryptic. The band is shown next to the puzzle number so you always know what you're walking into.
Can I play old puzzles?
Yes — a library of past Ciphers is playable in Practice, each keeping its original ciphertext. Practice runs never touch your streak, win rate or distribution; only today's puzzle counts. Each one also has its own hint page that walks you toward the answer in stages if you'd rather not be told outright.