How to Play Chainle: Rules, Rounds and Modes

Five rounds, one word each, up to 1,000 points per round and up to 5,000 per table — here is how a game fits together.

The shape of a game

A Chainle table has five rounds. In each round you see one or more clue words and type a single word that connects them. Every round is worth up to 1,000 points, so a complete table is worth up to 5,000. There is no timer and no speed bonus — you can think for as long as you like — and no account is needed to play.

The three round types

Rounds 01 to 03 are two-word bridges: a pair of clues, and one word that connects both. Official worked examples include piano + lock → key, faucet + trumpet → valve, tree + book → leaf, snow + tennis → ball, and candle + honeycomb → wax.

Round 04 raises the difficulty with a three-word bridge: one word must connect three clues at once. The official example is beach + hourglass + desert → sand.

Round 05 is the close-meaning round. You are given a meaning cue and must find a different word that preserves that sense. The official example: for calm, cued as “peaceful and untroubled”, the answer serene keeps the meaning.

What counts as an answer

One English word, 2 to 28 letters, with no spaces, hyphens or punctuation — and no fixed five-letter rule. Common word forms and selected British and American spellings are supported: “leaves” scores the same as “leaf”, and “colour” is read as “color”.

Three kinds of entry do not use your turn: a word outside the scoring vocabulary, an empty answer, or a repeat of one of the clues (or its inflected form). A typo that happens to be another valid word is different — it is scored like any other answer.

How points work

Each answer is scored from 0 to 1,000. The current formula blends 80% of the geometric mean of the per-clue connection strengths with 20% of the weakest single connection — so a lopsided answer is punished hard, and a balanced 80 + 80 beats a flashy 100 + 20. Recognized answers (the featured word plus selected alternatives) earn the full 1,000, and in the current rules even estimates for unlisted words can reach it.

The three modes

The Daily puzzle gives everyone the same five rounds and resets at 00:00 UTC. Practice draws from a separate pool of 200 rounds and never touches your daily streak. The Archive holds earlier published dates, each replayed under its original scoring rules.

Where to go next

The pages in this cluster unpack the round types, the full word rules and the modes in detail. When you want to score better rather than just play, move on to the scoring guide, and from there to the strategy cluster.

In this section

The Three Chainle Round Types: Two-Word, Three-Word and Close Meaning
Every Chainle table mixes three kinds of rounds, and each one asks a slightly different question.
Chainle Word Rules: What Counts as a Valid Answer
One English word per turn, and the boundaries are wider — and narrower — than most players expect.
Chainle Modes: Daily, Practice and Archive
Daily, Practice and Archive draw from the same 1,200 clue sets but follow different scoring rules.