Jotto

Jotto is a classic two-player pen-and-paper word game invented in 1955. Each player secretly writes down a five-letter word (no repeated letters in the original rules). Players alternate guessing their opponent's word; after each guess, the opponent responds with only the count of letters that appear in the secret word — no position information is given. The first player to correctly identify the opponent's word wins. Jotto is the direct intellectual ancestor of Mastermind and, decades later, Wordle.

Key differences from Wordle

• The clue is a single number — how many letters in your guess appear anywhere in the secret word. No colour coding, no position hints.
• A guess of CRANE scoring "3" means exactly three of the letters C, R, A, N, E are in the secret word — but you don't know which three or where they go.
• Both players guess simultaneously (on their own turns), making it a race as much as a puzzle.
• The original rules require the secret word to have no repeated letters, making elimination logic cleaner.

Strategy tips

• Use your first guesses to establish which letters are in the word at all. CRANE (score 2) and STOMP (score 1) together tells you exactly which letters from those ten are present.
• Track letters systematically in a grid: letters confirmed present, letters confirmed absent, letters unknown.
• Once you have 4–5 confirmed letters, switch to guessing words that place those letters in different positions to deduce the full word.
• Choose your secret word strategically — words with unusual letter combinations (SPHINX, FJORD) are harder for opponents to isolate through guessing.