One Shot starts with completed, colored clue rows. You deduce the one word that fits them all. It has three daily puzzles—Easy, Medium, and Hard—and each tier has an Elo rating that changes with your accuracy.
To play, choose a tier from the Easy, Medium, and Hard banner. Solve Easy to unlock Medium, then solve Medium to unlock Hard. The filled rows show the clues: green marks a letter in the correct position, orange marks a letter that appears elsewhere, and grey means the letter is absent. Enter your answer in the empty row with the on-screen keyboard, then press ENTER. The hint button shows the hint’s cost and adjusted reward before you use it.
One Shot measures logic rather than guesswork. The clues arrive up front, so the challenge is constraint satisfaction, not elimination through trial. The Elo system penalizes rushed attempts and rewards deliberate deduction. The hint marketplace lets you trade points for clarity with full transparency.
Reading feedback
Wrong answers trigger an immediate red banner showing the Elo penalty: "LATEU is incorrect (-5 ELO). Keep trying!" The on-screen keyboard inherits color coding from the clue rows, highlighting which keys remain viable and which are ruled out.
Modes
Easy, Medium, Hard
Three daily puzzles unlocked in sequence. Each tier displays its current reward—"Reward: +14 ELO" under Easy—and the top banner shows your live ranking.
Calendar archive
The monthly calendar records dates as won, lost, or available. You can reopen archived puzzles, but the midnight rule still applies: a puzzle opened today must be completed today or it counts as a loss.
Tips for cleaner solves
The on-screen keyboard reflects the clue-row colors. Use it as your letter inventory instead of rescanning the grid.
Before buying a hint, check the cost and revised reward shown on the button. Compare them to see whether the purchase leaves you with enough points.
Only open a tier you can finish. According to the official panel, a puzzle left incomplete after midnight counts as a loss and affects your ranking and archive record.
What happens if I leave a puzzle in progress?
A daily puzzle opened and unfinished past midnight counts as a loss. The same rule applies to archive puzzles, using the midnight of the day you open them.
How much does a wrong answer cost?
Five Elo points. The error banner confirms the deduction on screen and allows you to continue.
Are statistics stored on a server?
No. Progress and Elo are stored client-side in the browser without tracking cookies. The About panel offers JSON export and import for backups across devices.