How to play Cartoondle

Cartoondle is a daily guessing game for nostalgic cartoons. One show is the answer, everyone in the world gets the same one, and it resets at midnight Mountain Time.

The basics

1. Type a cartoon's name into the search box and pick it from the dropdown.
2. Each guess reveals how close it is to the answer across eight categories: network, country of origin, debut year, season count, genre, status (running or ended), IMDb rating, and a popularity score.
3. Use those clues to narrow down your next guess.
4. Solve it in as few guesses as possible — or run out and see the answer.

Reading the clues

• Green — exact match on that category.
• Yellow — close, but not quite (for debut year, seasons, IMDb rating, and popularity, within a set range).
• Red — not a match.
• Gray — IMDb rating only: shown when there's no rating on record for one of the two shows, so there's nothing to compare.
• On debut year, seasons, IMDb rating, and popularity, an arrow (▲ or ▼) tells you whether the real answer is higher or lower than your guess.

Popularity is a 0–100 fame score, not a quality rating — it blends how much traffic the show's Wikipedia page has drawn over the years with how many people have rated it on IMDb, so an iconic show scores high even if its IMDb rating is mediocre.

Daily vs. Archive

Daily is today's puzzle — you get up to 10 guesses, and a "Give up" option unlocks after your 5th if you want to see the answer early. Once you finish (win, give up, or use all 10), that's it for the day; it locks until the next one at midnight Mountain Time.

Archive lets you play any past day, unlimited guesses, purely for fun — archive plays never count toward global stats or your streak, so there's no pressure.

FAQ

Does giving up hurt my stats? Giving up and running out of guesses count the same way — neither one touches your average-guesses number or the distribution chart, since those are calculated from wins only. There's no benefit to bailing early over playing it out.

What does "Syndication" mean as a network? It means the show was sold market-by-market directly to local TV stations instead of airing on one central channel — common for action cartoons in the '80s and '90s.

Does playing the Archive affect my streak? No — your streak only counts same-day Daily plays. Catching up on a missed day through the Archive keeps your other stats but won't save a broken streak.

How to play Cartoondle Unscramble

Unscramble is Cartoondle's sister game: one cartoon episode still a day, heavily blurred and pixelated at first. Same daily reset (midnight Mountain Time) and the same show roster, but a completely different answer each day — solving one game never gives away the other.

1. Type a cartoon's name into the search box and pick it from the dropdown.
2. Every single guess brings the image a little more into focus — never a wasted guess.
3. You get 8 guesses total; by the 8th the image is completely clear.
4. Give up any time after your 2nd guess if you want to see the answer early.

Currently draws from tier-1 (iconic) shows only, same restriction as Cartoondle's own beta — see the note above.