The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
BARCODES
Definition of BARCODES
noun
plural of barcode
noun
Any set of machine-readable parallel bars or concentric circles, varying in width, spacing, or height, encoding information according to a symbology.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
BARCODES inherits its ancestry from its root, BARCODE.
How it is built
Same root, BARCODE · 2 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
BARCODES in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 6 boards so far. 12 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 11, 31 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 129, 26 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 27 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 11, 31 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
BARCODES starts with B and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read ABCDEORS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start BARCOD
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 11
Could you have found BARCODES?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 11 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER