How to play Padamz

Full rules for all fourteen games · last updated 21 September 2026

One word is hidden each day. You have six tries to find it. Type a word, press Enter, and every tile changes colour to tell you how close you were. A new word arrives every day at 00:00 UTC, and the same word is waiting for everyone playing that language on that day.

1. Daily Word

The colours

Repeated letters behave the way you would expect: if the answer has one a and your guess has two, only one of them is coloured.

Half-coloured tiles — the akshara rule

This part only appears in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam and Odia, and it is what makes Padamz different from a word game translated into an Indian script.

In those languages one tile holds one akshara — a consonant with its vowel sign, read as a single shape. An akshara can therefore be half right, and the game says so:

Each tile shows one state only, and they are ranked: a full match beats a consonant match, which beats a vowel match, which beats "elsewhere in the word", which beats "not in the word". So a half-gold tile is never hiding better news.

Typing in an Indian script

The keyboard composes rather than transliterates. Tap the consonant, then the vowel, and the akshara forms on the tile exactly as you would write it. If you would rather type roman spellings, leave roman input on and enter pa, maa, ki — it is on by default for Indic languages and can be switched off in settings.

Easy and Hard

Easy is a three-symbol word. Hard is five letters in English, four aksharas in the Indic languages. They are different words on the same day, and each keeps its own board — you can play both.

Hint, Clue and Practice

• Clue gives the meaning of the hidden word, never the word itself.
• Hint reveals one position you have not found. On the Android app it is offered in exchange for watching a short ad; refusing the ad still grants the hint if the ad fails to load.
• Practice hands you a random word straight away, as many times as you like, without touching your daily streak.
• Hard mode (a separate setting) makes every clue you have already uncovered compulsory in later guesses.

Streaks and statistics

Finishing the day's word extends your streak. Every seven days of streak earns a freeze, and a freeze is spent automatically to cover one missed day — you can hold two at a time. Games played, win rate, current and best streak, and the distribution of how many guesses you needed are all shown in the statistics panel, and all of it lives on your device only.

Sharing and challenges

After a win you can share a spoiler-free grid of coloured squares, or send a challenge link that carries a word of your choosing so a friend plays exactly that puzzle.

2. Wordz Hunt

Unlocked once you have played the day's word. The word you just finished is hidden in a drawn scene — a Forest, a Park or a Reef — and its letters are held by objects in the picture. Tap anything you like: an empty object costs nothing, so exploring is free. Only objects holding a letter matter, and picking the wrong letter costs one of your three lanterns. Run out and the round ends gently, with no penalty and no "game over". Three places a day, each visited once.

Rotate your phone to landscape — the scenes are drawn wide.

3. Set Wordz

A sliding-block puzzle. Your board starts scrambled and a small read-only target sits above it. Tap any tile in the empty square's row or column and the whole run slides one step, coloured blocks included. Match the target and the words appear. Fewer moves earn more stars; the clock counts up but never runs out, and there is no way to lose. Press New puzzle for another.

4. Chill Wordz

A blast board with the day's words on it. Tap any group of two or more touching blocks of the same colour and they pop; everything above falls and new blocks drop in. Bigger groups pay much more than several small ones. Each block carries a letter, the word bar shows the letter it wants next, and blocks carrying it wear a gold ring. Fill every slot to finish the word and earn a diamond. No clock, no move limit, no way to lose — if the board runs out of pairs it reshuffles itself.

5. Wordoku

A sudoku played with letters instead of digits: every row, every column and every box holds each letter exactly once, and one line spells a real word when the grid is solved. Easy is a 6×6 grid, hard is a 9×9. A letter that would break a row, a column or a box is refused as you place it, so you never discover ten moves later that the grid went wrong. Full rules and tips on the word sudoku page.

6. Cross Wordz

A small crossword with one plain one-line clue per word — definitions, not cryptic wordplay, and no abbreviations or crossword conventions to learn first. Tap a square to select its across or down entry, tap again to switch direction, and the clue for whatever is selected stays on screen. More on the online crossword page.

7. Maze Wordz

Run the bunny round a burrow and eat every lettered carrot; the letters build the word along the top as you collect them. Foxes patrol the corridors. A carrot box hides you while one walks past, and a gold coin turns the chase around for a few seconds. Landscape only. More on the word maze page.

8. Catch Wordz

Three rounds, one word each. Letters fall and each one has a single slot it belongs in, so you are tracking which letter is dropping and where it has to go at once. Fireballs fall too and end the round. More on the falling letters page.

