# Zanagrams

51 Hacker News commenters recommended Zanagrams and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Commenters call it a fun, minimal daily word puzzle where the puzzle gets easier as you solve it. The most common caveat is that the rules and bonus words are not always obvious.

## Why people recommend it

- Fun, engaging, satisfying word puzzle (5 comments): "this is the most engaging, fun, and satisfying word puzzle game I've maybe ever played" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48717876)) "Super fun, i found a tons of words and the last 3 ones were really hard to find" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48710912)) "I could play games like this for hours :D" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719368))
- Minimal design and clean UI (2 comments): "loved the minimal UI, good copywriting, and tasteful animations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48714724)) "Love the design and would love a french version" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48729747))
- Puzzle gets easier as you solve (3 comments): "I really like how it removes any possible letters or connections." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48711327)) "Love how the connections disappear once the letter is used up" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48710208)) "I like how the puzzle naturally gets easier as you solve it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48708411))
- Definitions help you learn words (3 comments): "Very cool! Idea: show the definition of the word when you find it, so you can learn new words." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719556)) "Simple and fun, appreciate the definitions!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48710237)) "it adds a free learning aspect to it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48709987))

## What people warn about

- Rules and instructions unclear (3 comments): "It's a reasonable rule; it just wasn't obvious from reading the info in "how to play"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48711624)) "The name of the game is confusing, I thought I had to find anagrams and didn't understand how to rearrange the letters" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48717043)) "The instructions are unclear for my input device." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719034))
- Bonus words too obscure or obvious (2 comments): "I love it! But the bonus word (a word most player would miss) on 29/7 was not very subtle." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48715953)) "I found #6 unnecessarily difficult." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719979))
- Getting stuck feels frustrating (2 comments): "I feel this becomes an exercise in attrition instead of a game." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719119)) "Being stuck is annoying, though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719881))

## 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
- [Wordle](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wordle.md): 28 recommend
- [One More Letter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/one-more-letter.md): 19 recommend
- [Uncrossy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/uncrossy.md): 18 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Zanagrams", https://hackerapproved.com/p/zanagrams/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).