Opener Lab
Compare BALSA
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How BALSA performs
Played first, BALSA removes about 89.0% of the possible-answer list on average and scores 4.23 bits of information. Roughly 31% of the time at least one letter lands in the right spot.
Tried against 1,859 past Wordle answers, BALSA left an average of 262 possible answers standing after the first guess. Its largest group in that replay came on July 20, 2026, when the answer was DIVER and 652 candidates survived. It has been the daily answer once.
First-guess odds
| Outcome | BALSA |
|---|---|
| First-turn solve* | 0.04% |
| At least one green | 30.9% |
| Any green or yellow | 72.4% |
| Whole row gray | 27.6% |
| Worst case answers left | 652 |
*Treating every word in the possible-answer list as equally likely.