9. Snooker Wordz

Every ball carries a letter, and they have to go down in the order that spells the word — so where the cue ball comes to rest matters as much as whether the pot goes in. Potting a black ends the round. Drag to aim, pull back for power, release. Landscape only. More on the word snooker page.

10. Save Wordz

An archery round. Hit the mangoes carrying the word's letters, in order, before the eagles reach the tree. Arrows arc, so distance needs elevation rather than a flatter, harder shot. Landscape only. More on the archery word game page.

11. Dahi Handi

A Janmashtami running game, and the first one here with no words in it at all. The boy runs through Gokul by himself — you only jump. Jump everything: a bullock cart, clay pots, a campfire. Take everything else — a pot of butter is a heart back. One gold coin waits at the end of each stretch, and they spell K·R·I·S·H·N·A. Seven letters in, the handi is hanging from its bamboo arch, and the last jump breaks it. Landscape only.

12. Laddu Match

Tap a sweet, then tap the one next to it, and the two swap — or just slide one onto its neighbour. Get three or more of the same sweet in a line and they pop. New sweets fall in from the top, and if those line up too you score again without spending anything. Line up four and you make a sweet that clears a whole row. You get 30 moves; fill the bar at the top before they run out and the offering is made. Stuck? Wait a moment and a hand points at a move. Portrait, and needs no English.

13. Modak Tower

A sweet swings along the top of the shelf. Tap anywhere to drop it and it falls straight down, landing on the lowest free box in that column. Put three of the same sweet side by side on one shelf and the shelf clears into the bowls — round laddus go to the left bowl, pointed modaks to the right, and a shiny golden laddu counts as whichever sweet is beside it. Each bowl needs five, and both must be full before the time runs out. Let a column fill to the top and the tower spills, which costs a life. Portrait, and needs no English.

14. Mountain Mushika

Ganesha is waiting on Mount Kailash for his laddu, and his mouse is bringing it. Mushika runs by himself across a snowy Himalayan river — you only jump. Tap anywhere (or press Space or the up arrow) to jump, and hold it to jump higher. Five chapters, one letter of L·A·D·D·U each, about three and a half minutes for a clean run:

• River Logs — hop the floating logs and planks. Crates hurt if you run into one, so jump over it or land on top.
• Sky Islands — the road is grass islands hung in the air. Tap a second time in mid-air to jump twice, and the laddus are strung along the high route to show you where it goes.
• Fort Walls — brick ramparts standing in the river. Run straight at a wall and he climbs it by himself; there is nothing to press.
• Fire Ridge — fire jets and spike beds. Both cost a heart, and both are cleared exactly like a crate. A jet that is out may light before you reach it, so never run at one.
• The Rapids — everything at once, on water that will not hold still, and then Ganesha comes down for his laddu.

Three hearts a chapter. Miss a jump and it is a splash back to the last arrow sign, not back to the start. Collect laddus along the way for one, two or three stars. Landscape only.

15. Ashta Chamma

The cowrie board game grandparents played on the floor — Chowka Bhara in Karnataka, Thaayam in Tamil Nadu, Kavidi Kali in Kerala. It is a race: be the first to bring all four of your pieces to the centre square. 2 to 4 players. Under Play with, pick Bots, Family/Friends or Both, and a 5×5 board (4 cowries) or a bigger 7×7 board (6 cowries).

Playing with family and friends online: choose Family/Friends and share the five-letter code (or the invite link). Each of them opens the link, or types the code under Play with → Join in their own Ashta Chamma — capitals or not. Once someone else is in, the call and video buttons let you talk while you play; when anyone starts a call, the others hear a ring and the buttons pulse until they join. If a player or the host leaves, the game stops and everyone is told why.

1. Throw the cowries. Count the shells that land mouth up — that is how many squares you move. On 5×5 that is 1, 2, 3 or 4, and if none land mouth up you move 8. On 7×7 it is 1 to 6, or 12.
2. Move a piece. The squares you can move from glow — tap one. Every piece starts on your coloured home square and runs round the outside of the board.
3. Capture. Land on someone else's piece and it goes back to its home. A piece standing on a crossed square is safe.
4. Go inside. After your first capture, your pieces can turn in and spiral to the centre. Until then they keep going round the outside.
5. Throw again when you score the top number (4 or 8; on 7×7, 6 or 12), when you capture, or when a piece reaches the centre.
6. Win. The centre needs the exact number. The first player with all four pieces there wins — the others play on for 2nd and 3rd, until only one player is left on the board.

