Fjalëkryq Shqip

The idea

A crossword that feels made in Albanian rather than translated into it. The keyboard has Ë and Ç where Albanians expect them, the words are ones Albanians use — towns and villages, mountains and rivers, history, food and everyday words — and every clue was written for this game.

It is for Albanians wherever they live: Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and the diaspora. The menus are in Albanian or English, switched with one large button, so it also works for parents and grandparents and for children who grew up abroad. The crosswords themselves are always Albanian.

What’s in it

• The daily crossword: a new puzzle every day, the same for everyone from the same place, with a daily streak.
• The Path: 250 levels in ten chapters, from everyday words to Albania, Kosovo, the other Albanian lands, history and culture. Up to three stars a level, and bonus helpers for new levels.
• Endless new games in three sizes, from the categories you pick.
• Playing together: open a room, share its six-character code, and solve one grid together live — or race each other on the same puzzle.
• Leaderboards for today’s crossword and this week’s stars, by region or across all Albanians. Players appear only with a nickname they choose.
• Helpers when you’re stuck: check the letters, reveal a letter or a word. Free ones come back every day.
• Fjalëkryq Plus, a subscription for unlimited helpers and no ads.
• A modern or a classic newspaper-style grid, and light or dark theme.

How it’s built

• The app is native Android, in Kotlin with Jetpack Compose. The puzzle engine is plain Kotlin, shared by the app and the tools that build the levels and the daily puzzles.
• The word bank holds over 10,000 answers with clues written for the game; Wikidata (CC0) helped with places and people.
• The backend runs on Supabase in London. The word bank and the later levels stay on the server and come to the phone one puzzle at a time. Edge Functions check finished times before they reach a leaderboard and verify purchases with Google Play; rooms run on private Realtime channels.
• Privacy is part of the design: players start with an anonymous account, Google sign-in is optional, the usage statistics can be switched off, and players delete their data from inside the app.

Where it stands

The app is built and being prepared for its release on Google Play.

Privacy

Read the privacy policy of the app — also in Albanian. It explains what the app keeps, on the phone and on the server, and how to delete it.