No. —
Practice
Closed
Paused
The clock stopped when you left. It picks up where it was.
10 seconds a stop · 3 lives · new route at midnight
The clock stopped when you left. It picks up where it was.
10 seconds a stop · 3 lives · new route at midnight
Get from one word to another in exactly five linked stops. The three most obvious stepping stones are closed, you have ten seconds a word, and every link is scored out of 100. A new route leaves every midnight.
Every link scores up to 100 points by how close the two words are, like Contexto. Green Direct links score 68 to 100, gold Scenic links 47 to 67 and violet Wild stretches 10 to 46. Your score is the average of all six links, minus up to 10% for slow answers and 4% for each life you lose.
Detour is a free daily word association game. You get a start word and an end word and must connect them in exactly five stops, where every stop links to the one before it. Three obvious words are closed as roadblocks, and you have ten seconds for each word.
Wordle is about spelling a hidden word and Contexto is about guessing one secret word by meaning. In Detour there is no single answer: you build your own route between two words, and every link is scored out of 100 for how close the connection is, Contexto style. Two players can both win with completely different routes.
Every link scores 10 to 100 points: the closer the two words are, the more points. Direct links score 68 to 100, scenic links 47 to 67 and wild stretches 10 to 46. Your score is the average of your links, minus up to 10% for slow answers (anything within 3 seconds counts as instant) and 4% for each life you lose, so a fast, clean run keeps every point.
A new Detour route goes live every day at midnight in your own time zone, so everyone plays the same route on the same date.
Yes. Once you have finished the daily route, practice routes are unlimited. Practice results are not shared and do not affect your streak.
Every Sunday the daily route is a themed Mega Route with seven stops instead of five, such as Spooky Season in October or Holiday Eve in December. It counts toward your streak like any other day.
After any route, tap Challenge to send a link: everyone who opens it, one friend or a whole group chat, plays the same route and lands on one board, with words hidden until they have played. A league is a standing table for your group: share its link once, and from then on everyone's daily score lands on it automatically, with a weekly winner. You only pick a name; there is no account or email.
Yes. Every past route is in the archive, with how everyone did on the day and a route that works. Archive plays do not change your streak or statistics.
Meanings, common phrases, facts and even names: bee to honey, fire to truck, spider to eight, bear to Pooh. A word that does not link costs you a little time but never a life.
Detour is free to play in any browser on phone or computer, with nothing to install and no account. Your streak and statistics are saved only on your own device.