Show HN: SpaceWord – word game, build crosswords while minimizing space

  • Hello HN!

    Over the past few weeks I created a new word game, https://spaceword.org. Every day, you are given a set of 21 letters that need to be arranged in a crossword (all directions forming valid words), while taking as little space as possible. There is also a weekly puzzle with 63 letters. You can see how you compare to others in real time, and there is a global leaderboard as well.

    I've found it to be a fun puzzle game. I can usually form a crossword with 21 tiles pretty quickly, but optimizing to place them in a small bounding box is a challenging exercise. Today, the best result uses only 24 spaces (so either 83 or 46 tiles), meaning only 3 places are left empty!

    Anyway, enjoy, and let me know if you have any feedback! :)

  • How’d you build this? Did you use any of the new app builders or Cursor/Windsurf?

  • It’s great, love it!

    Only negative - is there a way to play past games? Would like to get some practice in…

  • I really like it, congrats!