Show HN: Lastwordonearth.com

#1

Post by hnrich » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 1:06 AM UTC

This is a silly idea I had a couple years ago that I just recently launched. It's a slow, globally shared word "game" (or experiment?) to find the Last Word on Earth. It starts with about 174k words on a board and anyone in the world can click a word to remove it from the board. Poof, gone. Eventually, the whole world will have decided on one word that remains (other milestone numbers are tracked as well).

I imagine it's going to take a while to get down to a single word, but once that happens, it will be recorded and a fresh board will repopulate to start again. And again and again.

There is little chance of this happening but it would be hilarious if the first final word was "why"? That would make a lot of sense.

If you have a few seconds, add a few clicks to the board to help get the number down and let's see what happens!

And if you have a few more seconds, let me know if you have any ideas or see any issues. I'd love to hear any feedback at all.

Show HN: Lastwordonearth.com
lastwordonearth.com

Re: Show HN: Lastwordonearth.com

#2

Post by AmazingEveryDay » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 1:26 AM UTC

All the words I don't know are so interesting! It's difficult to banish them. I think of interest will be the log of the journey down to the one word, rather than the one word that remains.

Re: Show HN: Lastwordonearth.com

#3

Post by hnrich » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 1:34 AM UTC

AmazingEveryDay wrote: post #2

All the words I don't know are so interesting! It's difficult to banish them. I think of interest will be the log of the journey down to the one word, rather than the one word that remains.

That is a great perspective. Once the board gets down to 150 words, they will stay on screen and only fade out as people strike them. Thinking about it from your point of view, that may not be fun to watch your favorite remaining words get banished on the way to one. Here's hoping that one of your favs makes it to the end!

I really appreciate you taking the time to check it out and comment.

Re: Show HN: Lastwordonearth.com

#4

Post by d00d0ff000 » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 1:48 AM UTC

Well I just bashed every variation of “abash” for my part.

Good luck on your journey!

Re: Show HN: Lastwordonearth.com

#5

Post by d00d0ff000 » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 1:53 AM UTC

Maybe you shouldn’t have it always start/load on “a”, rather have it first load to as random position of a random letter so one section does not get immediately over plundered by default.

Like maybe a big “jump to random words” button at the top to make it more varied…

Re: Show HN: Lastwordonearth.com

#6

Post by hnrich » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 1:58 AM UTC

d00d0ff000 wrote: post #5

Maybe you shouldn’t have it always start/load on “a”, rather have it first load to as random position of a random letter so one section does not get immediately over plundered by default. Like maybe a big “jump to random words” button at the top to make it more varied…

Good ideas. I like randomly loading to a new position since that is the most critical moment for new viewers. The a-words are definitely not going to make it out alive in this current edition.

Edit: Added! Thank you for the suggestion. And also added an input box to scroll to a specific word faster.

Re: Show HN: Lastwordonearth.com

#7

Post by d00d0ff000 » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 12:47 AM UTC

hnrich wrote: post #6

d00d0ff000 wrote: post #5

Maybe you shouldn’t have it always start/load on “a”, rather have it first load to as random position of a random letter so one section does not get immediately over plundered by default. Like maybe a big “jump to random words” button at the top to make it more varied…

Good ideas. I like randomly loading to a new position since that is the most critical moment for new viewers. The a-words are definitely not going to make it out alive in this current edition. Edit: Added! Thank you for the suggestion. And also added an input box to scroll to a specific word faster.

It would be kind of cool to +1 the word for protection. And then it has to be not that more +1 times. You wouldn’t have to “secure” it too much from cheaters, once per word per session would sound fair.

Whatever has to be killed will be killed, though it wouldn’t be terrible to “stick up for a word” would it?

I did rampage the list a few times, I targeted ridiculous words, a few I hated, and sometimes thought of pairing down variations of words I left alone.

Re: Show HN: Lastwordonearth.com

#8

Post by hnrich » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

d00d0ff000 wrote: post #7

hnrich wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good ideas. I like randomly loading to a new position since that is the most critical moment for new viewers. The a-words are definitely not going to make it out alive in this current edition. Edit: Added! Thank you for the suggestion. And also added an input box to scroll to a specific word faster.

It would be kind of cool to +1 the word for protection. And then it has to be not that more +1 times. You wouldn’t have to “secure” it too much from cheaters, once per word per session would sound fair. Whatever has to be killed will be killed, though it wouldn’t be terrible to “stick up for a word” would it? I did rampage the list a few times, I targeted ridiculous words, a few I hated, and sometimes thought of pair…

A few people have brought up the idea of protecting a word and this will likely be implemented in some form after the first round is complete. Still thinking through options. Adding session based up/down votes per word (perhaps with a max), and any count that is negative removes the word, feels like a good route. This would help protect words from random clickers. My only worry is that it could create a scenario that makes it difficult to get to a final word.

Thank you for helping to get to that last word!