Categlorious
greatest.games · Words
The nearest match in shape: you sort the board into four trios, as in 4 × 3, then finish by naming one word that connects every category, so the shared-word idea arrives as a final step.
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Games like 4 × 3
4 × 3, by Hank Green, deals you nine words and four hidden categories of three. The catch is in the arithmetic: one word belongs to all four groups, so twelve slots are filled by just nine tiles, and that shared word sits in every set you submit. You pick three, press Submit and the game counts your mistakes, with Shuffle and Deselect to help you rethink. An archive and a page of community puzzles add more boards. Spotting the one word that holds everything together is the click everyone waits for.
Grouping puzzles make up the list. Games that also hinge on a word shared across every group come first, then boards where tiles count toward two sets or where groups hold three words, then the sixteen-word, four-group format in several versions, and last two games that want one answer fitting more than one category.
The original
11 games like 4 × 3
Closest firstThroughWord
throughword.app · Words
Twelve words, four sets of three and a small mistake allowance, then a bonus word that suits all four sets, so you hunt for the common thread twice: once inside each group and once across all of them.
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Looplink
greatest.games · Words
Shares the overlap trick in another form: four linking tiles each belong to two neighboring categories, so the groups join up into a closed loop rather than meeting at one central word.
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TrioNine
trionine.day · Words
Works with groups of three, as 4 × 3 does, but on a nine-word board split three ways with no shared word, and a short explanation appears after each group you solve, with four mistakes allowed.
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Connections
The New York Times · nytimes.com · Words
The format 4 × 3 bends: sixteen words, four secret quartets and four mistakes, with categories colored by difficulty, yellow the easiest and purple the trickiest, and every tile belonging to exactly one group.
Links
mindloftdaily.com · Words
Sixteen words and four threads of four, each thread marked by one to four dots for difficulty, with decoys that overlap between groups and a nudge when you are one word away, good practice in doubting where a word belongs.
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Conexo
conexo.ws · Words
Made by Daydash, the studio behind Contexto, it splits sixteen words into four themed sets and keeps earlier days on a calendar, handy once you have worked through the 4 × 3 archive.
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Cluster
cluster.cyber-jack.uk · Words
A sixteen-word grouping board allowing four wrong tries, with an archive holding every earlier puzzle, a steady supply for players who have run out of 4 × 3 history.
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Connections Game
connectionsgame.org · Words
Keeps the standard sixteen words and four mistakes but offers separate easy and hard puzzles beside the main one, plus an archive, so you can match the difficulty to your mood after 4 × 3.
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Futdoku
flagdoku.com · Sports
Brings the one-fits-all idea to soccer: nine players go into a 3x3 grid, each fitting the club, league or name rules where its row and column cross, and the bonus is finding the lone player who suits all of them.
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Duonaut
duonaut.io · Words
Asks for one answer that fits two categories at the same moment, across six 30-second rounds, a timed take on the word-in-several-groups idea, with less obvious answers sending your rocket further.
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Questions
How does 4 × 3 work?
The board shows nine words. They form four categories of three, and one word belongs to all four, so that word appears in every group you submit. Pick three tiles, press Submit, and the game tracks your mistakes; Shuffle rearranges the board when you are stuck. Working out which tile is the shared word narrows every group at once.
Who makes 4 × 3, and are there more puzzles?
Hank Green makes it, and the site keeps an archive, a history page and community puzzles alongside the daily board. For other boards built on a shared answer, Categlorious and ThroughWord both end with one word that connects four groups of three, and Looplink lets linking tiles count toward two groups.
How is 4 × 3 different from Connections?
Connections uses sixteen words in four groups of four, and each word belongs to exactly one group. 4 × 3 shrinks the board to nine words in groups of three and makes one word count for every category, so overlap is the rule rather than a trap. Links sits in between, with sixteen words and overlapping decoys planted on purpose.
