Wordle Tournament: the Grand Slam

A short history of competitive Wordle

Wordle started as a once-a-day puzzle that Josh Wardle made for his partner. It went public in late 2021 and The New York Times bought it in early 2022. People turned it into a competition almost at once: group chats comparing scores, then “Wordle Golf”, where friends add up a week of daily puzzles. In 2022 Wardle himself ran a live Wordle contest on stage at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Connecticut, with timed rounds and the lowest total score winning.

What was missing was a tournament you could simply turn up to. The Grand Slam is that: the same words for everyone, at the same moment, with a live leaderboard and a bracket, every weekend, in your browser.

How the Grand Slam works

1. Save a seat. Pick a time and tap Save my seat. You need a free account; seats are free.
2. Doors open 3 minutes before. Open this page and you sit down in your saved seat. No seat? Tap Join now before the start. Once the first word begins the court is closed, so be on time. Nobody is penalised for missing one.
3. Courts are drawn. Players are split into courts of 100. When more than 100 people are coming, the players are split evenly into courts that start at the same time (120 players = two courts of 60), each with the same rules and its own champion. Every court starts full.
4. Qualifiers: three words, everyone at once. Each word is open for three minutes, with a short break and the leaderboard between words.
5. The top 64 go through. Seeded by score: number 1 plays number 64, number 2 plays number 63, and so on.
6. Knockout: six rounds of one-on-one. Round of 64, round of 32, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, final. First to solve the word wins the match.

Qualifying points

The qualifiers reward clean solving more than speed: a careful four-guess solve beats a rushed five. Speed only adds a small bonus among the players who solved the word.

Equal totals are split by fewer guesses over the three words, then by less time. A perfect qualifier is 189 points: three one-guess solves, each among the fastest third.

The knockout

From the round of 64 onwards it is a race. You and your opponent see the same word, and the first to solve it goes through. Every match in a round starts at the same moment, so the whole court moves through the bracket together and anyone who is out can watch the next round live.

Hint, Reveal and Extra Row power-ups work in every Grand Slam word, at the same gem prices as everywhere else on WordlyPlay. They are optional, and every word can be won without them.

Prizes and titles

Everyone who plays earns season XP for every qualifying word and every knockout match. Titles are permanent and can be worn under your name across the site. Win more than once and the title shows the count: 3× Grand Slam Champion. Titles cannot be bought, so the only way to wear one is to win it.

What time is the Grand Slam where you are?

Starts are fixed in US Eastern Time. The schedule above already shows your own time; for reference:

Grand Slam, Royale or a duel?

How to do well in a Wordle tournament

Treat the qualifiers and the knockout differently

In the qualifiers, guesses cost points and speed barely matters, so spend a few seconds on each guess. In the knockout the first solve wins, so once you are fairly sure, play the word instead of looking for a perfect guess.

Pick an opener and stick to it

Three qualifying words is a small sample, and a familiar opener means one less decision under pressure. CRANE, SLATE and TRACE are popular for a reason; our list of the best starting words compares them.

Know the traps before they find you

Words like LIGHT, MIGHT, NIGHT and SIGHT can eat a whole board. If you see four greens and several possible first letters, a guess that tests three of those letters at once is often faster than going one by one. The hardest Wordle words are worth a read before a big event.

Warm up

Ten minutes of Wordle Unlimited before the start gets your eye in, and a couple of rounds on the timer are good practice for racing an opponent in the knockout. If guesses four to six are where you lose matches, read our endgame strategy.

Run your own Wordle tournament

New: host your own Wordle tournament in a private room for up to 100 players. Everyone plays the qualifying words together, then the best go into a live one-on-one bracket, at a start time you choose. Players join free with a code; teachers get classrooms free, and smaller groups can play in a Wordle Room.

Want a private one for friends, a classroom or the office? Our step-by-step guide to running a Wordle tournament covers brackets, scoring and timing. Only two of you? Friend Battle gives you both the same word through a link. For a quick 16-player event with no setup, start a Royale together: everyone who taps Play in the same 30 seconds lands in the same bracket. On school Chromebooks, our Wordle Unblocked page is the one that usually gets through filters. The rules of the game are on our Wordle rules page if anyone needs a refresher.

Hall of Champions

The first Grand Slam champions will be listed here. Save a seat and it could be you.

Frequently asked questions

More ways to play

WordlyPlay is an independent Wordle-style game and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The New York Times. Updated October 26, 2026 by the WordlyPlay team.