CogniBump publishes six different word games, and almost every new player asks the same question on day one: which one do I actually open? The short answer is that they all share the same Wordle-style core (guess the hidden word in six tries, with green/yellow/grey letter feedback), but each variant targets a specific situation. This guide walks through the five common scenarios we see in family group chats, classroom warm-ups, and lunch-break Slack threads.
Decision table
| You want… | Open |
|---|---|
| Practice alone, beat the clock | WordRush (5) or WordRush 6 |
| Two people, one puzzle, pass the phone | TagTeam or TagTeam 6 |
| Shorter relay (newer players) | Usually TagTeam—fewer guesses per person |
| Bigger vocabulary flex | TagTeam 6 or WordRush 6 |
| You encode the secret for someone else | Challenge (5) or Challenge 6 |
WordRush vs WordRush 6: solo sprint, two difficulty tiers
WordRush is the daily 5-letter sprint. Same word for everyone in the world, six guesses, a stopwatch running from your first letter to the green row. Most regular players finish in 60–120 seconds — fast enough to slot in between meetings, slow enough that a sloppy first guess actually costs you. The rolling personal-best display is the hook: once you know your average is 87 seconds, every dropped second feels earned.
WordRush 6 is the same idea with one more letter. That one letter changes the experience more than people expect. The English 6-letter dictionary is dramatically larger and has many more uncommon letter patterns — double letters, unusual endings (-OUGHT, -ATION-stems, etc.), and silent letters become a real factor. Expect your first few runs to take 3–5× longer than WordRush. After a week, that gap shrinks to about 2×, which is when the daily 6 starts to feel rewarding.
Pick 5 if: you have less than two minutes, you're playing on phone keyboard, or this is a kid's first word game of the week. Pick 6 if: you want a real vocabulary stretch, or you've cleared the 5 already and want a second daily run.
TagTeam vs TagTeam 6: cooperative relays
TagTeam takes the same daily word and splits it across two players. Player A guesses, taps "pass," sends the URL to player B, and B picks up where A left off — same board, same remaining guesses, encoded in the link. It's the closest thing CogniBump has to couples therapy, in the best way: you'll both be staring at the same yellow E and disagreeing about whether it lives in slot 3 or slot 4.
The relay format changes strategy more than people expect. In solo WordRush, you might burn an aggressive first guess that locks in a lot of letters. In TagTeam, your partner has to act on whatever you leave them, so most experienced relay teams open with a "covering" first guess (lots of common letters, no repeats) to give partner two clear directions to choose between. We've watched two casual players consistently beat one expert this way.
TagTeam 6 is the same relay on the 6-letter board. Because guesses are split, each player only solves half the puzzle, which makes the harder dictionary surprisingly playable. Use it when one player is significantly stronger than the other — pairing helps both.
WordRush Challenge: when you want to be the puzzle master
Both Challenge and Challenge 6 let you pick the secret word and generate a link. Send it to someone and they get a fresh board with your chosen target — no daily lock, no shared word, just you setting the puzzle. We see this most for:
- Inside-joke words (a friend's nickname, a family in-joke, a band name).
- Vocabulary practice for ESL learners or kids — pick a word from this week's spelling list.
- Asynchronous mini-rivalries: "I solved yours in 4, can you solve mine in 4?"
One quick note: the link encodes the answer, so anyone who URL-decodes it can cheat. We assume good faith — these are friends, not strangers.
Quick rules of thumb
- Phone keyboard, less than 2 minutes: WordRush.
- Two players, one device, one shared puzzle: TagTeam.
- Two players, two devices, async (group chat): WordRush — both play the same daily word and compare times.
- Custom word for someone: Challenge.
- Bored of 5-letter words: level up to any of the 6-letter variants.
All of these are free, run entirely in your browser, and don't require an account. Progress and streaks are stored locally on your device, so clearing site data resets them — useful to know before you wipe cookies.
Related: Word games hub · For families · Help & FAQ