Game Guides

Your guide toevery game.

Rules, tips and a few handy tricks to help you get the most out of Daily Paws.

Daily dog word game

Pawdle

Guess today's hidden dog-themed word. Use the colour clues to solve it in six tries.

  • Type any real English word and press Enter to guess.
  • Green tiles mean the letter is in the right spot. Amber tiles mean the letter is in the word but the wrong spot. Dark tiles mean the letter is not in the word at all.
  • Solve in fewer guesses to earn more points on the monthly leaderboard.
  • A new word every day. Come back tomorrow.
Play Pawdle
Group the dog words

Connect Paws

Group sixteen words into four hidden categories. Every word belongs to exactly one group.

  • Select four words you think share a connection, then tap Submit.
  • A correct group is revealed in its colour. You have four mistakes before the puzzle ends.
  • Watch out for words that could fit more than one group - only one solution is correct.
  • Faster solves and fewer mistakes earn more points. Colours run from easiest to hardest.
Play Connect Paws
Connect tidy trails

Paw Paths

Tap or drag from one dog portrait to its matching pair. Every square on the board must be filled.

  • Each puzzle has pairs of matching dog portraits. Connect each pair with one continuous path.
  • Paths can only move through neighbouring squares - up, down, left, or right. No diagonals.
  • Paths cannot cross or share any square.
  • Fill every square on the board to complete the puzzle. Solve faster and with fewer moves to score higher.
Play Paw Paths
Missed a day?

Catch-Up Paws

Real life happens — a regular player shouldn’t lose their place on the board over one missed day. Play most days but missed one? A Catch-Up Paw steps in on its own, so a single missed day doesn’t cost you your place on the monthly leaderboard.

  • Up to three each month, in every game. New Paws arrive on the 8th, 16th and 24th.
  • Once a Paw arrives, it covers your next eligible missed day. Unused Paws don’t carry over to the next Paw or the next month.
  • They’re for regulars: you need to have played at least 5 of the previous 7 daily puzzles in that game.
  • A covered day earns 90% of your average score in that game, added to that month’s leaderboard.
  • Just sign in; there’s nothing to switch on. A covered day still counts as missed for your streak.
See your Catch-Up Paws
Starts in October

New points system from October

From October, Pawdle, Connect Paws and Paw Paths will each be worth up to 100 points every day. Until then, scoring stays exactly as it is today.

90Your performance
10Streak bonus
100Per game, per day
Reward for showing up

Streak bonus

Play every day to build your streak. Your streak bonus applies to each game you play.

  • 0–2 days+0
  • 3–4 days+2
  • 5–6 days+4
  • 7–13 days+6
  • 14–29 days+8
  • 30+ days+10

The final score cannot exceed 100 points per game.

Game 1

Pawdle

Find the word in fewer guesses to earn more points.

The streak bonus is added afterwards, up to the 100-point maximum.

  • 1 guess90
  • 2 guesses87
  • 3 guesses82
  • 4 guesses72
  • 5 guesses58
  • 6 guesses40
  • Not solved10
Game 2

Connect Paws

Connect Paws rewards how far you get first, and how accurately you get there second.

There is no speed bonus from October. Take your time: only progress and mistakes affect the gameplay score.

Partial progress matters. Find two or three groups before running out of mistakes and you score substantially more than someone who finds none.

Connect Paws gameplay points by groups found and mistakes made
Groups found 0mistakes 1mistake 2mistakes 3mistakes
All 4 sets90858075
3 sets70666258
2 sets55514743
1 set40363228
0 sets10101010
Game 3

Paw Paths

Paw Paths rewards completing the board cleanly and efficiently.

The existing speed bonus is removed from October. The streak bonus replaces it, so you no longer need to rush through the puzzle.

  • Finished boardup to 35
  • Clean pathsup to 30
  • Move efficiencyup to 25
  • Maximum gameplay score90
The thinking

Why we’re changing it

The new system is designed to make the monthly leaderboard fairer, closer and more competitive.

Previously, the games rewarded points differently, and once somebody built a large lead it could be difficult for other players to make up the difference.

From October:

  • Every game is worth the same 100 points.
  • Better performances create meaningful opportunities to catch up.
  • When a leader has a bad day, players behind have a genuine chance to close the gap.
  • Streaks are rewarded but capped at 10 points, so a long streak does not make somebody impossible to catch.
  • One difficult puzzle should not ruin somebody’s month.
“Being ahead should be an advantage, not a guarantee. The leaderboard should stay competitive right through to the end of the month.”
100Maximum per game
300Maximum per day

Gameplay: up to 90  +  Streak: up to 10