Hexcodle

Hexcodle is a free daily color game where you study one mystery swatch and try to name its exact six-digit hex code in five guesses. Each hex code breaks into red, green, and blue pairs, and after every attempt the game points your digits higher or lower with arrows and signals how close your overall guess is. It rewards a feel for how RGB values mix as much as careful, methodical adjustment.

What is Hexcodle?

Hexcodle is a daily browser game built around a single idea: every web color has a six-digit hexadecimal address, and you have to find today's. The game shows you one mystery swatch and asks you to type a hex code such as 8844cc, where the first pair sets red, the middle pair sets green, and the last pair sets blue. You get five guesses to land on the exact code. There is nothing to download and no account to create; you load the page, study the color, and start typing on the on-screen hex keypad that runs 0 through 9 and A through F.

What sets Hexcodle apart from most Wordle-style spinoffs is that its answer space is continuous rather than a list of valid words. You are not matching a dictionary entry, you are navigating a numeric range, so the feedback is directional instead of simply right or wrong. After each guess the game points your digits higher or lower with arrows and gives you a read on how close the whole guess is, with the arrows signaling whether a digit is off by a little or by a lot. That turns each round into a guided search: a good player treats the arrows like a binary search across the red, green, and blue channels, halving the distance to the target with every attempt rather than guessing blindly. For people who write CSS or pick brand colors, reading a swatch and sensing its rough RGB makeup is a real skill, and Hexcodle exercises exactly that.

The game was made by Hannah Larsen and Ekim Karabey, a pair with computer science and software backgrounds who were already playing daily puzzle games together. Larsen suggested a color-guessing game based on hex codes, and Hexcodle launched in August 2023. It grew a steady following among designers and developers, and the creators have run community touches over time, including contests where players submit favorite hex codes and color names. Notably, the daily answer is chosen by a randomized algorithm, so even the creators do not know the day's color in advance and play it cold like everyone else.

Hexcodle resets once a day with a fresh numbered puzzle, and each result is built to share: your grid of guesses and how close you got travels as a compact summary you can post or compare with friends. If five guesses with hints feels too gentle, a hard mode takes away the closeness feedback so you no longer see how far off your guess is and have to rely on far less guidance, and a separate Hexcodle Mini offers a shorter variant for a quicker round. There is also an archive of past puzzles and a custom game option, so you are not limited to the current day. The vibe is calm and analytical rather than frantic, the difficulty sits in a satisfying middle ground for anyone with a little color sense, and it rewards patience over speed.

How to play Hexcodle

1. Open Hexcodle and look closely at the target color swatch, judging whether it reads warm or cool and how light or dark it is.
2. Type a six-digit hex code such as 8844cc using the on-screen keypad, remembering the order is red, then green, then blue.
3. Press Enter to submit and read the feedback: arrows show whether each digit must go higher or lower, and you get a sense of how close the overall guess is.
4. Adjust your next guess channel by channel, nudging the red, green, and blue pairs in the directions the arrows indicate.
5. Keep narrowing the range with each attempt, using the size of the gap to decide whether to make a large or small change.
6. Match the exact hex code within five guesses, then share your result grid or compare your score with friends.

Tips and strategy

• Open with a balanced mid-range code like 808080 so the first set of arrows gives you direction on all three channels at once.
• Treat each channel like a binary search: if an arrow says go higher, jump roughly halfway up the remaining range instead of inching one digit at a time.
• Lock one channel before moving on, for example settle the red pair completely so you only have green and blue left to solve.
• Within a pair, fix the left digit first since it controls the larger value, then fine-tune the right digit for the last bit of precision.
• Judge the swatch's temperature before guessing: warm colors lean on higher red, cool colors lean on higher blue, which saves you a wasted opening attempt.
• If you want a tougher session, switch to hard mode to lose the closeness feedback, or play Hexcodle Mini for a faster round when you are short on time.

Good to know

Resets

Daily, one new puzzle per day

Guesses

5 attempts (main game)

Cost

Free to play, no download

Creators

Hannah Larsen and Ekim Karabey

Launched

August 2023

Archive

Yes, past puzzles plus custom games and a Hexcodle Mini variant

Hexcodle FAQ

Is Hexcodle free?

Yes. Hexcodle is free to play in a web browser with no download and no account required. The creators accept optional tips through a Buy Me a Coffee link, but nothing about the daily game is paywalled.

How many guesses do you get in Hexcodle?

The main game gives you five guesses to find the exact six-digit hex code. After each miss you get arrow hints showing which digits to raise or lower, and the separate Hexcodle Mini runs as a shorter variant.

When does Hexcodle reset?

Hexcodle posts a fresh numbered puzzle once every day, so a new color is available daily. Each day's answer is picked by a randomized algorithm, which the creators say leaves even them guessing the new puzzle cold.

What does hard mode change in Hexcodle?

Hard mode takes away the closeness feedback, so you no longer get a read on how far off your guess is and have to work with far less guidance than the standard mode offers. It is meant for confident players who want a stiffer challenge.

Is Hexcodle related to Wordle?

It is inspired by Wordle's daily one-puzzle format but is not made by the same people or connected to it. Instead of guessing a word, you guess a color's hex code, and the feedback is directional with arrows rather than simple letter matching.

Who made Hexcodle?

Hexcodle was created by Hannah Larsen and Ekim Karabey, who have computer science and software backgrounds. Larsen came up with the idea for a hex-code color game, and they launched it in August 2023.