Today's Hurdle FAQs

[AARPLynne]

What is Today’s Hurdle?

Today’s Hurdle is a fun, tough twist on Wordle, the popular word-guessing game. If you’ve been caught up in the word-game craze, you’ll love the challenge of Today’s Hurdle!

How does it work?

In Today’s Hurdle, you’ll get six tries to guess a five-letter word. Start by guessing any five-letter word. When you submit it, you’ll see some letters receive a yellow background, and some letters receive a green background.

If the background is green, you’ve guessed the correct letter in the correct spot. If it’s yellow, that letter exists somewhere else in the word. Try to figure out the correct word before using all six tries!

How is Today’s Hurdle different than Wordle?

The basic rules, above, match up with Wordle. But Today’s Hurdle separates itself by offering five puzzles every day.

When you get your first puzzle correct, the final word will pre-populate as the first “guess” of the next puzzle. For instance, if the answer to the first puzzle is “ocean,” the second puzzle will begin with “ocean” already in the first guess. If any of the letters in that word match with the new answer, you’ll see them with yellow or green backgrounds.

Today’s Hurdle has an extra challenge if you get to the fifth and final puzzle of the day. If you’ve guessed all four puzzles correctly, the fifth puzzle will begin with the first four guess slots filled in with the answers of the previous puzzles. That means you get just two guesses to beat the game!

How can I get more points?

The scoring in Today’s Hurdle breaks down like this:

• 1,000 points for completion of a puzzle
• 100 points for each unused line

If you finish a puzzle on your fourth guess, you’ll have two unused lines — which means you get 1,200 points!

These rules are the same for all five puzzles — no one puzzle is more important, score-wise, than the others. However, you get an extra bonus for finishing the fifth puzzle. You still get 1,000 points for solving the puzzle, and 100 points if you have an unused line. This time, though, you’ll get 4,000 additional points for winning!

How often can I play a new game of Today’s Hurdle?

A new suite of puzzles will become available every day!

Can I play all five puzzles if I don’t solve one?

No. If you can’t solve one of the puzzles within six guesses, you get a game over for the day.

[JohnM729645]

perfect score in hard mode of hurdle is 16,200 pts. for an example, answers for april 26,2023 were as follows: byway,cheap,ridge,fungi-wonky- there are perfect scores posted- i would like to know the odds of an individual guessing exactly the correct responses formally cited- there is obvious cheating occurring (not hard to do) & these perfect scores should be discarded. 

[kskoczylas]

So sad that all these pathetic old farts cheat, and they think they have people fooled. The odds of getting them all right on the first attempt is astronomical. My high score is 10,100, and I enjoy doing it everyday. I don’t mind being called an old fart at 68, but I’m not a pathetic dishonest idiot.

[Kat903213V]

I so totally agree with you!  When the odds are such that NO ONE should be able to attain a score of 16,200, that score should be disallowed.  I used to see a particular player always scoring 10,800 which is a perfect score in the easy mode.  I kept thinking that she must not know about hard mode because she was getting a perfect score but had to be wondering how others were getting better scores when she was getting all the words right with one guess each.  Then one day I logged on to play (I tend to play between midnight and 1 a.m. and she apparently does as well because I always saw her with that 10,800 score) and there she was at the top of the list with a 16,200.  She'd found hard mode.  She and others with that score can't possibly think that other players think they're really that good; that have to know that we know they've figured out how to play twice so they know all the words.  Is it really cheating?  Personally I think it is because the game is intended to be played just once a day by each person.  It's gotten to the point that if I play later than usual, the top 10 scores are often 16,200 and it's depressing to see that the day's game is already dominated by cheaters.

[DeniseL834804]

Is there an easier way to get to the game then going through the search function? Why don’t they just put it in the games section?

[Vexed · Accepted solution]

@DeniseL834804 , you can do several things besides search. The game is listed in the Games section (not here in the community forum - didn't know where you were searching). The main side bar menu reached by clicking the 3 bars with "Menu" under it at top left. Scroll to "Games", click that and it takes to the listing for all Games. At "Word" games grouping click "View More" . That takes you to all the Word game listings and Today's Hurdle is there.

Also, at the bottom of this all games listing page is a "Recently Played". This shows you 3 games that you have recently played. If you haven't played too many games, the Today's Hurdle" link may be there from the day before.

Easiest way is to bookmark this game or your other favorites by whatever method your browser uses. Here is the url link to "Today's Hurdle".

https://games.aarp.org/games/todays-hurdle 

Hope this helps.

