Join me on an internet safari and leave with only memories you wish you could forget

Dead internet theory be damned, it’s no hyperbole to say that the internet constantly shows you brand new things. Sometimes, it’s shit covered in goldleaf. Other times, it’s a four-course meal on a silver platter. Well, a few months ago, I became deeply invested in something that bridged the gap between the two. A couple of somethings, actually – two new games that taught me new things, pushed me to think analytically, and frankly, regularly filled my brain with information I could’ve probably done without.

If you’ve spent any time online over the past five years, then Wordle-likes need no introduction. But, just in case you haven’t come across their oeuvre, there are tonnes of online games out there that put their own thematic spin on the daily Wordle Quiz. Some Wordle spin-offs involve guessing a nation’s flag, while others revolve around you managing to guess a song in its first few beats.

But my favourite Wordle-ish games to hit the web for a long time have me wading into far more unfamiliar territory than most of its predecessors. In 2025, a pair of new Wordle-likes took off among streamers, content creators, and other internet-dwellers like myself alike: R34dle and AO3dle.

Now, those titles might just look like a string of code to you – or, if you’re as online as I am (and you probably are), you’re probably going to recognise exactly what they’re referring to. But just in case…

What is R34dle? And what is AO3dle?

R34dle takes after its namesake, R34 – a site dedicated to lewd imagery created for every fictional entity. It’s named after the infamous, supposed Rule 34 of the internet, fabling that if something exists, there’s porn of it out there somewhere. Based on what I’ve seen while playing R34dle over the past few months, I’d say it rings pretty true.

Meanwhile, AO3dle is a reference to Archive of Our Own, A.K.A. AO3. AO3 is a fanwork archive consisting of more than 15 million pieces of fanfiction for fandoms of all kinds, ranging from Baldur’s Gate to BTS and all the way back to Baccano! and even Barney The Dinosaur. Although there’s no so-called rule of the internet stating as such, if something exists, it’s more likely than not that there’s also fanfiction of it out there. 

The rules of R34dle and AO3dle are simple. You’re given two different characters, and it’s up to you to guess who has more porn (or fanfiction) to their name on the relevant platform. It works kind of like The Higher Lower Game, if you remember that.

You can either play this indefinitely until you lose, or you can play the daily challenge. The daily challenge pairs up the same ten sets of characters for every player who takes part, turning the pornography guessing game into a social activity.

Naturally, my friends and I took to AO3dle and R34dle’s daily challenges like ducks to murky, internet-infested waters. We would compare notes on our wins and losses, and look on at each other with awe (or confusion?) when we achieved a perfect ten out of ten score. 

We became so embroiled in attaining the best scores imaginable – or, feeling good about ourselves when we lost cataclysmically – that we even had a Discord channel set up to share our scores in it with one another. It waits to be seen if that channel survives the great Discord AgeGatingGate that’s coming up later this year.

A tactical exploration around fandom’s friskier edges

Scoring well on the R34dle is a game of wits and logic. Although that may sound surprising, when you think about it, it makes sense. You can easily come across R34 content without even meaning to. I mean, imagine my confusion when some months ago I looked up “Is Spy x Family Loid Forger gay?” and was immediately affronted by his R34 tag on the front page. All I wanted to know was if his marriage was technically lavender. However, despite its ability to rank well, R34 isn’t exactly a corner of the internet I find myself on readily. And, despite the site’s once strongly established presence as a meme, I’m not sure if it’s all that popular anymore. 

Maybe I’m just being naive, but how many people do you know who are experts in all things R34? Enough so that they could smash the R34dle based on semantic knowledge alone? I can’t exactly imagine it coming up as a specialist subject on Mastermind. If that person is out there, then Godspeed – but I am not them. So, instead of relying on my non-existent knowledge of the database (if you can call it that), I relied on logic, reasoning, and, as I played more regularly, pattern recognition. 

When coming to a conclusion as to who would be more likely to sit on the figurative erotica podium, I asked myself a set of questions. Which fandom is more active, or which entity is more popular? Surely, based on statistics alone, something with more notoriety will probably also have more… Other content associated with it. Do particular formats triumph, while others remain in the dust? How long has an IP existed for? Surely, it would take time for a dedicated fanartist or dōjin creator to craft their best work – if something is too new, it’s bound to lose. And, of course, in the evergreen words of my friend, which Pokémon does everyone fancy more? These questions bounce around my mind as I carefully decide which side of the screen to tap for all ten rounds.

(Milotic wins over Brionne in R34dle, in case you were wondering.)

The AO3dle covered comparatively more familiar ground, as I have dabbled in reading the occasional fanfic over the years. Not many, though – and from a very limited range of fandoms. As a result, I had to deploy the same line of reasoning when assessing which character had more fanfiction to their name. After all, I’m not exactly elbow-deep in Supernatural fanfiction, and I don’t even recognise the subjects of half the real-person fiction (RPF) that comes up on the daily challenge. 

But the R34dle and AO3dle daily challenges do give an interesting peek into regions of the internet I would never normally look into otherwise. Not to demonise porn or fanfiction, I just don’t tend to find myself in those corners of the net. Formula 1 slashfiction? King K. Rool lewdity? Why, I’ve never even thought about it before, but I suppose I can give it a considered-yet-uneducated guess. It gives me a chance to go on an internet safari, during which I remain mostly unscathed, safe in my armoured car. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Where to play R34dle and AO3dle

R34dle and AO3dle are both browser-based games, so you can play them on the internet. They’re both made by developer DryIcedMatcha.

Be careful, as there are several clones that pop up when you search for R34dle. Make sure you play them on the original sites to support the creator. Look out for the URL with dot vercel dot app in the title, or head to the links provided above.

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Toni Oisin H.C. is the Head of Audio at QSO Media. Read more of his writing here.

SWARM is a sex worker-led collective dedicated to advocating for and upholding the rights of all who sell sexual services. You can support them here.

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