Guide

How to Play Vapordle

Vapordle is a daily Steam game guessing site with multiple puzzle formats. Every mode uses public Steam store information, but each one tests a different kind of game memory: recognizing art, reading metadata, remembering release windows, interpreting tags, or judging review scores.

Daily and practice runs

Daily runs use a seeded lineup so every player gets the same challenge for that mode and day. Practice runs are separate and can be replayed for fresh random games, which makes them better for learning the format or warming up before the daily set.

The default Standard pool leans toward games with enough public data for fair clues. Full Chaos keeps the game open to a much wider slice of Steam, including obscure, niche, older, or strange releases. Full Chaos is intentionally less predictable.

Classic mode

Classic is the broad metadata puzzle. Each guess compares the selected game against the answer using Steam-adjacent clues such as release year, genre, developer, publisher, tags, price, review score, and player mode. Correct fields are highlighted, while release timing points newer or older so guesses still teach you something even when they miss.

Screenshot mode

Screenshot mode starts with a zoomed-in Steam store screenshot. Wrong guesses slowly unlock additional screenshots and zoom the clues out, so the puzzle moves from texture and color recognition toward more obvious scene recognition. After a correct guess, the available screenshots can be viewed clearly.

Timeline mode

Timeline mode asks you to place game cards into release-date order. Month and day matter, not just the year. The timeline can grow across the run, so it rewards remembering when games actually launched and noticing clues from genre, developer, and store capsule art.

Tags and Blurb modes

Tags mode reveals Steam tags one at a time and asks you to identify the game from the shape of the tag set. Blurb mode masks a store-style description and gradually reveals more words. Both modes are tuned to give support clues when the first clues are too broad, because Steam's catalog has many games that share similar tags or description language.

Review Duel

Review Duel is a faster score run. Two games appear, and the goal is to pick which one has the higher positive-review percentage. A correct pick adds points, a wrong pick subtracts points, and the run continues through all rounds instead of ending on a miss.

General-audience pool

Vapordle uses a public, general-audience answer pool for daily play. The cache is filtered for games that have enough Steam metadata to support fair clues, clean screenshots, and useful post-game Steam links.

Why Steam links appear after guesses

Steam store links are hidden until a game has appeared in the run, either as a guess, a revealed answer, or a completed card. This keeps the puzzle fair while still letting players inspect the source store page afterward and discover games they may want to wishlist, ignore, or simply laugh about.