Grow the word. Spin the dials. Outlast your rival.
He'll keep. Take your time.
Take turns reshaping one word. Leave your rival with no move to make and you win the duel. Every letter you play scores — first to 100 wins.
Grow — add a letter to either end.
ART → TART → TARTS
Spin — change one letter in place.
TART → CART → CARD
Every word must be real, and never one already played. Your first move is a Grow.
A word that isn’t real, or one you’ve already played, is a jam. You get three per game. Three jams lose the duel. In Race to 100 they seal the chain instead. Three jams seal the chain — your rival banks 5 pts.
In Last standing: can’t make a word on your turn? You’re out — that’s the loss. Surrendering loses too.
Three every duel — Letterex Complete (Paid).
One every duel — Letterex Free.
Note, the Daily Duel has no hints.
Each word scores points (below). First to 100 points wins the match.
When a player can’t spin — or jams 3 times — the chain is sealed against them: their rival banks 5, a fresh word spins up, and you continue until 100 pts is reached.
Surrendering still loses the match.
The Locksmith — Apprentice plays everyday words, Journeyman thinks a move ahead, Mastermind finds the crushing one. Beat him badly in Last standing and he concedes — he never concedes a race.
⚔️ Daily Duel — one Race to 100 a day against the Locksmith, the same word and difficulty for everyone in the world. The difficulty changes daily. No hints, one try a day.
🧘 Zen — solo, no losing. One long chain, unlimited hints, no jams.
Dictionary: based on the ENABLE word list (public domain), edited. Word frequencies: FrequencyWords by Hermit Dave, from the OpenSubtitles corpus, CC BY-SA 4.0.
WordNet definitions © 2011 The Trustees of Princeton University. WordNet 3.1 is used under its licence, which permits use, copying, modification and distribution for any purpose provided this notice appears in all copies. Princeton University makes no representations or warranties about its suitability for any purpose, and it is provided “as is” without express or implied warranty.
Word lists: 12dicts by Alan Beale; Dale-Chall, Dolch & Spache educator lists. Word frequencies: FrequencyWords by Hermit Dave, CC BY-SA 4.0.
🔒 Chain Relics keeps your five longest chains and Letter Count tallies all twenty-six — and the Duel Archive lets you play any past Daily Duel again: the same word, the same tier, a second run at the day that got away.
A once-a-day nudge when a new Daily Duel is ready. Works in the installed app.
Clicks, dial turns and little jingles as you play.
A short buzz when you jam or win. Phones only.
Turns off the moving effects — the spinning letters, the Locksmith working the scoreboard, drifting sparks.
Colors picked to stay clear with red-green color blindness — “You” turns blue, jams turn orange.
Letterex · no ads, no tracking
Made by Kelly & Alan R.
No ads. No tracking. Plays fully offline.
Dictionary: based on the ENABLE word list (public domain), edited. Word frequencies:
FrequencyWords by Hermit Dave (OpenSubtitles corpus), CC BY-SA 4.0.
WordNet definitions © 2011 The Trustees of Princeton University. WordNet 3.1 is used under its licence, which permits use, copying, modification and distribution for any purpose provided this notice appears in all copies. Princeton University makes no representations or warranties about its suitability for any purpose, and it is provided “as is” without express or implied warranty.
© 2026 Arko Services Inc.
The Locksmith's private diary.
Every Daily Duel, and how it went.
Every letter you have played — the one you add or change each turn. Two Players is not counted.
The five longest chains ever forged.