'Squabble' turns 'Wordle' into a battle royale

Wordle has been a delightful success story over the last few months. It offers players a deceptively simple word puzzle to give their brain a workout for a few minutes each day. As is often the case, the phenomenon spurred a bevy of imitators and knockoffs. A recent spin on the format taps into another enormous gaming craze from the last few years: the battle royale.

Squabble, which was spotted by Polygon, pits you against other players. You'll need to enter your guesses quickly even though you still only have six attempts to find the correct five-letter word. Players have hit points that gradually deplete and they'll lose some for incorrect guesses. Get a letter right and you'll get some of your HP back and damage opponents. Once all your HP is drained or you run out of guesses, you're out.

There are two modes. Blitz is for between two and five players, while Squabble Royale rounds have between six and 99 competitors.

Games continue until one player remains, so while solving a puzzle quickly is key, you might need to complete a few of them to emerge triumphant. It's a more competitive version of Wordle for folks who love to duke it out with others. 

Best of all, you can create a lobby and invite friends to a private match, so you can square off with them for bragging rights. There's also a replay mode, which lets you see (and make fun of) everyone's guesses in real time.

Meanwhile, there's at least one other word-based battle royale you can check out. Babble Royale hit Steam early access in December. You need to spell words to move and, as in Fortnite and PUBG, make sure you stay in the circle.