(pron. zirdica)
XRDICA is a word-decoding puzzle. Each letter of the alphabet has been assigned a random number — your job is to figure out which number maps to which letter.
The puzzle presents several rows, each containing a hidden word. Every tile shows a number — the cipher for the letter in that position. The same number always means the same letter, everywhere in the grid.
Click any tile to select it, then type a letter to enter your guess. Your guess appears above the cipher number. Use the arrow keys to move between tiles, and Backspace to clear and step back. You can move freely between rows — your guesses are preserved everywhere until you commit or clear them.
When you're ready, press Enter to check your answers — every tile with a letter entered gets checked at once:
Because the same cipher always means the same letter, solving one word gives you clues about all the others. If you think a letter might be right for a particular cipher, type it in — if it only maps to one cipher in your current row, it will appear as a faint hint in the other rows too.
Lower is better. You score one point for each letter key or backspace pressed, and one point every five seconds. Each correct letter deducts one point when you check — so thinking before you type pays off.
Every 50 points, a new word is added to the bottom of the grid, up to a maximum of 10 rows. The puzzle is complete when all rows are solved.
A new puzzle every day at midnight, your local time — the same one for everyone. If nothing's been posted yet for the day, an auto-generated puzzle plays instead, so there's always something to solve.
Click Random for a menu: play today's puzzle, start a brand-new random game, or enter a specific puzzle number to challenge a friend to the exact same one.
Click Easy Mode for a gentler way to learn the game: a small percentage of the starting grid's letters are already solved for you, chosen randomly — rare letters included, not just easy ones — so you always have a foothold. Those free letters never affect your score; it's exactly as if the puzzle started that way.
Browse past days on a calendar. The Today's Puzzle button (or clicking the XRDICA title) always brings you back to today's puzzle.
Click Pause to stop the clock. The game also auto-pauses if you switch tabs, windows, or apps, so you're never penalized for stepping away.
Good luck!