How to Play
One puzzle a day, per mode, per civilization. Eight guesses. Coloured clues narrow it down. Once you finish today's puzzle, you wait for tomorrow — same puzzle for everyone, everywhere, until the clock rolls over at midnight UTC.
The Basic Loop
- Pick a world from the hub: Rome, Greece, China, India, Egypt, or Around the World.
- Pick a mode (tabs at the top): Classic, Battle, Riddle, Mythology, or Quote.
- Type a guess and pick from the dropdown. The guess slots into a row of the grid with each cell colored to tell you how close you were.
- Refine your next guess based on what the colors reveal. You get eight guesses total.
- When you finish, the answer is revealed with a short historical note. Come back tomorrow for a new puzzle.
Reading the Grid
Every guess produces a row of cells, one per clue column. Each cell is one of three colors:
- Green — exact match. This cell of your guess is identical to the answer's.
- Yellow — partial match. Same region, same era, same general category — close but not quite. Specifics vary by column (see below).
- Grey — no match. Not close.
Some columns also show ↑ / ↓ arrows. The arrow points toward the answer:
- ↑ means the answer is higher (more recent / larger year / longer reign).
- ↓ means the answer is lower.
Partial-match rules, by column
- Origin / City-State / State / Dynasty — yellow if your guess and the answer come from the same broader region. Italia and Hispania both count as "Western"; Athens and Sparta as "Greek mainland"; the Hellenistic East (Syria, Pontus, Persia) groups together; etc.
- Century — green if exact, yellow if within ±1 century, grey otherwise. Arrows point toward the answer's century.
- Reign (years) — green if exact, yellow if within ±3 years.
- Year (battles) — green if exact, yellow if within ±30 to ±100 years depending on the civilization's time span. Arrows point toward the right year.
- Location (battles) — yellow if in the same theater (Aegean, Western Mediterranean, the East, Africa, etc.).
- Mythology Domain — yellow if in the same thematic family (War & Strength; Love & Marriage; Wisdom & Arts; Harvest & Wine; Death & Magic).
- All other fields — strictly green or grey, no yellow.
The Modes
| Mode | What you're guessing | Clue columns |
|---|---|---|
| Classic | A historical ruler — king, statesman, emperor, or pharaoh | Dynasty/City-State, Period, Century, Role, Death, Religion/Legacy |
| Battle / Wars | A historical battle | Era, Year, Enemy, Location, Outcome, Type |
| Riddle | A ruler, from a faceless silhouette + progressive written clues | (none — each wrong guess unlocks the next clue) |
| Mythology | A god, goddess, hero, or titan | Domain, Realm, Type, Equivalent, Symbol, Generation |
| Quote (Rome only) | An emperor, from something they (or others) famously said | (none — historical hints unlock with each wrong guess) |
| Around the World | A leader from outside the five main civs (Carthage, Persia, Hittites, Huns, Celts…), or a battle drawn from all five main civs | Civilization, plus the relevant mode's other columns |
One Puzzle a Day
Every mode resets at midnight UTC. The same puzzle is shown to every player on Earth on that day — that's the "share grid" idea Wordle made famous. Once you finish (win or lose), the search is locked, the grid stays visible, and a countdown shows how long until the next puzzle.
Your streak (consecutive days won) and total wins are kept per mode, in your browser's localStorage.
That means: streaks are per-device. They don't follow you between phone and laptop, and clearing your
browser data resets them.
Tips
- Spend your first guess to narrow the era. Picking someone you know is from the right civilization but the wrong century is rarely a waste — the century arrow alone cuts the pool in half.
- The Riddle mode rewards patience. Each wrong guess unlocks a new clue — era, origin, period, role, manner of death, epithet. If you're stuck, spend a guess on a plausible figure just to reveal the next hint.
- Mythology cross-references. Roman Mars = Greek Ares = Indian Kartikeya = Chinese Chiyou. If you know one pantheon, the "Equivalent" column is a fast bridge.
- Quote mode hints unlock progressively. Read each hint carefully before guessing again.
- Around the World is harder than any single-civilization mode. Use your first one or two guesses to lock down the civilization, then the rest to home in on the specific figure.
Streak & Stats
Your stats are saved in your browser only — never uploaded. There are no accounts and no sign-in. If you clear cookies / site data, your streaks reset to zero. The trade-off is privacy: the site can't store anything about you, so there's nothing it could leak.
Sharing Your Result
After a win, the "Share Result" button copies a Wordle-style colored grid to your clipboard. Paste it into a chat, Discord, social media — anywhere. It hides the answer (just shows the colors) so spoiling is safe.