Word of the Republic
A definition, and four terms from the same subject. Pick the one it belongs to — then place the other three against their own definitions, which is the half that decides whether you knew the term or recognised the word.
This is not a letter-guessing game, deliberately. The design note asks for something in the Wordle family. Guessing letters trains spelling, and nobody’s difficulty with civic language is spelling — it is that a bill and a law are not the same thing, an acquittal is not an exoneration, and APR and APY answer different questions. So the mechanic is telling near neighbours apart, and the distractors are always terms the Library teaches beside the answer rather than words picked at random.
234 terms are playable. 34 more are in the glossary and are left out rather than padded — each one is listed by name in the game’s data file with the reason, because a term whose subject cannot supply three genuine neighbours would need a distractor nobody could confuse it with, and that flatters the player instead of teaching them.
On the lectern
Annual percentage rate. The disclosed cost of borrowing including certain fees, which is why it exceeds the headline rate.
The Hall of Near Neighbours
A long hall with four alcoves off it and a lectern in the middle. The definition is read at the lectern. Every alcove holds one term, and all four are taught side by side in the same subject — which is exactly why they are confused.
