Conexo rules: how the word game works

What Conexo is

Conexo is a connection word game. You are not spelling a hidden word, and you are not guessing one letter at a time. You are sorting. Sixteen words sit on a grid. Four of them share a connection. Find that set, then the next, until four groups are open.

Daydash states the goal in the public how-to-play text on conexo.ws: "Form groups of 4 words that have something in common." This site uses that ruleset for an independent daily board. It is not the official Daydash game, and it does not reuse their puzzles.

A connection can be a plain set, such as four pets or four metals. It can also be a pattern you have to say out loud: four words that precede "stick," four palindromes, or four words that sound like letter names. The last group is usually the one that does not look like a category until the other three are gone.

The board

Each daily board has exactly 16 unique words, split into groups numbered 1 through 4. Group 1 is the most literal set. Group 4 is the wordplay set. When a group is solved it leaves the grid and shows its category above the remaining words.

The starting order is shuffled from the date, so the same calendar day always opens in the same arrangement. Shuffle on the board only changes the words still in play. It does not count as a guess or a hint.

Solved groups use four fixed colors. Group 1 is orange, group 2 is green, group 3 is blue, and group 4 is purple. Those colors are the score, not decoration. The share grid uses the same four squares, plus a cross for a miss and a bulb for a hint.

How a guess works

Click a word to select it. Click it again to deselect it. You may hold one, two, or three words for as long as you like. Nothing is checked until the fourth word lands.

On the fourth selection the game looks for a group that contains all four words. If it finds one, those words lock in and the category is revealed. If it does not, the selection clears, the words stay on the grid, and the attempt is stored as a miss.

There is no mistake cap. Connections, the New York Times game introduced on June 12, 2023, ends after 4 wrong groups. Conexo does not. You can miss ten times and still finish. The cost is the guess count on the share line, not a lost board.

A miss does not say that you were one word away. If three words belonged together and the fourth did not, the board still only reports that the set is not a group. That silence is part of the rules.

Hints

The Hint button reveals words, not the category title. The first press outlines 2 words from the easiest group that is still unsolved. If group 1 is already done, it uses group 2, then group 3. It never skips ahead to a harder group while an easier one is open.

The second press outlines a third word from that same group. A third press does nothing. Hints also stop once 3 groups are solved, because a hint on the last group would name most of the answer.

Taking a hint clears any words you had selected, adds a bulb to the share grid, and raises the hint total. When you later solve the group those hint words belong to, the outlines disappear. The Conexo hint today page prints the same 2 words, and the third word, without making you spend the button.

Guesses, hints, and the share grid

Guesses are attempts that are not hints. A correct group and a miss both count. Hints are counted separately. A finished line can read "6 guesses and 1 hint" or, with no help, "4 guesses."

The share grid is one mark per attempt, in the order you played. Correct groups use the group color. Misses use a cross. Hints use a bulb. Marks wrap after 10, which is how the Conexo share text is built. Share copies that block to the clipboard after you solve the board.

Progress for a date stays in this browser under a key for that day. There is no account. Clearing site data clears the board. The same date on the Conexo game page and in the archive uses the same saved game.

The daily board

A new board starts at midnight UTC. The play page, the hint page, and the answer page all use that clock, so "today" means the same date on each of them.

Past dates stay in the archive. Each archive page is playable, and the solved groups for that date are printed under the board. Today's full solve is also on the Conexo answer today page if you want the categories before you play.

If you want the mechanic without the spoiler, stay on the game page. The category names appear only after you find the group, or on the answer pages.

A short example

Suppose the easiest group is pets: DOG, CAT, HAMSTER, PARROT. You might select DOG and CAT, then hesitate. Nothing happens. You add HAMSTER and PARROT. On PARROT the board checks, the four words leave the grid, and the category "Pets" locks above.

If the fourth word had been CAKE, the four tiles would clear and Guesses would move from 0 to 1. DOG, CAT, and HAMSTER would still be on the grid for the next try. A hint at that moment, with pets still unsolved, would outline the first two pet words rather than a word from a harder group.

That is the whole loop: select, auto-check, reveal or miss, optional hint, repeat until four categories are up.

Four kinds of groups

Most boards mix four difficulties, even though the colors only appear after you solve them. Knowing the mix keeps you from forcing every set into a trivia category.

Literal sets are the orange groups. They are things you could point at: pets, metals, compass points, cheeses. If four words are simply members of one everyday class, take the group. Do not wait for a cleverer link.

Synonym sets sit nearby. Glad, merry, joyful, and cheery are not a container you can open. They mean the same thing. When three words feel like a mood or a speed and the fourth is the odd one, the link is the meaning, not the topic.

Phrase sets hide a word that is not on the board. Joy, lip, fish, and chop do not look related until you put "stick" after each of them. Key, skate, snow, and dash work the same way with "board." If three words refuse a category, say them aloud with a short word before or after.

Pattern sets are the purple ones. Palindromes, a shared ending such as ATCH, anagrams of one another, or words that are pronounced as letter names. These almost never look related on the first pass. Clear the other three groups and the pattern is what remains.

A useful order is: lock any literal set you are sure of, then scan for a missing word that completes a phrase, and leave the leftovers for the pattern. The hint button follows that same order, because it always opens the lowest unsolved group number.