The Pathology Puzzle: How a Wordle-Inspired Game is Changing the Way Pathologists Learn

A new pathology-focused puzzle game inspired by Wordle is already making waves in the world of pathology and laboratory medicine. The game — aptly called Pathordle — is the brainchild of two medical students who wanted to create a free, fun way for students to practice their histology skills, while also bringing more attention to the role of pathologists in medicine.  

Pathordle was developed by Ansh Bhatt, a third-year medical/MBA student, and Adithi Jeevan, a third-year medical student — both from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Mr. Bhatt leads the technical development and operations for the game, while Ms. Jeevan focuses on training contributors and developing puzzles. Ms. Jeevan and Mr. Bhatt spoke together with Critical Values about the game and their hopes for the vital role it can play in pathology’s future.  

An engaging challenge for pathology students 

Mr. Bhatt and Ms. Jeevan always enjoyed playing puzzle games like Wordle in the mornings with their friends, so it was natural for them to envision a version focused specifically on pathology. Thanks to Mr. Bhatt’s prior experience developing apps and technical platforms, he was able to build the first version of the website in just a week, while Ms. Jeevan developed Pathordle’s branding, produced an initial set of puzzles, and established a framework for training new contributors. They took another two weeks to test the platform before launching. 

Mr. Bhatt and Ms. Jeevan hope this game will provide an “engaging challenge” for pathologists to test their diagnostic skills, while medical students can use it to strengthen their histology knowledge. And as the game grows in popularity, they believe it can help highlight the vital role pathology plays in many specialties.  

“As medical students, we realized how many of our classmates found histology to be a challenging topic when preparing for the USMLE,” Ms. Jeevan and Mr. Bhatt say. “In response, we focus on designing many of our daily puzzles around high-yield histology commonly tested on the USMLE. We also include a brief educational overview of the diagnosis that appears after the player has solved the puzzle to reinforce key concepts.”

A team of students works together to keep the game fresh 

Every day, the game displays a new histology photo for diagnosis. Users get five guesses at the correct answer. After each wrong guess, the game reveals a hint to help them narrow down the answer.  

For example, the first hint for the game on June 16 reads: “A 67-year-old male presents to the clinic with complaints of progressive muscle weakness, increasingly frequent falls, and difficulty climbing stairs.” 

The second hint reads: “Neurologic examination reveals weakened grip strength and difficulty with fine motor tasks such as pinching.” 

The hints continue until the fifth and final guess is submitted. If the user still gets it wrong, the correct diagnosis pops up with more details about the case (in this case, it was “Inclusion Body Myositis”). The game then provides a countdown to when the next puzzle will be available.  

The game is the result of a great deal of teamwork. A group of eight contributors — all fellow medical school classmates — create puzzles for the platform. Each puzzle maker provides one new puzzle a week, with the eighth person creating supplementary puzzles as needed.  

“We prioritized recruiting contributors with a strong interest in pathology and/or medical education, and their involvement has been essential in helping us maintain Pathordle with consistent high-quality puzzles daily,” Ms. Jeevan and Mr. Bhatt say. 

The platform’s ease of use and smooth functioning are thanks to Mr. Bhatt’s extensive experience in technical development. Prior to Pathordle, he founded ChargeBay, an EV charging company with its own app platform. He also created an MCAT prep platform and has advised for various other medical education tools.  

Reactions to the game have been ‘overwhelmingly positive’ 

Ms. Jeevan and Mr. Bhatt say they’ve been “very encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive” reactions they’ve gotten from the thousands of medical students, residents, and physicians who have used the game so far.  

“The pathology community has responded very positively, with many residents informing us that they enjoy challenging themselves with the game,” they say.  

They appreciate any comments that players give them about their experiences using the game, including ideas on how to improve the platform. Based on player feedback, they’ve already added expanded explanations, more gross pathology puzzles, and visual annotations on the histology images.  

Developing platforms with a focus on public good 

Ms. Jeevan and Mr. Bhatt say they plan to continue improving the Pathordle platform.  

“One potential future addition is a blog section featuring high-yield histology topics and summaries for medical students, updates on emerging advancements in pathology, and additional information about pathology as a career,” they say. “We have also recently obtained a microscope and are working towards incorporating our own histology photographs into Pathordle puzzles in the future.” 

Currently, Pathordle only uses images with permission, or whose copyrights allow for educational use.  

Ms. Jeevan and Mr. Bhatt’s other platform endeavors outside of Pathordle all have a public good focus. For example, they want to develop tools for physicians and patients to more easily navigate health pricing and reimbursement. They also want to create more free resources for students in the future, to continue helping them strengthen their histology and diagnostic skills.  

Ms. Jeevan and Mr. Bhatt hope Pathordle can help inspire students to look into pathology as a career.  

“Pathordle is meant to bring attention to the crucial role of pathologists in diagnostic medicine and patient care and potentially inspire curiosity in other students who may consider pathology as a future career,” they say. “We have always prioritized making the website a simple, lightweight, and accessible platform, and this approach has allowed us to reach a wide audience with players engaging with Pathordle from across the globe.”