Wend Game Today

Hi Indie Hackers,

On June 9th, LinkedIn launched a new word game called "Wend"—a daily word-finding grid puzzle.

As someone who loves logic and word games, I was immediately hooked. But the 1-daily puzzle constraint left me wanting more. I realized other fans might want an unlimited sandbox to practice, so I challenged myself to build and ship an independent practice tool in under 72 hours.

Here is what I learned and the technical challenges I faced:

### 1. The Core Tech Challenge (Grid Algorithm)

The game rules are simple but strict: players connect adjacent letters, and every single open tile on the grid must be used exactly once.

Generating these exact-cover boards was the trickiest part. I had to write a simple backtracking generator in Node.js to check word connectivity, ensure there is only one unique solution path, and verify that there are no dead-ends. I then pre-generated the validated puzzles to keep the frontend fast.

### 2. Fast Launch & Instant Indexing

I launched [wendgame.today](https://wendgame.today/) as an independent, ad-free practice board. To make sure search engines understood it, I set up clean JSON-LD schema markup (`VideoGame` and WebApplication).

Surprisingly, Google indexed the site within 9 hours of submitting it to the Search Console, showing how responsive search crawlers are to sudden, high-demand trending topics.

### 3. Looking for Feedback (Drag & Draw UX)

Since the game is heavily based on connecting tiles, I want to make sure the mobile gesture experience feels smooth.

If you have a minute, I’d love for you to try a game on your phone and tell me:

* How does the touch drag-to-connect feel on mobile?

* Should I add a double-tap to select option for accessibility?

Check it out here: [wendgame.today](https://wendgame.today/)

(Disclaimer: This is a fan-made tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by LinkedIn.)

Let me know what you think of the gameplay, and if you've ever shipped a rapid-response clone when a new trend hit!