Pédantix in brief
Pédantix is a free daily game published on certitudes.org, the same site as Cémantix. Every day it hides a page from the French-language Wikipedia: the text of its introduction is masked, and you must find the page's title.
You submit words. If they appear in the text, every occurrence is revealed. If they do not appear but are close in meaning to a hidden word, the game signals it, which steers your search. You win once every word of the title has been found.
Why people love Pédantix
Pédantix mixes two pleasures: that of Cémantix, which is groping your way by meaning, and that of an investigation, where every revealed word sheds a little more light on the text.
- The reconstruction: a sentence takes shape, a date appears, and suddenly you understand what the page is about.
- General knowledge: history, science, geography, a different subject every day.
- Closeness of meaning: a near-miss still gives you a lead.
- The shared appointment: one page a day, the same for everyone.
To be clear: no SIWA game has you rebuild an encyclopedia page. The games below borrow two ingredients from Pédantix, closeness of meaning and deduction from context, in shorter games.
Comparison: what each SIWA game shares with Pédantix
| SIWA game | In common with Pédantix | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Proximo | Guessing by closeness of meaning | A single word to find, no text |
| Motamo | Deducing a word from a text | Definitions, a chain of five words |
| Melimelo | A clue that puts you on track | The word's letters are given |
Proximo: closeness of meaning at the core
Proximo takes up the semantic mechanic that Pédantix borrows from Cémantix. The French mystery word is unknown, with no letter and no length. Every word you try gets a proximity rank, rank 1 being the closest; words that are too far away show "Hors liste", French for "off the list". A daily theme is shown as a hint.
Closeness comes from a word-embedding model: two words are close if they are used in similar contexts. The Pédantix reflex therefore applies as is: think of the words that appear in the same sentences as your best guess, not just its synonyms.
Motamo and Melimelo: deducing from a text
Motamo will appeal to those who like guessing from context. Each word in the chain is described by a definition of two or three sentences: the first are deliberately cryptic, the last more direct. Each word starts with the last letter of the previous one, and its length is shown.
Melimelo is the shortest game in the selection. Five French words of 5 to 8 letters appear as scrambled letters, each with a clue of one to three words. The clue points the way, the letters confirm it. Tries are unlimited, and a joker reveals a letter if needed.
To discover Pédantix's neighbour, also read our guide to games like Cémantix.
What changes compared with Pédantix?
The main difference lies in what you are looking for. Pédantix has you rebuild an entire text, and every word found helps you understand the subject of the day. In Proximo there is only one word to find: the rank of each guess replaces the words revealed in the text.
The second difference is the score. On SIWA, every game gets a score out of 1000 points, compared on a daily leaderboard. In Proximo, tries are unlimited, but every word that is not the mystery word takes a little off your score. If you are stuck, a joker reveals a word from the ranking, starting with the farthest.
A daily routine
All grids change at midnight, in your local time, and they are the same for everyone that day. A possible routine: Pédantix for general knowledge, Proximo for closeness of meaning, Motamo or Melimelo to finish with a little vocabulary.
Everything is free, in the browser, with nothing to download and no sign-up. A free account keeps your streaks and opens the archives of past days. Because every answer is French, these games also make a gentle daily exercise for advanced learners of French.