NBAdle

NBAdle is a daily word game built around NBA player last names. You get eight tries to spell out the hidden name, and each guess colors its letters green, yellow, or gray the way Wordle does. If you keep missing, the game gives you text hints at rounds three, five, and seven.

What is NBAdle?

NBAdle is Wordle for basketball surnames. Each day there is one mystery player, and your job is to type a valid NBA last name and read the tile colors that come back. Green means the letter sits in the correct spot, yellow means the letter is in the name but somewhere else, and gray means the letter is not in the name at all. You work through those clues over eight guesses, narrowing the possible names until the tiles line up all green.

A few rules shape how you type. The answer is always ten letters or fewer, so long names like Antetokounmpo are ruled out from the start. Special characters are stripped, which means a name like O'Neal is entered as ONeal, with no apostrophe or period to worry about. That length cap and the clean spelling keep the puzzle focused on letters rather than punctuation, and they narrow the pool of possible answers once you start counting tiles.

NBAdle is a pure spelling puzzle, which sets it apart from other NBA guessing games. The attribute-grid games found on other sites reveal a player's team, position, height, and age and ask you to compare rosters. This one does none of that. You are guessing letters, not matching stats. To keep it fair when the letters alone are not enough, NBAdle adds extra help: a lightbulb icon opens hints that appear after wrong guesses at rounds three, five, and seven, giving you a little more to go on the deeper you get.

NBAdle was made by kevinwei30, who is credited as Kevin Wei. It is open source, built as a fork of the react-wordle project and released under the MIT license, so the code behind the color-coded tiles and the hint system is public. A fresh puzzle arrives every day, which makes it a quick basketball-flavored word challenge for anyone who follows the league.

How to play NBAdle

1. Open NBAdle at nbadle.com.
2. Type a real NBA player's last name as your first guess, using no apostrophes or periods (enter O'Neal as ONeal).
3. Read the tile colors: green means the letter is in the correct spot, yellow means it is in the name but misplaced, and gray means it is not in the name.
4. Use those clues to refine your next guess, keeping in mind the answer is ten letters or fewer.
5. Tap the lightbulb icon to read the extra hints that appear after wrong guesses at rounds three, five, and seven.
6. Keep guessing until you spell the name correctly or run out of your eight tries.

Tips and strategy

• Start with a common, medium-length last name that mixes vowels and frequent consonants so you light up as many tiles as possible early.
• Remember the answer is capped at ten letters, so cross very long surnames off your list from the first guess.
• Strip apostrophes and periods before you type, since the game ignores them and a name like O'Neal is entered as ONeal.
• Pay close attention to yellow tiles: the letter belongs in the name, so try moving it to a different position on your next guess.
• Do not burn all eight guesses too fast. Save a try or two for after the round three, five, and seven hints appear.
• Open the lightbulb hints when you are stuck rather than guessing blindly, since each one narrows the field of possible players.

Good to know

Category

Sports word game (NBA)

Resets

Daily, a new puzzle each day

Guesses

8 tries

Modes

Single daily last-name puzzle

Feedback

Green/yellow/gray letter tiles plus text hints at rounds 3, 5, and 7

Creator

Kevin Wei (GitHub kevinwei30)

Source

Open source, MIT-licensed fork of react-wordle

Platform

Browser, nbadle.com

NBAdle FAQ

How do you play NBAdle?

Open nbadle.com and type a real NBA player's last name. Each guess colors its letters green (correct spot), yellow (in the name but wrong spot), or gray (not in the name). You have eight tries, the answer is ten letters or fewer, and special characters are ignored, so O'Neal is entered as ONeal. Extra hints appear via a lightbulb icon after wrong guesses at rounds three, five, and seven.

When does NBAdle reset?

NBAdle resets daily, with a new mystery player to spell each day.

Is NBAdle like Wordle?

Yes. It uses the same green, yellow, and gray letter feedback as Wordle, and it is built as a fork of the open-source react-wordle project. The twist is that every answer is an NBA player's last name, capped at ten letters, with added text hints as you go.

How is NBAdle different from other NBA guessing games?

Unlike the attribute-grid games that reveal a player's team, position, height, and age, nbadle.com is a pure spelling game. You type NBA last names and get Wordle-style letter-position feedback rather than comparing roster stats.

Who made NBAdle?

It was made by kevinwei30, credited as Kevin Wei. It is open source and released under the MIT license as a fork of react-wordle.