Word Trail.

How to play Word Trail

1. Choose Play, then Begin the trail or continue your saved page. The journey map shows every region and page, and which ones are open.
2. Start on a letter and drag through the letters you want, then let go. Each tile can be used once per word; repeated letters have their own tiles. Slide back over the previous letter to undo it.
3. Prefer tapping? Tap letters one at a time, then press the check mark. The back arrow removes the last letter.
4. When an answer fits the crossword it fills its row or column. Any other accepted word becomes a bonus word and goes into your satchel.
5. Stuck? Tap an empty word to read its clue, press Shuffle for a fresh view of the letters, or press Hint to reveal a letter. Use a lantern if you have one to keep your stars.
6. Fill every answer to clear the page. Then move on, keep hunting for bonus words, read the wordbook, or try the daily trail and Wander.

Make your move

About Word Trail

Word Trail is an original letter-wheel crossword presented as an illustrated field journal. The letters in the wheel are the whole alphabet for the page. Drag from letter to letter to spell a word, and if it belongs in the crossword it slides into its row or column, where its crossings help with the words still hidden. Fill every answer to clear the page and open the next stop on the trail. There is no countdown, no lives and no penalty for trying a combination that is not accepted.

The journey has three hundred pages in fifteen regions of twenty. The first thirty pages were drawn by hand and keep their original layouts, so a saved journey carries straight on. The other 270 were produced by the game’s own crossword builder and then checked one by one by an automated audit: every crossing matches, no stray letters join into unintended words, the whole grid is connected, and every answer can be spelled from the wheel. The wheels grow from three letters to seven, the number of answers rises from two to about thirteen, and each region is ordered from gentle to demanding. The full-length word is always hidden somewhere in a generated board.

Fairness starts with the word list. Required answers come from a vocabulary of about 5,500 everyday words that were reviewed one at a time: no names, no slang, no obscure dictionary oddities, no plain plurals used as filler and nothing offensive. Each of them has an original one-line clue written for this game. Bonus words are judged more generously, against a list of about 26,000 English words that includes American and British spellings, with offensive words removed. A word counts the same way on every board, so a word accepted yesterday is never refused today.

Clues are the gentlest help. Tap an empty word in the crossword, or press Clue, to read its definition with its number, direction and length. Clues never cost anything. A hint reveals one letter, in the word whose clue is showing if you chose one. Hints are always available, but a free hint costs a star on that page: no free hints earns three stars and one or two earns two. Lanterns remove that cost. Every four bonus words that are new to your collection light a lantern, the daily trail gives one more, and a lantern hint keeps your stars.

The daily trail is one new board each day, the same for everyone, built from the same reviewed words. It uses six-letter wheels from Monday to Thursday and seven-letter wheels from Friday to Sunday, and it changes at midnight UTC. Solving it on consecutive days builds a streak, and every seven days in a row earn a rest day that protects the streak if you miss a day. The share button copies a short result with stars, time and a row of squares, and never the letters or answers. Wander mode makes as many extra trails as you like at five, six or seven letters, and keeps count of how many you have walked.

Your field journal keeps a wordbook. Every answer you find is stored with its clue, and bonus words join a lifetime collection. Each page also counts its everyday extras: common words hiding in the wheel that are not part of the crossword. Finish a page to see any you missed. Results show stars, time, answers, bonus words and extras, with badges for first clears, new bests, unaided solves and complete extra sets. Progress, records, lanterns, streaks and settings are saved in this browser only; there is no account and no online leaderboard.

Each region has its own original vector landscape, from pine-edged river bends and orchard hills to red canyon arches, a painted harbor town, autumn woods, desert dunes, a misty cloud forest, icebergs, a palm lagoon, green northern lights, wildflower meadows and an observatory after sunset. Found words fly from the word bar into the crossword, bonus words drop into your satchel, and a finished page bursts into region-colored confetti. Soft synthesized kalimba and bell tones follow your finger around the wheel. Reduced-motion settings turn off flights, bursts and shakes, and the sound button mutes everything.

A little help for your next high score

• Start with the long word. Every board hides one answer that uses the whole wheel, and its crossings reveal letters in several shorter words at once.
• Read a clue before spending a hint. Clues are free and never cost stars.
• Save lanterns for the pages you want three stars on. A free hint is always there, but it lowers the page’s stars.
• Hunt bonus words early on each page. New ones fill your satchel, and every four light a lantern.
• Shuffle when the wheel feels stuck. It never changes the answers or anything you have found.
• Keep an eye on repeated letters: a wheel with two Es has two separate E tiles, and a word can use both.

Good questions