Choose your avatar from ninety, your piece colour, and one of six sets of cowries — classic shell, tamarind seeds, gold, lacquer, pearl or peacock. Three colour looks — Maroon, Sandal and Jade — from the dots beside your name. Portrait or landscape.

16. Wagh Bakri — tigers and goats

The hunt game played across India under many names — Bagh Bakri, Puli Meka, Aadu Puli Aattam, Aadu Huli, Bagh-Bandi. Three tigers against fifteen goats on the triangle board. Play the goats or the tigers against a bot (Easy, Medium or Hard), two players on one phone, or a friend on their own phone: tap Invite a friend and share the five-letter code or link; they type it under Join. Sides swap at every rematch.

1. Goats move first. Each turn, put one goat on any empty point. When all fifteen are on the board, move one goat along a line to the next empty point.
2. Tigers move along a line to the next empty point — or jump over a goat, in a straight line, to the empty point just behind it. That goat is captured.
3. Tigers win by capturing five goats. Goats win by trapping the tigers so that none of them can move.
4. Forty turns each with no capture is a draw.

Tip for goats: keep the point behind every goat filled — a goat with a friend behind it cannot be jumped. The rules card is in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Odia.

17. Search Wordz

A word search with no empty box: every square has a letter, and the words in the list are hidden among them. Swipe from the first letter to the last to mark one, or tap the first letter and then the last. It plays in all twelve languages — in the Indian scripts each box holds one akshara, just like the daily board. English has a theme per level (animals, the sea, space…). Ten levels: words run across and down, then diagonally from level 3 and backwards from level 7, and from level 5 the list is hidden — each box shows only how many letters a word has, and fills in when you find it. Be quick for a time bonus; 💡 shows where a word starts, but costs points and the third star.

18. Memory & IQ games — Hide & Seek, Wall Rush, Cube Fold

Three brain games with ten levels each. On the first screen, tap a level to play it — the next one to play is gold, with a finger on it. Clear a level for one to three stars; each level's best score adds up to your total on the weekly board.

• Hide & Seek — watch the treat go under a cup, follow the cups as they shuffle, then tap where it is. Later levels add more cups, two or three treats, fake moves, a turning table, "find the panda", and a sum to answer while the cups move. Seven looks to choose from, including Sports and Spooky.
• Wall Rush — a wall with a hole rushes at you. Turn the block with the arrow buttons until it fits, then press GO early for a bonus. Later blocks turn on all three axes, and the hole fogs over so you turn from memory.
• Cube Fold — which cube does this flat net fold into? Later: which net makes this cube, and which cube can't be made. The net folds itself after every answer.

Wall Rush and Cube Fold let you pick the scene: Journey (a new one every level) or any of eighteen.

19. Paramapadam — Snakes & Ladders

The old Indian game that became Snakes & Ladders — Paramapada Sopanam in Tamil Nadu, Vaikunta Pali in Andhra, Gyan Chauper in the north. In the old game the ladders are good deeds and the snakes are bad ones, and square 100 is Vaikuntham. 2 to 4 players. Under Play with, pick Bots, Family/Friends or Both — or make a seat Pass & play to share one phone.

1. Everyone starts on square 1. On your turn, tap Roll; your pawn moves forward that many squares. The numbers zig-zag up the board.
2. Stop at the foot of a ladder and climb straight up it. Stop on a snake's head and slide down to its tail.
3. Roll a 6 and you roll again.
4. Easy (8 ladders, 6 snakes): any roll that reaches 100 wins. Hard (6 ladders, 8 longer snakes): you need the exact number to land on 100 — a roll that is too big leaves you where you are.
5. The first to 100 wins; the others play on for 2nd and 3rd.

With family and friends online: choose Family/Friends and share the five-letter code or invite link; they open the link, or type the code under Play with → Join. Once someone else is in, the call and video buttons let you talk while you play, exactly as in Ashta Chamma. Three board looks — Temple, Garden and Starry — from the dots beside your name. The rules card is in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Odia.

20. Dahdi / 3 in a Row

Dahdi in the north, Kattam Vilayattu in Tamil Nadu, Navakankari in Karnataka — the game of getting three of your pieces in a straight line. Play a bot (Easy, Medium or Hard), two players taking turns on one device, or family and friends on their own phones: tap Invite with a code and share the five-letter code or link; they type it under Join. Who starts swaps at every rematch.

