So this game going to the top of HN is likely part of the meme where shape rotators strike back against wordcels after wordle became popular, something like that.
It's actually a Twitter meme by @tszzl on Twitter. It was a 4-chan meme to add "-cel" to words, but the shape rotator vs wordcel meme is from Twitter.
You should read the article
I did despite my better judgment. The 4chan part is just adding "-cel" to words and doesn't form a direct lineage to the modern meme.