A game for word nerds who are bird nerds

If you’re a word nerd, you’ve probably already plunged into Wordle, the word guessing game that’s taken the Internet by storm, racking up millions of daily users in just three months. But if you’re a bird nerd as well as a word nerd, there’s a game for you, too. Audubon’s graphic designer Alex Tomlinson developed BRDL, a game that challenges players to guess the four-letter banding codes that researchers use as a shorthand for species names (like MODO for mourning dove or GREG for great egret).

The game has taken off, and it’s inspired a spinoff for British birders, who use different codes. “It is so surreal!” Tomlinson told Audubon. “I had no idea such a niche thing would be so popular!”

For another recent twist on Wordle, try “A GREENER WORLDLE,” a climate-focused game developed by the International Institute for Environment & Development. The five-letter word of the day is related to climate change. Guess a letter right and flip the tiles from yellow to green. “You want the tiles to turn green, just like the planet,” the rules read.

Read more from Audubon and Grist.