Wordle: What's up with this game and why do people A-D-O-R-E it?
The hot new word puzzle game (it's not an app!) is drawing more and more players every day — here are key F-A-C-T-S and figures behind the fun sensation
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There are a number of reasons right now that Wordle game, a daily word puzzle, is a viral sensation that's attracting fans from all over.
It's simple, it’s fun — and it’s gloriously addictive, according to the most ardent players. (And now it's been acquired by The New York Times Company, for a price "in the low seven figures," The Times noted on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022.)
It's also free, at least as of right now.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And it is not an app. That's R-I-G-H-T!
B-E-L-O-W, you'll L-E-A-R-N some cool tips, tricks, and F-A-C-T-S about the Wordle sensation — and maybe even take your game to a higher L-E-V-E-L.
With Wordle, you get six guesses to figure out the daily five-letter word. (Fox Digital)
What's the P-O-I-N-T of Wordle?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The object of Wordle is to correctly G-U-E-S-S the five-letter word-of-the-day in as few tries as possible.
Your P-R-I-Z-E? Bragging rights.
"I love that you can play just one puzzle a day on the website with no nagging notifications to do more," Kirsten W. Larson, a Los Angeles-based children’s book author, told Fox News Digital.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Larson became a fan earlier this week when "everybody in my Twitter feed and on Facebook started posting their scores," she said.
Ever stop in the middle of a store or while doing some other errand to play Wordle? The viral word puzzle web-based game might be to B-L-A-M-E.
What do the Wordle colors mean?
Yes, let's address those cryptic grids of colored squares — and why they've taken over everyone's social media feeds.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The green, grey, and yellow grids are players sharing their Wordle "trophies" without spoiling the game for others.
GEORGIA QUARTERBACK STETSON BENNETT'S WORDS TO LIVE BY
So how do you play Wordle?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Game play is really Q-U-I-T-E simple. Players have six chances to guess a five-letter word.
Each guess, which must be an actual word, is followed by feedback indicating whether the letter selected is correct and if it's in the correct position.
Green means the letter is in the word — and that it's in the right position.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Yellow means the letter is in the word, but not in the correct position.
Grey means the letter is a T-O-T-A-L dud.
Here are more Wordle F-A-C-T-S to know:
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}1. Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle released his free, in-browser word-guessing game in the fall of 2021. The game reportedly went from 90 players in November to 2 million just a few weeks ago. (The name Wordle, by the way, is a play on Wardle's last name.)
2. Wordle is NOT an app. It's old school — in-browser only.
3. Multiple copycat versions of Wordle were recently taken out of the App Store, Apple confirmed recently to BBC News. However, some similar-looking games are still available there.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}4. A separate Twitter account called @WordleStats, established earlier this month, tracks Wordle’s Twitter mentions, the number of "hard mode" players, and the percentage of people who solved the daily puzzle in a given number of tries. ("Hard mode" players use previously revealed Wordle hints in subsequent guesses.)
5. Some 76% of players needed four or more tries to solve Wednesday’s puzzle; 3,017 played the game on "hard mode"; and 153,880 results were found on Twitter, according to WordleStats. (The WordleStats account says it is not affiliated with Wordle; but Josh Wardle himself, Wordle's creator, follows the account and has shared tweets from it.)
6. On Friday morning, Jan. 14, 2022, Wardle confirmed on Twitter that Steven Cravotta, a fellow developer with an app (that happens to be called Wordle also) is hoping to donate proceeds from his app to a worthy charity, "preferably a literacy focused nonprofit organization." (Cravotta’s app saw a sizable uptick in sales when people began googling to find Wardle’s in-browser game but instead stumbled on the Cravotta app.)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}7. The same letter can be used twice in a word puzzle, by the way — for example, in a word such as P-R-E-S-S (this fact can trip up beginners).
See the T-W-E-E-T below with more details — and a few more details A-F-T-E-R that. (S-O-R-R-Y, just couldn't resist.)
There is only one official P-L-A-C-E to play Wordle. That would be its free website, powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There is no official smartphone or mobile app for Wordle.
So, no downloading. (S-W-E-E-T!)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This article has been updated to note the game has been purchased by The New York Times from its creator, Josh Wardle.