• Easy — 3 pieces on a square with its middle lines and both diagonals. Place your 3, then slide one along a line to the next empty dot. Three in a straight line wins. The very first piece may not go in the centre — with the centre open, the first player can always force a win.
• Hard — 9 pieces on three nested squares (nine men's morris). Three in a line is a mill: each new mill takes one of your opponent's pieces, but not one in a mill unless all of theirs are. With 3 pieces left you may jump to any empty dot. Two pieces left, or no move to make, loses.

Online: if nobody moves for 10 seconds, both players are asked Still playing? — whoever does not answer within 15 seconds loses, and a player who leaves loses. Pick your pawns (kawaii pets, Halloween, sports, jungle, space, sweets, garden or pebbles) and the look (Courtyard, Playground, Spooky). The rules card is in all twelve languages.

21. Dussehra, Diwali & Halloween specials — Target Ravan, Block Blast, Tower Stack, Road Rush

Four festival games, each with levels, stars, a daily round and a weekly board (your best score on every level, added up). Pick the look first: Dussehra, Diwali or Halloween (Ravan Target is Dussehra or Diwali). They play in portrait; turn the phone upright if it asks.

• Target Ravan — touch anywhere and pull back like drawing a bow; the dotted line shows where the arrow flies and a green ring means a hit. Knock all ten of Ravan's heads off their stands and the effigy burns. A direct hit always counts; a head knocked off its stand counts when it falls. From level 6: moving stands, wind, and shielded heads — a shield stops a flat shot, so drop the arrow in from above. Fewer arrows, more stars. More about Target Ravan.
• Block Blast — drag a piece from the tray onto the 8×8 board and tap a piece to rotate it. Fill a row or a column to clear it; two at once is a combo. Each level has a goal (lines, festival tokens, stones or a score) and a number of moves. Daily and Endless modes too. More about Block Blast.
• Tower Stack — the piece swings on the crane; tap to drop it on the tower. If its middle hangs past the edge it tips off (−1 ♥); if the floors above lean too far, they topple. Reach the target height. A dead-centre drop is a PERFECT. More about Tower Stack.
• Road Rush — pick the girl or the boy and run three lanes. Swipe left / right (or tap that side; ← → on a keyboard) to change lane, swipe up (↑ or space) to jump. Low things — spiders, pumpkins, drums, stumps — clear with any jump; tall ghosts and crates need the top of a jump, or a lane change. Collect treats for stars; a magnet pulls them in, a shield saves one hit. Twelve stages, daily and endless. More about Road Rush.

Wordoku, Cross Wordz, Maze Wordz, Catch Wordz, Snooker Wordz and Save Wordz use English words. The daily word, Search Wordz, Wordz Hunt, Set Wordz and Chill Wordz play in all twelve languages. Fifteen games need no reading at all — Dahi Handi, Laddu Match, Modak Tower, Mountain Mushika, Ashta Chamma, Wagh Bakri, Paramapadam, Dahdi, Hide & Seek, Wall Rush, Cube Fold, Target Ravan, Block Blast, Tower Stack and Road Rush: the only letters in any of them are the ones you collect, and those are pictures. Nothing is locked — every game is playable the moment you arrive, whether or not you have finished the day's word.

Leaderboards and your profile

Pick a nickname and one of 90 avatars once — on the name card when you first open the game, or later by tapping your name in the ✦ stats panel — and it follows you into every game. A photo you add stays on your phone; everyone else sees your avatar.

• Daily word — one board per language and level. Solve in 1 guess for 600 points, 2 for 500 … 6 for 100. Each hint costs 50 and the clue 25. The faster player wins a tie. Tabs: Today, This week (your points added up) and All-time.
• Arcade games — your best round this week, and your best week ever. Ashta Chamma scores a win against the bots: 100, or 250 against a Smart bot, plus 50 per capture. The brain games and Search Wordz score the total of your best result on each of their ten levels, so replaying a level for three stars raises it.
• Weeks start on Monday at midnight, India time. Last week's top three wear a 👑 all week.
• Your result card shows how close you are: "38 points to pass Ravi". Delete your name and scores any time with 🗑 Delete my scores.

Settings worth knowing

• Themes — Gold, Stars, Blossoms and Forest. The last two are light backgrounds, with animals that wander across the board.
• Colour-blind mode adds a symbol to each tile and key, so the feedback never depends on colour alone.
• Sound and haptics are both off until you turn them on.
• Reduced motion is honoured everywhere: if your device asks for less animation, every celebration still happens, it just happens at once.
• Daily reminder — an optional notification at a time you pick.

Offline and installing

Padamz is a progressive web app. Visit once and it keeps working with no connection, including the word lists for every language you have opened. Use your browser's Add to home screen to install it, or get the Android app.

← Start today's word