[r767831w]

I would really like a response to my question about how people are scoring higher than the scoring system permits.  Please respond.

[JudyB666681]

You must do 2 things. First, you must solve the puzzle in a different browser where you are not logged in to AARP. Then you know the answers. Second, login to your AARP account and go to Today's Hurdle. In settings, turn on Hard Mode to get a 1.5 point multiplier. Then complete the puzzle with the correct answer as the first guess for each puzzle.

[KRISS669]

That sounds like cheating to me!

[Kat903213V]

It is if you believe that it's cheating to play a game multiple times when it's intended to be played only once by each person.  I agree that it sounds like cheating.

[r767831w]

Then how is it possible that the top scorers each day have 14,000+ points?

[AARPLynne]

Hi, @r767831w, thanks for your question. Anyone scoring above 10,800 is playing in Hard Mode. In hard mode your score will be multiplied by 1.5 so the highest score is 10,800 * 1.5 = 16,200 points.

To enable hard mode, click on the "hamburger" menu in the top left corner, click on Settings and enable the Hard Mode.
Hurdle Settings | Hard Mode

[SuzanneC518698]

if 16,200 is the highest score, then how did KarenF338251 get a score of 52,075 today?  

[AARPLynne]

Hi, @SuzanneC518698, thank you for taking the time to post! I'll have that erroneous score removed.

[Kat903213V]

If erroneous scores can be removed, can't impossible scores also be removed?  We all know it's impossible to guess five random words with one guess per word.  You could probably guess the last word in one guess if enough letters have been revealed.  But the first four?  Not possible!  Can't those impossible scores be removed?

[garyfish49]

Please note that when clearing your AARP cookies, your Hurdle settings revert back to Regular Mode. So, remember to re-enable Hard Mode before starting another Hurdle session.

[r767831w]

Gotcha, thanks!  Suggestion:  Put that info in your directions on how to play and score points, so people don't come away thinking that others must be cheating.

[Heather53344]

Well, people scoring 16200 are playing the game using multiple logons - not sure if you consider that cheating or not, but it is funny the effort people take to get their name on the leaderboard.  Also, if you search "Arkadium Game Scoring", you can find a description on how each of their games are scored.

[RichardW604749]

To get 16,200 points, you need to guess every word on the first guess. Some of the words have no clues. So, it would seem virtually impossible to guess every word.

However, the rules mention "Gems", which can provide clues. That could be the answer. How does one get a Gem?

[Kat903213V]

Yep!  I had a friend provide me with the answers to one of the daily games just to see if that's how all those 16,200s are being achieved.  There's no way I'd have guessed each of those words without some sort of clue but, yeah, when I put in the words I'd been provided with my score was 16,200.  I kinda felt cheated, not because others are clearly cheating to get their name on the leaderboard (I consider it cheating since that particular game is intended to be played only once a day by each person) but because I didn't get to actually play the game that day.  You would think that by the time we're of AARP age, we'd be beyond that sort of manipulation.  And, really, what kind of satisfaction can you get out of seeing I681753m on the leaderboard with a score of 16200?  LOL!

[KeithB811680]

the games aren't made by or for AARP specifically - they are provided by Arkadium which allows several other websites to make those games available via their site. AARP just links to the games on that site.

[kj4758]

Please tell me that all this nonsense about scores on a phone game aren't voting age adults... else we're doomed...

[Kat903213V]

It's gotten to the point where if I don't play as soon after Midnight as possible, I don't even want to play.  If I wait 'til the next afternoon, it's just a string of 16200's.  I noticed someone who was always getting 10800 (meaning a perfect score on the standard game) and I wondered why she wasn't playing Hard mode if she knew all the answers.  Clearly she hadn't figured that out until the past week or so because when I log in to play each day, she's already at the top of the list with a 16200.  I can't help but wonder if they really think they're fooling anyone.

[lschulte62]

I've noticed the excessive scores too. Thankfully, I play for the personal challenge & fulfillment and let the cheaters wallow in their own pitiful egos. Don't let them spoil your fun.

I love the games. Now I've just learned Mahjong

Add tags

[AARPTeri]

We have a tip for How can I maximize my score in Today's Hurdle - https://community.aarp.org/t5/Leave-a-Game-Tip/How-can-I-maximize-my-score-in-Today-s-Hurdle/td-p/24...