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If you've spent more than five minutes online thisÌýmonth, you've likelyÌýeither played Wordle or seen people sharing the results of their games. AtÌýthis moment, that 6x5Ìýgrid of tiles seemsÌývirtually inescapable.Ìý

For those who have somehow entirely avoided the gameÌýup to this point,Ìýhere'sÌýthe gist:Ìý is a word-guessing puzzleÌýthat gives you sixÌýtriesÌýto guess a five-letter mystery word using the process of elimination. Correct letters placed in the correct tiles are marked green, and correct letters in the wrong tilesÌýare yellow. Completely wrong letters are grayed out.ÌýOn eachÌýattempt, reshuffle and replaceÌýaccordingly. Sounds simple, right? It can be—and yet, itÌýcan also be surpringly difficult!ÌýEither way, Wordle isÌýa whole heap of fun, and each day a new word provides a fresh challenge.ÌýYou can learn more aboutÌýWordle's creator and the game's backstoryÌý.Ìý

Perhaps unsurprisingly,ÌýWordle and its popularity haveÌýalready inspired a slew of spinoffs. In fact, there's now one for the four-letter banding codes, or alpha codes, researchers use as shorthand for species' names—and it just so happenedÌýto be designed by ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡'sÌývery own graphic designerÌýAlex Tomlinson. Launched this week, BRDL hasÌýreceived rave reviews on ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ SlackÌýandÌý, soÌýtry your hand belowÌýto see if you can deduce whichÌýbanding code is the mystery code of the day. If you'reÌýlike most peopleÌýand don't know yourÌýbanding codes by heart, here's . You can also find a quick tutorial on how they work below.Ìý

Once you know yourÌýNorth American codes and start acingÌýBRDL on the daily, it might be time for a new challenge. In that case, we suggestÌýlooking across the pond; BRDL itselfÌýhas already been modifiedÌýby Rob RobinsonÌýofÌýthe British Trust for Ornithology to feature the five-letter British banding codes. His version isÌýcalled Ìýa reference to the BritishÌýuse of ring instead of band. So file that one away with boot, and lift, and bumbershoot, and all those other wonderful Britishisms.Ìý

How does Alex feel about BRDL's speedy success and its very own spinoff? "It is so surreal!" he told me over Slack. "I had no idea such a niche thing would be so popular!"Ìý

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How Do the BRDL Banding Codes Work?Ìý

In North America,Ìýbanding codes can beÌýeither four orÌýsix letters. There are actually multiple sets of four-letter codes, but we won't get into all that here. Let's just say that the world of banding codes isÌýnuanced and delightfullyÌýpedantic, soÌýyou should definitelyÌý about itÌýwhen you have a moment. (For folksÌýin the know and worried about those notorious "collisions," Alex plans to avoid them for now.) TheÌýkey point to remember for BRDL is that the and they depend on a specific set of rules, as outlined below.Ìý

When the name is one word, the code is simply the first four letters.

When the name is two words, which is frequently the case in the bird world, the code features theÌýfirst two letters of each word.Ìý

With three words, things get a little trickier. Here, the code consists of theÌýfirst letterÌýfrom each of the first two words, and the first two letters of the third.Ìý

However, when aÌýhyphen is at the end of a three-word name, as seen below, then you use the first two letters from the first name and the first letter from each of the second names

Finally, when the name is four words, the code is the first letter of each one regardless of hyphens.Ìý

Got all that? Okay, good. Happy BRDLing!ÌýÌý

Graphic: Alex Tomlinson/̽»¨¾«Ñ¡.