Hertl
Guess the NHL player from revealed attributes.
Hertl is a daily hockey guessing game where you try to identify a mystery NHL player in eight tries. Every guess has to be a currently active player, and each one returns a row of color-coded clues comparing your pick to the hidden answer. The name is a nod to NHL forward Tomas Hertl.
What is Hertl?
The game works the way a lot of sports deduction puzzles do, but the attributes are all hockey. When you type a player name and submit it, Hertl shows a row of cells for six categories: TEAM, CONF for conference, DIV for division, POS for position, AGE, and NATION for nationality. Each cell is colored to tell you how close you got. Green means an exact match with the mystery player and grey means no match at all. Yellow means you are partly there, for example a team cell can turn yellow when your guess shares the mystery player's conference or division but not the exact team.
Two of the categories are numbers rather than labels, and those behave a little differently. AGE and jersey number show a small directional arrow along with their color. An up arrow means the answer's value is higher than your guess, and a down arrow means it is lower. That turns the numeric clues into a range you can narrow down over several rounds, so even a wrong guess on age or number pushes you toward the right window.
Hertl is built entirely around the current NHL roster pool. Only active players count as valid guesses and answers, so the puzzle rewards real knowledge of who is playing right now, which team they are on, and where they come from. It sits in the same family as other athlete-guessing games but keeps the focus narrow to hockey.
Beyond the main daily puzzle there is a random challenge mode for people who want more than one game a day. The daily puzzle gives everyone the same player to chase, which is the version friends usually compare, while the random mode lets you keep playing fresh puzzles on demand. The site does not name a creator or a launch year, and it does not advertise a cost, so the game is a free daily built around one clear idea.
How to play Hertl
- Open Hertl at hertl.app in your browser.
- Type the name of any currently active NHL player as your first guess and submit it.
- Read the six category cells that appear: TEAM, CONF, DIV, POS, AGE, and NATION.
- Use the colors to judge each clue, green for an exact match, yellow for a partial match, and grey for no match.
- Follow the up or down arrows on AGE and jersey number to see whether the answer's value is higher or lower than your guess.
- Keep refining your guesses with what you have learned until you name the mystery player, within eight tries.
Tips and strategy
- Open with a well-known player from a strong team so you lock down team, conference, and division context early.
- Treat a yellow team cell as a real clue, since it points to the mystery player sharing your guess's conference or division without being on the same team.
- Use the AGE arrow to bracket the answer, guessing older and younger players to close in on the right range.
- Do the same with jersey number, letting the up and down arrows narrow the possible number quickly.
- Once you know the position and nationality, filter your remaining guesses to players who fit both to avoid wasting a turn.
- Play the random mode to get comfortable with the clue colors before you spend your eight guesses on the daily puzzle.
Good to know
- Category
- Sports (NHL hockey)
- Guesses
- 8
- Resets
- Daily, new player each day
- Modes
- Daily challenge plus a random mode
- Cost
- Free to play
- Platform
- Browser
- Creator
- Not identified on the site
- Launched
- Not stated on the site
Hertl FAQ
Is Hertl free?
Yes. The site shows no cost, so the game is free to play in a browser.
How do you play Hertl?
Guess an active NHL player, then read the color-coded clues for team, conference, division, position, age, and nationality. Green is an exact match, yellow is partial, and grey is no match, with arrows on age and jersey number showing higher or lower. You get eight tries to name the mystery player.
When does Hertl reset?
It resets daily with a new mystery player each day. The exact reset time and timezone are not stated on the site. There is also a random mode if you want to play more puzzles right away.
Is Hertl like Wordle?
It uses the same guess-and-feedback loop as Wordle, but instead of letters you compare NHL player attributes, and only currently active players are valid guesses and answers.
Who made Hertl?
The live site does not name a creator or host, and it does not list a launch year. The name references NHL forward Tomas Hertl.