Redactle

Redactle drops you into a notable Wikipedia article with nearly every word blacked out and asks one question: what is this about? You reveal text by guessing words, watching the page slowly de-censor itself until the hidden subject clicks into place. One article a day, no guess limit, and a score that rewards getting there with the fewest tries.

What is Redactle?

Redactle is a daily word puzzle built on top of Wikipedia. Each puzzle hands you a single notable article with nearly every word blacked out, leaving only common stop words like "the," "of," "and," and "is" visible to give you a faint sense of structure. You type words into a guess box, and any word that appears in the article is un-redacted everywhere it occurs at once. The objective is not to fill in the whole article but to deduce, and then correctly type, the article's exact title.

What sets Redactle apart from the wider family of Wordle-style games is that it has nothing to do with a five-letter answer or color-coded letter feedback. There is no daily limit on guesses and no penalty for being wrong, so the challenge is investigative rather than constrained. The game uses lemma-based matching, which means guessing a root form reveals its variations: enter "run" and you also expose "runs," "running," and "ran." Each accepted guess reports how many times the word appeared and how much of the article it uncovered, which turns guessing into a feedback loop you can reason about.

The original Redactle was created by John Turner and launched in 2022, during the wave of daily browser puzzles that followed Wordle's popularity. The version at redactle.net is a continuation operated by Ben Brady after the original project went inactive, and it has grown well beyond the single daily puzzle. Alongside the daily article it offers a Classic Random mode that serves truly random articles, a Custom Article mode that accepts any Wikipedia URL or Wikidata ID, and themed Collections that group puzzles by topic. The interface is localized into ten languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Hebrew, Turkish, and Arabic.

Scoring is based primarily on how few guesses it takes to identify the title, so efficiency matters more than speed. Solving without ever using a hint earns a "snipe," while the built-in AI hint system can nudge you toward the topic when you are stuck, at the cost of forfeiting that snipe badge. Your statistics track things like guess count, streak, and accuracy, where accuracy is the share of your guesses that hit at least one word in the article, and results are shareable so you can compare a clean solve against a friend's. The vibe is patient and brainy rather than frantic: it rewards general knowledge, vocabulary, and the ability to read between heavily censored lines. People who enjoy trivia, deduction, and the quirks of how Wikipedia articles are written tend to get the most out of it. The game is free to play in any browser, with optional support through Ko-fi that removes ads.

How to play Redactle

1. Open the daily puzzle and scan the visible stop words to get a rough sense of the article's shape and length.
2. Type a word into the guess box and press Enter; if it appears in the article, every instance is revealed at once.
3. Use high-frequency and topical words to expose more text, watching the hit count each guess reports.
4. Read the un-redacted fragments, dates, and section structure to narrow down the article's subject and field.
5. When you think you know the topic, guess the article's exact title; there is no limit on the number of guesses.
6. Solve without using any hints to earn a snipe, and share your guess count to compare with others.

Tips and strategy

• Open with high-frequency words (the, of, was, born, also) to quickly expose the article's skeleton, since stop words alone are not enough.
• Watch the hit count each guess returns: a word that appears many times often points straight at the central subject.
• Lean on lemma matching by guessing root forms; one guess like "govern" can reveal governs, government, and governing together.
• Guess broad category words such as country, species, president, film, or war to learn what kind of subject you are hunting.
• Prioritize revealing dates and numbers, because a birth year or a single date can pin down a person, event, or place fast.
• Save the AI hint for when you are genuinely stuck, since using it forfeits the snipe; try category and section words first.

Good to know

Resets

New puzzle daily

Cost

Free (optional Ko-fi support removes ads)

Guesses

Unlimited; fewer guesses scores better

Languages

10, including English, French, Spanish, German, Arabic

Modes

Daily, Classic Random, Custom Article (URL or Wikidata ID), Collections

Creator

Original by John Turner (2022); now operated by Ben Brady

Redactle FAQ

Is Redactle free?

Yes. Redactle is free to play in any browser. There is an optional Ko-fi support option, and supporters do not see ads.

How many guesses do you get in Redactle?

There is no limit. You can guess as many words as you need, but your score is based on solving in as few guesses as possible.

How does Redactle decide if a guess counts?

If your word appears anywhere in the article, every instance is revealed. It uses lemma matching, so guessing a root word like "run" also reveals runs, running, and ran.

Is there a Redactle archive or other modes?

Beyond the daily puzzle, redactle.net offers a Classic Random mode, a Custom Article mode that accepts any Wikipedia URL or Wikidata ID, and themed Collections of puzzles.

Is Redactle related to Wordle?

Only in spirit. It is a daily puzzle inspired by the post-Wordle wave, but it uses redacted Wikipedia articles instead of letter guessing, with no five-letter word or color hints.