How Octordle Rescue works
The game plays four starter words for you, so you never get to choose your opening. You then have nine guesses to solve eight boards, which leaves room for exactly one spare guess.
The starters do not choose themselves for your benefit, and that is the point. Rescue takes away your favorite opener and asks whether you can still win.
Scoring: points, not guesses
Rescue counts points, and higher is better. Each solved board scores one point, and a win with a guess to spare adds one more, for a best score of nine.
A miss still earns credit for every board you solved. Losing by one word is very different from losing by five, so aim to solve as many boards as you can.
Tips for a rescue
- Read the starters first. Four random words often light up several boards. Find the board with the most colored tiles and start there.
- Protect your spare guess. Nine guesses for eight boards means one wasted guess ends your bonus. Only scout when a guess can also solve a board.
- Use the word finder after each guess. The word finder cuts a board down to a handful of candidates.
Want a warm-up? Try unlimited Octordle Rescue. New to the game? Start with how to play Octordle or the classic daily Octordle.
Frequently asked questions
How many guesses do you get in Octordle Rescue?
You get nine guesses of your own. Four starter words are played for you, which fills the first four rows of every board.
Can a starter word be an answer?
No. The game never picks a starter word that is one of the eight answers, so the starters only give clues.
How does Rescue scoring work?
You earn one point for every board you solve. If you win with a guess to spare, you earn one bonus point, for a top score of nine. Higher is better.
Does Rescue count toward my daily streak?
Rescue keeps its own stats and streak, separate from the classic daily puzzle.