How to play Wikle
Get from one Wikipedia article to another by clicking the links inside each page. Nothing else.
The goal
Every game is a route with two ends. You start on the from article and race to the to article. Each link you follow is a move. You win the moment you land on the target, and your result is your time and your number of moves.
The rules
- Only links to other Wikipedia articles count. They're blue and underlined.
- Links that leave the game, like external sites, files and edit links, are plain text with a dotted rule. Clicking them does nothing.
- There's no search box, so every move has to be a link.
- Going back with your browser counts as a move, the same as clicking a link.
- A link that redirects to the target counts as reaching it, so you don't need the exact title.
Time and moves
The clock starts when the first article loads and stops when you arrive. It pauses while each page loads, so a slow connection never costs you time. Moves are the number of links between the start and the target. On the daily leaderboard, the fastest time ranks first.
The daily challenge
Once a day, everyone gets the same route. It stays hidden until you press start, so you can't plan ahead, and only your first finish counts. A new challenge begins at midnight UTC. A game you started just before midnight still counts toward the day it began.
Today's leaderboard unlocks once you finish, so nobody spoils the route for you. Boards from the past week are open to everyone.
Tips for faster routes
Climb to a hub, then descend
Narrow articles link to few places. Broad ones, like countries, sciences and centuries, link to almost everything. Work your way up to a hub near your target's subject, then narrow back down.
Read the infobox and the footer
The box at the top right of many articles links to places, people and dates. The navigation boxes at the very bottom group related articles and are often the quickest way across a topic.
Think about how the target is described
Ask what country, era or field the target belongs to, and which articles would mention it in their first paragraph. Aim for those.
Don't read, skim
You're looking for one link, not learning the subject. Scan the opening paragraphs and section headings first, where the most important links usually are.