What Bandle Is#
Bandle is a daily music-guessing game at bandle.app built around a mystery song hidden inside a layered instrumental mix. Developer Johann Levy created Bandle and quietly launched it on the web in August 2022, inspired by Wordle's popularity; an app version followed in December 2023. Levy has said in interviews that the game grew almost entirely through word of mouth rather than paid marketing.
Each puzzle draws from a catalog Bandle describes as more than 500 songs across genres, paired with metadata such as release year, YouTube view count, and a difficulty rating shown before the first guess.
How to Play#
Players get six guesses, matching Wordle's standard. The audio starts with drums alone; a wrong guess (or a pass) adds the next instrument in the arrangement — bass, then chords, then melody, and so on — until vocals enter. A player can lock in a guess at any layer, and guessing correctly earlier scores better.
Recognizing a song from drums or bass alone is the hardest layer, so many players wait for a distinctive rhythm or bassline they know, then use the revealed release year to narrow decade and genre before committing to a guess.
From Web Game to App-Store Hit#
Bandle stayed a niche web habit for over a year before surging in popularity in early 2024, when TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube creators began posting clips of themselves working through the instrument layers; NBC News covered the spike as part of a broader look at Wordle-style spin-offs. The app version bundles nine additional trivia modes around the core game — completing lyrics, spotting a performer from a photo, naming a band's lead singer, matching an artist to their home country, and guessing by BPM or album name among others — turning the single daily puzzle into a broader music-trivia hub.
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Frequently Asked Questions#
Who made Bandle?
Johann Levy, who has discussed the game in interviews with outlets including NBC News and Berklee Online's Take Note.
How many guesses do you get?
Six, matching Wordle's format; a new song unlocks every day.
Does the instrument order ever change?
The game consistently starts with drums and builds outward, adding one instrument per incorrect guess until the vocal line plays.
More Games Like Bandle#
Guess the mystery music artist in ten tries, with debut-year, genre, and popularity comparisons after each guess.
The intro-guessing music daily that Spotify bought in 2022 and shut down in 2023. Its story — and what to play instead — is worth knowing.
Six guesses to find a hidden eight-character equation — Wordle's maths twin, and the game this site is built around. Start with our guide, then lean on the solver when a board fights back.
Or browse all of them on our games like Wordle.
Daily Puzzles, Our Way
Play today's NerdleBuddy puzzle, or use the Classic Nerdle solver to choose a next guess from your tile feedback.