Zanagrams
Games
word puzzle game
SHOW HN2026
400points
107comments
#86of 4,366 in 2026
Top 2%of 2026 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
37 positive, 30 neutral or asking, 5 mixed, 10 critical, out of 82 comments about the project. Thread score +0.34.
Design: 9 for, 4 againstIdea: 4 for, 3 againstDocs: 4 for, 1 againstExecution: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fun, addictive and satisfying word game
From 3 comments
A hint would maybe be good. You could highlight the first letter and a direction, for example. The share functionality could be improved. Sharing the score and time to the…
harrisi on HNIts addictive :-) Well done
mgianluc on HNI love it! I could play games like this for hours :D
TheLuigiplayer on HN
Minimal UI, good copywriting and tasteful animations
From 1 comment
I enjoyed this and loved the minimal UI, good copywriting, and tasteful animations. My brain gets a little bit stuck on words that I can see but aren’t valid because of a missing…
sumul on HN
Definitions shown after puzzles help learning
From 2 comments
Cool that they list the definitions of the words afterwards. This makes it even more fun for non-native speakers, as it adds a free learning aspect to it.
ctenb on HNSimple and fun, appreciate the definitions! Was wondering about ideas for creating a simple game using the vocab list from my koreader app, but will probably need to be a…
a-l-e-c on HN
Tutorial is helpful
From 2 comments
Tutorial was great! And I would like the option to give up.
srdjanr on HNThe playable tutorial is brilliant. It's a very fun game, well done!
nicbou on HN
Objections
Plural forms of found words make puzzles feel cheap
From 3 comments
Damn it, it was the longest word I've already found in plural form :/ Not sure this is good puzzle design to be honest
jllyhill on HNI would try to generate puzzles that don't involve plurals at all. It happened twice that the word I missed was the plural of a word I already found. After finding a word I don't…
rootlocus on HNNice game! I found 20 words. I was a bit stunned by the concept of "bonus words". I found that every word should count. Also because some words are just plural forms (e.g.…
dpfu on HN
Unclear rules, such as minimum word length and how the game works
From 3 comments
The rules should probably explicitly mention the minimum length of four letters. (It's a reasonable rule; it just wasn't obvious from reading the info in "how to play")
saghm on HNI'm stuck. Does that mean I chose the wrong word earlier and used up an essential letter? Does the sequence of word guesses matter? Is there an Undo feature so I can back up and…
acrophiliac on HNhttps://zanagrams.com/puzzles/5.json
cryptoboy2283 on HN
No way to give up or reveal answers when stuck
From 2 comments
Great puzzle! Is there a way to give up and see all the answers? After 20 minutes or so still have 8 words to find. (Not a native English speaker.)
iku on HNMeanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to give up, because I can't find any more words. I found 8 (2 bonus ones), and am stuck finding any more. There should be a "reveal"…
addandsubtract on HN
Bonus words feel unfair or confusing
From 3 comments
Nice game! I found 20 words. I was a bit stunned by the concept of "bonus words". I found that every word should count. Also because some words are just plural forms (e.g.…
dpfu on HN"bonus words" are often obscure or embarrassing in some way, so you're not required to find them to win
stevage on HNI also must have a weird vocabulary. "Fete" was treated as an uncommon bonus word, which doesn't seem particularly esoteric to me, but "tarragon" was one of the ones I needed to…
saghm on HN
Drag controls unclear on some browsers and devices
From 2 comments
The instructions are unclear for my input device. I'm on a macOS webkit browser, and I have to click each individual letter, _then click one last time after all letters are…
butlike on HNYou can just click the first letter, then drag through the rest. When I moved from mobile to desktop, I also thought it was click-only, but dragging works in Chrome and Safari.
oneeyedpigeon on HN
Requests
Give up or reveal answers option
From 3 comments
Tutorial was great! And I would like the option to give up.
srdjanr on HNGreat puzzle! Is there a way to give up and see all the answers? After 20 minutes or so still have 8 words to find. (Not a native English speaker.)
iku on HNMeanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to give up, because I can't find any more words. I found 8 (2 bonus ones), and am stuck finding any more. There should be a "reveal"…
addandsubtract on HN
Scoreboard, timed mode or shareable score with bonus word count
From 4 comments
You should add a scoreboard! I got zanagram #5 in 3 minutes and 53 seconds. Also found two bonus words I thought I was slow but now I see others took 10 minutes and 20 minutes!…
azeirah on HNThis was definitely a challenge until I figured out how it works. I originally was confused by the connections and started off embarrassingly slow, but once I got a few words and…
scamdrill on HNCool game! Definitely needs the bonus words counter in the shareable results snippet.
shrx on HNYou might make a wrong guess add a little penalty time to the clock. I agree that the "share" representation should include the number of bonus words found. Or just the triple of…
quuxplusone on HN
Hint feature
From 2 comments
A hint would maybe be good. You could highlight the first letter and a direction, for example. The share functionality could be improved. Sharing the score and time to the…
harrisi on HNI found #6 unnecessarily difficult. While I personally really enjoy puzzles, primarily logic ones and spelling ones, this melted my brain. Maybe you could add a "hint" button…
summarybot on HN
More puzzles or endless mode
From 2 comments
A hint would maybe be good. You could highlight the first letter and a direction, for example. The share functionality could be improved. Sharing the score and time to the…
harrisi on HNInteresting game! Is this an original idea? Is there plan to add "endless" number of zanagrams?
urostrstenjak on HN
Track found words and bonus word counter
From 2 comments
The only thing I would add would be to keep track of the words already found.
Cyclone_ on HNLove this! Added to bookmarks. Wish it had a counter for bonus words so I know if I missed them.
heystefan on HN
Questions
How are puzzles generated and chosen
From 3 comments
How is the puzzle generation? can you fully automate generating good puzzles or do you tune them by hand? I really enjoyed this, and hope to continue doing so.
ollybee on HNFun! I like how the puzzle naturally gets easier as you solve it. How do you decide which words to include?
almara on HNpretty cool. how are you deciding or generating puzzles ?
mateenah on HN
Which dictionary is used
From 1 comment
Having made a word game myself[0], this was highly entertaining! Thanks :) What dictionary are you using? [0] https://jcuenod.github.io/phrase-maze-poc/
jcuenod on HN
Is there a way to lose
From 1 comment
Is there any way to lose? With the letters disappearing after they're no longer used, I feel this becomes an exercise in attrition instead of a game.
butlike on HN
Alternatives named
Puzzmo Ribbit
From 1 comment
It’s basically Ribbit from Puzzmo, which is fine because reimplementations let you experiment with different gameplay. https://www.puzzmo.com
jasonpeacock on HN
Squaredle
From 1 comment
Feels very like Squaredle.
moomin on HN
NYT word games
From 1 comment
Bookmarked the site! It is a fun puzzle, NYT should add it to their games.
jhedlund on HN
Word Maker and WordTracer Android apps
From 1 comment
There are a couple of games like this on Android I play: https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/com.vayunmathur.games.wordmaker?repo=main https://github.com/plhosk/wordtracer…
msla on HN