What is Wordle?

Created by British software engineer Josh Wardle in October of 2021, Wordle is a web browser-based word game that has recently become a viral hit. Upon opening the game, the user is met with a five by six board of squares and a keyboard. The user then has 6 attempts to guess a five letter word. Any five letter word.

Once you type in a five letter word and press enter, the screen reveals how close that word is to the correct word by displaying letters in yellow if they are in the word, but not in the correct spot, and in green if they are in the right spot. The letters are grayed out if they are not in the word.

Wordle started as a project for Wardle and his partner after the two of them got invested in word games over the pandemic. Beginning as a personal project, the game had roughly 90 users in November of 2021, a month after its creation. Now, millions of users check in to guess the word of the day. 

“I like Wordle because it’s a fun,challenging thing to do,” said sophomore Ariela Desantis. “It passes time and gives me a reason to interact with my friends.”

Wordle’s success comes from two things: competition and universality. The correct word is the same for every user, and resets every twenty-four hours. Players try and guess the word in the fewest guesses and as fast as they can, competing with themselves and others.

“I wanted to play because I wanted to see what all the hype was about,” said senior Alister Sanchez-Lapitan. “And I keep playing because it’s a little competition I get to look forward to every day.”

 The game is also extremely accessible, since it is based in a web browser. And, it is fun for all ages, as it cycles through both common and uncommon words. 

“It’s a stimulating brain break,” said AP Environmental Science teacher Cynthia Kube. “I look forward to it everyday. There is also the aspect of social interaction when everyone is talking about it and sharing strategies!”

Once you complete the day’s game, you are shown your statistics: how many games you’ve played, your current streak, longest streak, how many guesses it has taken for you to guess the word, and the percentage of games you have played successfully. You can share your results through a series of yellow, green, and white squares that match the results of your sequential guesses.

“I love sharing my results with my close friends through iMessage,” said Sanchez-Lapitan.

The share feature had the game gaining traffic exponentially, as rows of colored squares indicating game performance flooded facebook and twitter feeds. A mix of confusion and intrigue had social media users itching to try the game out themselves. 

“I share my results on Twitter,” said Kube. “Often with a little comment, like WHEW when it takes 6/6 [guesses]!”

On January 31st, the New York Times announced that they had acquired Wordle for a “low seven figures.” But don’t worry, the game will remain free to all players. The only major changes worth mentioning would be the domain name and the logo. Wordle is now under the New York Times website and the font of the title ‘Wordle’ has changed.

“I see Wordle expanding and even now there are already apps that greatly resemble it,” said Sanchez-Lapitan. “I think eventually it will die off just like most games.”

Nevertheless, Wordle’s popularity is still growing. In fact, people are creating games that follow the same or a similar formula, focusing on different topics. For example, Taylordle, a game resembling Wordle almost exactly, except each word is related to Taylor Swift. Or Globle, where you try to identify a country based on its shape. 

“There may be some other cool new thing that people will try,” said Kube. “But like the crossword puzzle, Wordle is here to stay for wordies like me, and wanna be wordies! One aspect that is super appealing about Wordle, now and in the future, is that ANYONE can do it!”

You can play Wordle now at www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/. Try and guess today’s word before your friends do!