Show HN: Zanagrams

Overall reception

• Widely praised as fun, satisfying, and “addictive”; several people finished all available puzzles in one sitting.
• Many say the shrinking graph and disappearing connections feel very rewarding and give a sense of progress.
• A few find it frustrating or mentally exhausting, especially later puzzles or specific ones like #6.

Gameplay and mechanics

• Players like that you’re never truly “stuck” because only non-essential letters/edges are removed; remaining words always remain possible.
• Some are initially confused by the edge mechanics and control scheme (drag vs tapping vs typing).
• Several note that it feels more like a logic/attrition puzzle than something you can “lose,” which some enjoy and others find less game-like.

Puzzle generation and word list

• Creator describes a semi-automated pipeline: start with a long word, generate a graph, use an AI model to score word commonness, then manually curate and playtest.
• Many appreciate that solutions don’t rely on very obscure “scrabble words,” though there’s disagreement about what counts as common.
• Plurals appearing alongside singulars are widely disliked; some suggest excluding plurals entirely.
• Bonus words sometimes feel more common than required words; the “obscure” explanation is viewed as inconsistent.

Difficulty, learning, and design

• Difficulty curve: puzzles get easier as you solve them due to fewer letters and edges.
• Non-native speakers enjoy the built-in definitions as a vocabulary-learning aid, but some get stuck and request a “give up and reveal answers” option.
• Minimum word length (four letters) is considered under-documented.

UI/UX and accessibility

• Positive feedback for minimal UI, animations, definitions list, and new playable tutorial.
• Requests: hints, “give up/reveal,” bonus-word counter, perfect-score tracking, plural handling improvements.
• Issues reported: color contrast for some users, double-tap zoom on iOS (since addressed), unclear instructions on some desktop browsers, and confusion about the game’s name implying anagrams.

Scoring, sharing, and future features

• Strong demand for richer stats: timers, tries, bonus-word counts, leaderboards, percentiles, and per-puzzle averages.
• Some suggest counting attempts instead of time to discourage brute forcing, and sharing standardized result snippets.