Sam Rosenthal, creative director of Blaseball developer The Game Band, has launched Dartwords, a new word guessing game that promises a conversational twist. Each day brings a secret word, and players have ten chances to figure it out. A Clippy-like character named Darty provides hints based on the player’s guesses, with responses ranging from broader clues generated by an AI model to hand-written clues as the player gets closer to the answer.

The game aims to stand out in a crowded field of daily puzzles inspired by Wordle's success. Rosenthal believes that Darty's character and conversational style could be Dartwords' differentiator, making the experience more engaging than traditional word games.

While it took some rounds for me to get the hang of it, the open-ended nature of Dartwords can lead to frustrating moments as you try to think of a word that will yield a good hint. However, with practice, I managed to solve the puzzle in just three guesses—a personal record. The hope is that with more players and feedback, the system will improve over time.

Dartwords joins the eclectic lineup of games from The Game Band, which includes the narrative puzzler Where Cards Fall and the surreal baseball simulator Blaseball. The studio's latest venture into a particularly challenging space has been buoyed by the breakout success of Wordle and other similar games. Rosenthal’s vision is to create a game that feels more improvisational and conversational, with Darty serving as the charming character players can vent their frustrations towards.