Item — HN Reader

Wow, this post blew up! Thank you everyone for all the helpful feedback. I’ve just deployed a few updates:

  - Added a short playable tutorial for new players to learn how the game works.

  - Added a timer below the grid. You can hide this in the settings if you don’t want the extra pressure!

  - Fixed some bonus words based on your recommendations.

I also made a bonus HN themed puzzle as a thanks for all the feedback - https://zanagrams.com/hackernews

8 comments

Tutorial was great! And I would like the option to give up.

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 specific puzzle would be nice.

Also I came back to this thread to comment that this is the most engaging, fun, and satisfying word puzzle game I've maybe ever played. My only complaint is that there aren't more puzzles!

Thanks for the fun :)

Wow, I found the Hacker News one way easier than normal (01:15). I'm devouring these, though—every day you release one, I'll play it!

If it was really an “HN themed puzzle”, all the letters would be A or I and the minimum word length would be 2.

I’m kidding of course - great game!

Very cool! Idea: show the definition of the word when you find it, so you can learn new words.

(edit: ah, I see they are shown later)

Congratulations on your launch! It’s cool seeing all the word games on here taking off

Bookmarked the site! It is a fun puzzle, NYT should add it to their games.

The playable tutorial is brilliant. It's a very fun game, well done!