More browser based games like Wordle with no downloads required

When the New York Times reported about Wordle, the free browser-based word game by Josh Wardle, the game quickly became an Internet sensation.

Wordle requires you to guess a word in under six guesses. Each guess you take shows you the correct letters in your guess as either in the right position or the right letter but in the wrong position.

Part of Wordle's charm is there's only one puzzle a day, everyone plays the same puzzle, and there's nothing to do after you spend a few minutes playing it until the next puzzle comes around.

As games go, it's a fun daily challenge for your morning coffee break. If the trend holds, Wordle might become one of the best free word games online in history.

We also run a free game that runs entirely in your browser with no download require (though unlike Wordle, we also have free iOS, Android, and Kindle apps. Play online now.

Free word games like Wordle

NY Times Mini Crossword

Speaking of the New York Times, they offer two of the best online word games. The NY Time Mini crossword puzzle is short, works in any browser, and is mobile friendly.

Like the regular, full-size and subscription-only NY Times Crossword, the NY Time Mini Crossword gets progressively harder through the week with the easiest and smallest puzzles on Sunday and Monday and the most challenging on Fridays and Saturdays.

Play the NY Time Mini Crossword

New York Times Spelling Bee

Another free game from The NY Times is their daily Spelling Bee, which asks players to spell and create words based on seven letters, with a center letter (displayed in a hive pattern. Get it? Hive...spelling bee) required in each word.

It's surprisingly challenging since the chore to spell words isn't that hard, it's coming up with all the words you're sure exist that you just don't know that is challenging.

And unlike Scrabble and other games where you unscramble words and letters, you can't play two and three-letter words. Each word must be at least four letters and each word has to be a correct word found in a dictionary. So no proper nouns.

Five letter words score the most points. You can get hints, but here's one worth knowing before diving in: you can use a single letter twice or more times in a word. Each puzzle also includes bonus points and at least one word that uses all the letters in the puzzle at least once.

In the same way you play Wordle, you can share your score online afterward and there's only one puzzle per day. And if you reach a score higher than 25 points you'll have to pay to unlock more words.

Wiki History

It’s not quite a word game, but still inspired by the genre: Wiki History sources random events from Wikipedia and asks you to drag a card in the order the events happened. It could be the end of a classical period of art, the birth year of an actress, or the year a winning cricket team in India won a championship.

Your goal is the longest streak of correct events. Get more than three events wrong and the game’s over.

Play Wiki History

Classic parlor games to play online in your browser

Mexican Train Dominoes

Mexican Train Dominoes online is free to play against AI players. Your goal is to unload as many of your dominoes as possible and achieve the lowest score in each round. The lowest score is determined by how many pips (dots) you have on each tile when the first person to play all their tiles is done or no more moves are available.

We've got helpful guides that can help you along the way, but the game can help you understand the standard rules.

The gist is matching one end of your "train engine", or first domino, so it forms matching ends (similar to a standard domino game). But unlike standard dominoes, Mexican Train Dominoes features a larger set of tiles. When a player can't play on their train of dominoes, you can play on the public Mexican train. And if you can't play on that, your private train becomes "open", allowing other players to lay tiles on your train.

Play Mexican Train Dominoes online. You can also play on iOS, Android, and Kindle.

Online Solitaire

If playing card games are more your style, then I highly recommend Online Solitaire. You can play classic games like Klondike Solitaire, Spider and FreeCell for free. It offers instant gameplay with great features like winnable deals and daily challenges. It's a must try.

Play Solitaire online

World of Card Games

While we're on the subject of card games, you have to check out World of Card Games. It offers a variety of commonly known card games like Hearts, Spades, Double Deck Pinochle, Euchre, Gin Rummy, Twenty Nine, and Three Five Eight amongst others. You can play against the computer or other registered people all the while keeping your stats.

Play World of Card Games

Catan Universe

A classic game similar to Risk, Catan Universe asks players to make strategic decisions with adjacent tiles. You play against random opponents online or AI players.

Play Catan online

Agar

Agar is sort of a cross between Pac-Man and Snake, where your goal is to devour floating dots around the screen. It sounds simple, but it's a surprisingly fun game and highly addictive. As you grow larger, you can devour more and more resources. Sometimes, though, you'll need to eject some mass to be successful, adding a bit of strategy to the mix.

Play Agar online