The world has been gripped by Wordle, the once-a-day vocabulary challenge which invites users to guess a five-letter word.
But now there's a new version especially targeted at Londoners in which the aim is to guess the name of a tube station instead.
It's called Roundle, and it's expected to be a big hit with travellers in the capital.
As in the original game the letters change colour if they appear in the name of the selected station. Here we've opened with UPNEY, a key station at the eastern end of the District line, and received two coloured tiles in response. The N has turned ochre so that's the right letter in the wrong place, and the E is in green so that's the right letter in the right place. With a limited number of 5-letter tube stations on the map, we've really narrowed things down already!
Our second guess is ACTON and this has also earned two coloured tiles. The green tile confirms that the chosen station begins with A and the ochre tile confirms that the letter N appears elsewhere - not in the middle and not at the end. Admittedly Acton isn't an ideal choice because it doesn't have an E in it and we know there's one of those. Also London doesn't have a station called Acton, tube or otherwise, only seven separate stations with Acton in their name... but in this game it sometimes pays to guess for information's sake.
It's now a simple task to enter the correct solution which is ANGEL. London has a limited number of five-letter tube stations, only one of which starts with A and has E as its 4th letter, so ANGEL it is!
At this point we have the option to share our Roundle success on social media by means of a grid of coloured squares, which is sure to delight our followers and encourage even more of them to join the fun.
Here's another example game which plays out very differently.
This time we've chosen to start with BRENT. Obviously this can't be the correct answer because it's not a current station, but it was the name of Brent Cross station prior to 1976 so the underlying software accepts it. ANGEL is a perfectly sensible second guess but proves incorrect, and its telltale green E confirms the answer must be UPNEY. Every Roundle game is different so expect many hours of enjoyment.
For an expert challenge, Roundle also comes with the option to broaden the game to include the entire tube map. This brings in the DLR, Overground and TfL Rail, not to mention trams and Thameslink, and increases the pool of possible five-letter answers by 50%!
HAYES is a bad opener because Hayes station doesn't appear on the tube map, only Hayes and Harlington. PENGE is a bad second choice because there isn't a Penge on the tube map, only Penge West. ERITH is on the Thameslink line but isn't served by Thameslink services so doesn't appear on the current tube map either. But the information gathered from this trio of impossible stations does allow us to jump to a correct conclusion, namely that the answer must be the tram stop ARENA. Roundle is the tube map word quiz that keeps on giving.
Readers outside the capital may be interested in a separate app called WordRail which invites you to guess the name of a five-letter railway station.
The solution to this Midlands-tastic Wordrail puzzle is left as an exercise for the reader.
However there are 86 different National Rail stations which could fit the grid as potential solutions, thereby making Wordrail 28 times more difficult than Roundle, so players may find the nationwide game beyond their reach.
Best stick with Roundle, the new quiz craze that's about to be a huge hit with Londoners... at least until everyone gets bored and moves on to the next big thing.
