Marathon is the mode for playing alone. There is no opponent, no lobby and no clock counting down towards somebody else's victory — just a hidden word, a fixed number of guesses and the next level waiting behind it. Levels are laid out on a map, and each one you clear unlocks the one after it, so progress is something you can see rather than a number that quietly goes up.

The difficulty curve is the point. Early levels use short, common words and forgive a wasted guess. Later ones bring longer answers, rarer letters and words that share their first letters with half a dozen others, which is exactly when the colour feedback stops being a hint and starts being a logic problem. Stars are awarded for clean solving, so a level you scraped through can be replayed later for a better result once you know what the board does.

Because nothing is timed, Marathon is the mode people keep open in another tab. You can leave in the middle of a level and come back to it, and the map remembers exactly where you stopped. Jokers bought with experience will reveal a letter when a level refuses to fall, and they are worth saving for the levels that genuinely deserve them rather than spending on the first one that annoys you.

Progress feeds badges for levels cleared and stars collected, and the experience you earn counts towards your title just as it would in a duel. If competitive word games are not what you came for, this is the calmest corner of the site: a long word puzzle you work through at your own speed. Players who enjoy it usually end up in the daily crossword game as well, which asks for the same kind of patience in a different shape.