I don't understand the rules. Here's my screen shot. Maybe you can explain what I am supposed to be doing? TIA

An "X" means you have a correct letter in the correct position. An "O" means a correct letter but not in the correct position. So for both "game" and "gate" you have no correct letters. This is a good thing because you immediately know that you can eliminate the g, a, m, e, t, and e from consideration.

For "goal" you have a correct letter in the correct space. Because of the letters you were able to eliminate above, you know one "good" letter has to be either the "o" or the "l" and the other can be eliminated.

To figure out which one is good, you could make the next word use some of the letters you've eliminated but place one of the possible letters in its same position and see if you get an "X" (correct letter/correct position). For example, the next word I enter night be "mole". I already know that the M and E are no good. If I get an "X" again, then I know the good letter has to be the "o" (since it's in the same position as in the word "goal" where we did get an "X") and I can eliminate the L. If I get an "O", then I know the good letter is the "L" because the "o" is in the same position but I moved the "L" from its position in the word "goal".

After one puzzle my brain usually needs a break!

Had to try again. Is my logic correct?

1. no g, a, t or e are used in answer.
   2. a right letter in wrong position
   3. no a, b or y in final answer?
   4. maybe the o or n is a usable letter?
   5. does this mean no o in the final answer?
   6. the n is a usable letter?
   7. n is the letter in the right place?

Thank you for this game! I think I get it.

Good game, thanks for posting.

Tried it. It was fun. Could you please let the developer know that I could not see the first 3- 4 entries because of the buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and StumbleUpon. I had to just enter random letters without knowing if I had any Xs or Os. My internet browser is Chrome.

I know what you mean, bbstx, about the icons along the right hiding the clues. I discovered, however, that if I hover the mouse over any of them, a small right triangle will appear just below the last of them. Click on the triangle and the icons disappear.

Cool! Thanks for the tip, juneroses.

"bank" in 5.

I like it... daily challenge... in 6.

Very fun game! Love finding these kind of fun things to do while having to sit and wait on occasion.

This game does not allow you to use some words....what is with that?! I could not use the word "rape" nor "blog" ------ even though "blog" was the answer! Very aggravating.

When I have entered the correct word, then ask for a new game, I get asked if I want to abandon the current game. I don't understand why a successfully completed game round has to be abandoned in order to play another round. Any thoughts?

This is a very good game by the way. Thanks so much for sharing it, irisgal.

WalnutCreek, I don't get that message....

Today, I could't play the word "spam."

Using Firebug to inspect the DOM...

1. fourletterwords (a list of 1808 words)
2. legalfour (a list of 3900 words)
3. legal (a duplicate of legalfour, legalfive, etc., depending on which word length you're playing)

The list called legalfour does not contain "spam", "blog", or "rape".

The list called fourletterwords does.

Unless I'm getting confused, and I may be, I think the word is chosen from the list called fourletterwords but you can only guess words that are in the list called legalfour.

If true, that sounds like a glitch.

I don't understand it well enough to understand how it works.

Well enough to cheat? Maybe.

Edit: If you're adventurous and don't mind creating a bookmarklet...

javascript:alert(fourletterwords[rand]);