Killer Bee 🐝

A challenging word puzzle game for seasoned puzzlers. Built as a more difficult alternative to NYT Spelling Bee, with rarity-based scoring that rewards finding uncommon words.

Play now: killerbee-pi.vercel.app

Why Killer Bee?

NYT Spelling Bee is fun, but has some limitations:

• Too easy - Excludes many legitimate "hard" words
• Flat scoring - All words worth the same base points regardless of rarity
• Limited challenge - Seasoned solvers want more depth

Killer Bee fixes this:

• ✅ Includes challenging, uncommon words
• ✅ Rarity-based scoring - Rare words earn significantly more points
• ✅ More strategic gameplay - Should you hunt for rare words or rack up common ones?
• ✅ Targets experienced word puzzle enthusiasts

Game Rules

• Create words using the 7 letters provided
• Words must be at least 4 letters long
• Words must include the center letter (highlighted)
• Letters can be reused multiple times
• Find the pangram (uses all 7 letters) for a huge bonus!

Scoring System

Base Score:

• 4-letter words: 1 point
• 5+ letter words: 1 point per letter

Rarity Bonus:

• Common words: +0-3 points
• Uncommon words: +5-7 points
• Rare words: +10 points ⭐

Pangram Bonus:

• Using all 7 letters: +10 points 🎉

Example:

• "TURN" (common 4-letter) = 1 + 1 = 2 points
• "DUGONG" (rare 6-letter) = 6 + 10 = 16 points
• "GROUNDOUT" (rare pangram) = 9 + 10 + 10 = 29 points

Finding rare words is highly rewarded!

Features

• 📅 Daily puzzles - New puzzle every day
• 💾 Auto-save - Progress saved automatically
• ⌨️ Keyboard support - Type or click letters
• 🎨 Retro pixel art aesthetic - Press Start 2P font
• 🎯 Two puzzle modes:
  • Curated: Random letter combinations with frequency-based scoring
  • Historic: Real NYT Spelling Bee puzzles with position-based difficulty

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Type letters - Add to current word
• ENTER - Submit word
• BACKSPACE - Remove last letter
• ESC - Clear current word
• SPACE - Shuffle outer letters

Technology Stack

• React 19 with TypeScript
• Vite for blazing fast builds
• Vanilla CSS with retro styling
• Vercel for deployment
• Strategy Pattern for extensible puzzle generation

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start dev server
npm run dev

# Build for production
npm run build

# Preview production build
npm run preview

Architecture Highlights

Strategy Pattern for Puzzles

The game uses a pluggable strategy pattern for puzzle generation:

interface PuzzleStrategy {
  name: string;
  generateLetterSet(rng: () => number): { letters: string[]; center: string };
  findValidWords(letters: string[], centerLetter: string): string[];
}

This makes it easy to add new puzzle types or word selection algorithms.

Deterministic Daily Puzzles

Uses seedrandom with date-based seeds to ensure:

• Same puzzle for all players on the same day
• Reproducible puzzles for testing
• Smooth progression of difficulty

Smart Rarity Scoring

Two scoring methods:

1. Frequency-based (Curated mode) - Uses word frequency data from common English corpora
2. Position-based (Historic mode) - Preserves original NYT puzzle difficulty ordering

Contributing

This game was built to challenge experienced word puzzle solvers. Ideas for improvement:

• Additional word lists (British English, technical terms, etc.)
• Difficulty settings
• Multiplayer/competitive modes
• Statistics and streak tracking
• Achievement system for finding all rare words

License

MIT License - Feel free to fork and modify!

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by NYT Spelling Bee
• Built for the puzzle community that wants more challenge
• Pixel art aesthetic from Press Start 2P font

---

For seasoned puzzlers who want a real challenge. 🐝