Start with your two free hints
Before you cast, Shoale gives you two clues. The first is the day’s theme, shown as “Today’s water” — a broad hint about the kind of word you’re hunting. The second is a free sonar ping: one word already plotted on the radar. Think of that word as your starting point on the map.
Everyone gets the same hidden word each day, and you have eight casts to find it. Each cast is just a word. Shoale then shows you its rank: how close it is in meaning to the hidden word, out of about 18,000 common English words.
What your catch tells you
Your rank and fish size are the same signal. Lower ranks mean you’re closer.
| Rank | Catch |
|---|---|
| #1 | 🐋 Legendary catch |
| #2–#10 | 🦈 Trophy fish |
| #11–#50 | 🐠 Big ones |
| #51–#300 | 🐟 Keepers |
| #301–#1,000 | 🦐 Small fry |
| #1,001+ | 🥾 Junk |
The rule of thumb: lower is better. “Small fry” and “junk” mean you’re far away. “Keepers” means you’re in the right neighbourhood. “Big ones” and “trophy fish” mean you should start naming close neighbours.
A simple plan for your first eight casts
- Read “Today’s water” and check the sonar ping. Your first cast should be a word from the theme or an obvious relative of the ping word. This gives you a second data point on the radar.
- Look at the rank or fish size. If you catch “junk” or “small fry”, don’t keep casting around the same idea. Pick another branch of the theme.
- If you catch a “keeper” (#51–300), stay in the area. Cast a synonym, a category sibling, or a word that could appear in the same sentence as your guess.
- If you catch a “big one” (#11–50), narrow down. Try subcategories, nearby concepts, or words that shade the meaning a little further.
- If you catch a “trophy fish” (#2–10), you’re right next to the answer. Your next cast should be an obvious neighbour of your current word.
- If you catch the “legendary catch” (#1), stop — you found the hidden word.
- Use the radar only as a distance signal. On the radar, only how far your word sits from the centre matters. Don’t try to read a direction into it. Treat the rank as a hot/cold measurement.
- Use your remaining casts to test words you’re unsure about. Unknown words and repeats don’t use up a cast, so a “bad” guess can still give you useful information without costing you.
If a guess ranks better than you expected, trust it. Shoale uses word embeddings, and sometimes they connect words in ways a dictionary wouldn’t. A weird high-scoring guess can be the trail you need to follow.
Quick FAQ
Do plurals and verb forms count?
Yes. boats counts as boat, and ran counts as run. That can save you a cast if you’re tempted to repeat a word in a different form.
What does rank #1 mean?
It means your cast is the hidden word itself — the day’s legendary catch.
What if I guess a word Shoale doesn’t know?
Unknown words and repeats are free. They don’t use up one of your eight casts, so they’re safe to try when you’re brainstorming out loud.
With eight casts, the key is to let each rank move you closer instead of repeating the same idea. Start with the theme and the sonar ping, respect the fish sizes, and before long you’ll have today’s word on the line.
