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Comment by matsemann | Hacker News Reader

Also, there is no reason to limit the amount of guesses. Just let me try until I figure it out. But no, they've put a limit so that it can be "sharable" in a tweet-sized text, to try to copy the viralness of Wordle. But they do it to the detriment of the gameplay, in such a way that I don't even bother playing.

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Disagreed, the limit is what gives the game a constraint and makes it interesting IMHO. I like to have something that makes me fail because I care less about optimizing a score, more about beating it in the first place. Different people play games differently, etc.

I also don't see how it makes it "sharable". Wouldn't it be more sharable if they let everyone win and just give them a score?

The whole point of the game is to do it within a bounded set of moves.

No, it scores you based on the number of moves used. No need for an upper bound, could've let me use 20 guesses if that's what it takes (non native speaker). But that wouldn't fit their copy&paste result formatting..

Too many people would take a scatter-shot approach to solving, even with a score that keeps track of guesses, and then those same people would get bored and disillusioned with the game because it would be boring.

The limited number of attempts is precisely what makes it a game.

There is a UI for the game without the upper bound at connections.swellgarfo.com. Personally that annoys me as my friends are prone to sharing massive walls of incorrect guesses when they do badly on that site, but it sounds like it would be a good fit for you.

The format in the show it’s lifted from (Only Connect - greatest game show ever) is that the teams have 2 minutes total to solve the “connecting wall”. They can have as many guesses as they want until they solve the first two groups - after that it’s 3 strikes and you’re out.

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