# Binary search words game

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Binary search words game and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Players enjoy its fun concept and the new strategy it requires, though finding valid words can be hard and the word list is criticized as obscure.

## Why people recommend it

- Fun, good concept (2 comments): "Fun game. The concept is good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48935587)) "it was still a great experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48944328))
- Requires a new strategy (2 comments): "this one feels like there's a lot more strategy involved" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48936381)) "I like that it requires a new strategy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48936140))
- Liked the game overall (2 comments): "I like the game and it is quite difficult sometimes to come up with a legal word" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48935490)) "I really like this, it kind of reminds me of" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48935690))

## What people warn about

- Hard to find valid words (3 comments): "I like the game and it is quite difficult sometimes to come up with a legal word" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48935490)) "I had an awful lot of trouble finding 7 letter words on the wordlist." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48935113)) "good game, but very hard find" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48941268))
- Obscure word list (2 comments): "I had an awful lot of trouble finding 7 letter words on the wordlist." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48935113)) "uses an obscure secondary verb form instead of the much more common usage" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48936617))
- Rejects common words (2 comments): "uses an obscure secondary verb form instead of the much more common usage" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48936617)) "my first guess was "plaudit" and it was not accepted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48936536))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Tiled Words](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tiled-words.md): 106 recommend
- [18 Words](https://hackerapproved.com/p/18-words.md): 87 recommend
- [Zanagrams](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zanagrams.md): 51 recommend
- [Wordle](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wordle.md): 28 recommend
- [One More Letter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/one-more-letter.md): 19 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Binary search words game", https://hackerapproved.com/p/binary-search-words-game/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).