RxGuess.com

How RxGuess Works

RxGuess is a free daily pharmacology puzzle for pharmacy, nursing, medical, and PA students and practicing clinicians. Each day there is one mystery medication, and the answer is always a generic name. You have five guesses; type a generic or brand name and RxGuess resolves brands to their generic automatically.

You start with one clue. Every wrong guess unlocks another, moving from broad clinical signals to a fact only the answer fits. The goal is to practice clinical reasoning — how side effects, indications, and mechanisms point to a drug — rather than flashcard memorization alone. After the game, all five clues are revealed so you can review everything about the drug.

The Daily Clinical Clue Progression

Every puzzle follows the same five-step structure:

1. 1Side-effect signal. A moderately specific tolerability clue — something patients commonly report — that fits several medications and drug classes at once.
2. 2Indication, route, and formulation. The main labeled use plus how the drug is given (oral tablet, injection, inhaler, patch), which starts narrowing the field to a therapeutic area.
3. 3Mechanism of action. The receptor, enzyme, or pathway the drug acts on. By this point most players can name the drug class.
4. 4Clearer safety clue. A boxed warning, monitoring requirement, key interaction, or contraindication that separates members of the same class.
5. 5Drug-specific fact. A detail unique to the answer — a landmark trial, a pharmacokinetic quirk, or a feature that distinguishes it from look-alike, sound-alike names.

Clues are written from FDA prescribing information on DailyMed and major clinical guidelines. Read more about our sources on the About & Editorial Standards page.

Pharmacology Study Tips

• Learn the class first. Stems like -pril, -sartan, -statin, and -azole map most generics to a class. Knowing the class lets you predict mechanism, common side effects, and monitoring.
• Pair every generic with its brand. Exams and pharmacy practice switch between brand and generic names constantly. Rx Blitz drills this in 15-second rounds.
• Cluster safety facts. Group boxed warnings and contraindications by organ system (liver, kidney, QT, bleeding) so they are easier to recall under pressure.
• Watch for look-alike, sound-alike drugs. Names like hydroxyzine and hydralazine are frequently confused. RxGuess deliberately includes these as distractors to build safer habits.
• Use active recall daily. Retrieving an answer from a few clues strengthens memory more than rereading notes. One short puzzle a day adds up over a semester or rotation.

Want faster practice? Try Rx Blitz, an endless brand-vs-generic speed round.