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Math wordle

the history, rules, and where to play

A guide from the team behind nerdle

Published 24 June 2026

Math wordle is the daily puzzle category Wordle inspired but never quite finished — an equation in place of a word, six guesses to find it, and the same satisfying loop of deduction every morning. This is a short history of the category, how it works, who made the first one, and where to play today.

What is math wordle?

Math wordle is an umbrella name for daily puzzle games that take Wordle’s format — guess the hidden answer in six tries, get colour-coded feedback after each guess — and apply it to mathematical equations instead of words. You enter a calculation, the tiles light up green / purple / black depending on which digits and operators are correct and in the right place, and you use the feedback to narrow down the answer.

It’s a small category — only a handful of games qualify — but it has unusually loyal players. Math wordles share Wordle’s once-a-day rhythm and its low barrier to entry, but they swap the language-dependent vocabulary problem for a logic-and-arithmetic one. For a lot of people, that makes them easier to start and harder to stop.

The first math wordle: Nerdle (January 2022)

The first math wordle was Nerdle, launched on 20 January 2022. It was created by London-based data scientist Richard Mann together with his children — daughter Imogen Mann shaped the rules, son Alex Mann worked on the mathematics and valid solutions — and built by software developer Marcus Tettmar. The idea came from a conversation in a car ride home: if Wordle could turn a five-letter word into a daily ritual, could a calculation do the same?

Nerdle reached over a million players in its first three weeks (Metro, 8 February 2022), drew coverage in Wikipedia, Newsweek, the Guardian, and the BBC, and became a daily fixture for puzzle players who wanted something Wordle-shaped but not Wordle-derived.

The wave that followed: Mathler and Numberle

Once Nerdle proved the format worked, similar games appeared quickly. The two best-known are:

• Mathler — launched February 2022. Gives you the target number; you guess only the left side of the equation. Now offers four difficulty levels (Easy through Extreme).
• Numberle — launched February 2022. A simpler variant: you guess a sequence of digits, no operators or equals sign. Closer in mechanic to the old “Bulls and Cows” logic puzzle than to a full math equation.

Both Mathler and Numberle launched after Nerdle (some news coverage at the time mixed up the order, but the launch records and original coverage are clear). The three games carved out slightly different niches inside the category, which is why they continue to coexist today rather than one replacing the others.

How math wordle works

The mechanics vary slightly between games, but the shared template is:

1. The puzzle: a hidden equation of fixed length. In classic Nerdle, it’s 8 characters long — for example, 3*5+1=16.
2. Your guesses: you have six attempts. Each guess must itself be a valid, mathematically-correct equation.
3. The feedback: after each guess, tiles change colour. Green means right digit/operator in the right position. Purple means right digit/operator but in the wrong position. Black means it’s not in the answer at all.
4. The deduction: use the feedback from each guess to narrow down the possibilities and aim for the answer before your sixth guess.

Rules that matter

Two rules separate the more mathematically-rigorous math wordles from the casual ones:

• Order of operations. Standard PEMDAS / BODMAS / BIDMAS applies in Nerdle: 1+1×2=3, not 4. Multiplication and division are evaluated before addition and subtraction. Numberle’s rules don’t mention order of operations because Numberle isn’t built around equations.
• Commutativity. Nerdle treats 10+20=30 and 20+10=30 as the same answer (you can toggle this off if you prefer strict positional matching). This makes Nerdle a maths puzzle rather than a string-matching puzzle — the answer doesn’t depend on which equivalent way the equation is written.

Why math wordle works

Math wordles caught on for some of the same reasons Wordle did — one puzzle a day, no app required, short enough to fit a coffee break, hard enough to feel earned — but with two extra advantages:

• Language-independent. The vocabulary problem in Wordle (you have to know the word exists) doesn’t apply. Numbers and operators are universal. Math wordles play the same in any country.
• Cleaner deduction. Word puzzles depend on the breadth of your vocabulary. Math puzzles depend on logic. That shifts the kind of challenge from “do I know this word?” to “can I work this out?” — a different flavour of satisfaction.

The format has also turned out to be unusually good for classroom use. Maths teachers picked up Nerdle quickly as a daily warm-up exercise, and the “here’s a real puzzle that uses arithmetic” framing reaches kids who don’t respond to traditional drill practice.

The Nerdle family today

The original classic Nerdle is now one game in a family of more than ten variants, each designed for a different mood or skill level:

Variant	What it is
Classic nerdle	8 characters, 6 guesses. The original.
Mini nerdle	6 characters. A gentler entry point or a quick coffee break.
Micro nerdle	5 characters. The easiest in the family.
Maxi nerdle	10 characters with brackets and exponents. A proper workout.
Instant nerdle	One guess only, all digits given. Pure logic.
Speed nerdle	Classic nerdle against a clock with time penalties.
Bi nerdle, quad, octo	The math equivalents of Dordle, Quordle and Octordle — 2, 4 or 8 grids to solve at once with the same guesses.
Cross nerdle	A crossword grid built from equations instead of words.
Nerd duel	Head-to-head against a friend or a bot.

Beyond the wordle-shaped variants there are several adjacent math games: targets (build a target number from given digits), nanagrams (math anagrams), maffdoku (sudoku-style logic with maths), and the multiplayer nerdle cup. The whole catalogue is at nerdlegame.com.

How to start playing

If you’re new to math wordle, the gentlest entry point is mini nerdle (6 characters). Most players move to classic nerdle once they’ve solved a couple of minis. A few practical tips for your first few games:

1. Make your first guess wide. Use lots of different digits and at least two different operators (say + and *). The goal of the first guess is to gather information, not to win.
2. Pin down the equals sign early. Knowing where the = sits massively narrows the search space.
3. Don’t repeat what you already know. If a tile is green, you don’t need to put that character in the same spot every time — sometimes it’s smarter to use the slot to test a new character.
4. Use the feedback systematically. The colours encode everything you need. If you treat each guess as a deliberate test rather than a hopeful stab, you’ll cut your average down quickly.

Frequently asked questions