X Facebook WhatsApp Bluesky Threads LinkedIn Reddit Pinterest Telegram Text Email Instagram

Sinkhole looks like Vanishing. It starts as an ordinary board and loses a letter every round, 24 in round 1 down to 15 in round 10. The difference is which letters go. Vanishing is planned to keep the board rich. Sinkhole is planned to take the letters your rarest words lean on, so the best finds disappear early and the last rounds are a scramble.

How it differs from Vanishing

Sinkhole is the Uncharted board: the one part of Uncharted that changes the board rather than the rules. Everything mechanical is shared with Vanishing: one letter goes every round, the empty squares stay where they were, and the order is fixed before anyone sees the board and is the same for everyone in the room.

VanishingSinkhole

24 letters falling to 1524 letters falling to 15

Planned to keep rare words alivePlanned to take them

About half the rare words surviveAbout 3 in 100 survive

Can't carry KeystoneCan't carry Keystone

New to Vanishing?Read the Vanishing guide first: how the board shrinks, round by round, with tips for playing it.

A line chart of rare words still playable each round, as a share of round 1. On a typical Vanishing board 47 percent remain by round 10. On a typical Sinkhole board 3 percent remain. — Typical boards of each kind. Sinkhole loses most of its rare words by round 4.

What makes it tricky

Difficulty: ◆◆◆◆◆◆ Brutal, 6th of 6 from easiest to hardest. On average 71% of a Sinkhole board's rare words are gone across a game, and 97% by round 10.

The board is working against you. A letter sinks every round, and it's the one your rarest words depend on.

On a typical Sinkhole board only about 3 in 100 of the rare words are still playable by round 10, so a word saved for later is usually a word lost. Waiting, the safe habit everywhere else, is the mistake here.

How it compares with the other five: Uncharted, all six.

Still fair, still playable

Sinkhole is mean on purpose, but it isn't empty. Every Sinkhole board is checked before it's allowed into play: even in round 10 it has to carry at least 300 playable words, including at least 8 rare ones. On a typical board the last round still has a few hundred words to find. They're just much harder to find than they were in round 1.

24 to 15Letters, round 1 to 10

300+Words left in round 10

8+Rare words left in round 10

Step by step

Pick itOpen Outlier Live and start a game. Under Uncharted, below the board types, choose Sinkhole. Or join a room someone else opened on it.
Read the cardIn the waiting room a card explains the board. It opens by itself the first time; after that, tap the Sinkhole chip at the top whenever you want it.
Round 1 is the full boardYou start with 24 letters. Scan for the rarest words now, while everything is still there.
A letter sinks every roundEach new round opens with a card saying another letter has sunk. Its square stays empty for the rest of the game, so you can always see what's gone.
Rescan and lockThe board is different every round. Look again before you type, and by round 10 you're down to 15 letters.

Here's how the ground gives way on a sample board.

Round 1: the whole board, with DEVOUR lit through the V. — Step 1. The whole board, for now.

Round 2: the V has sunk, and DEVOUR and SOLVENT go with it. — Step 2. The letter your rare word needed is the one that goes.

Round 3: the H has sunk too, taking HAMLET; CORNET is still possible. — Step 3. Play your rarest word first.

How to play Sinkhole well

Your best word goes firstThe rare word you found in round 1 is the one Sinkhole is coming for. Play it now.

Don't plan a long gameOn Vanishing you can save a sturdy word for later. On Sinkhole, whatever made a word rare is likely to be gone in a round or two.

Rescan every roundThe board you're looking at is a different board each round. A quick fresh look beats typing from memory.

The late rounds are about anythingBy round 8 the room is fighting over a few hundred words. A solid word locked beats a brilliant one you can't find.

Where you'll find it

Sinkhole is the Uncharted board in Outlier Live. It turns up in open Live rooms alongside the other board types, and any host can choose it under Uncharted when starting a game. Rematches keep it. It never appears in Outlier Live Daily, and Uncharted games don't move your Live rating. It's completely optional: regular Live games haven't changed.

The first time you meet Sinkhole, a card explains the rule before round 1. Tap the Sinkhole chip at the top of the waiting room to see it again. The FAQ has every Uncharted rule, and the other Uncharted guides are linked from it.

Start a Sinkhole game →

One tap opens a room on a Sinkhole board. Send friends the link to join.

Why we built them: Uncharted, from the founder. The rest of Uncharted:

Gold RushFirst to lock a word keeps it. Later locks of the same word score zero.KeystoneEvery word must use the stone.AscentThe climb gets steeper: 4+ letters, then 5+, 6+, 7+, 8+.SwitchbackStart each word with the last letter of your previous one.LightningThe first lock lights a 10-second fuse for everyone else.