The online game “Wordle,” created in October by software Engineer Josh Wardle, gained popularity in mid-January, currently hosting millions of daily players. On Monday, the New York Times Company purchased the game in an attempt to acquire new subscribers.
The daily game challenges players to guess a random five-letter word in six guesses, revealing correct letters to use in following trials. Green letters indicate a correct letter and placement, yellow letters represent letters in use, but in incorrect placement. Black letters indicate unused letters. Parents, students and teachers have fallen into the trend, competing with peers to correctly guess the word in as few attempts as possible. Additionally, the game has become a fad on social media, which is where I discovered my new favorite pastime. As a daily player, I have to say the game is worth the hype.
Wordle is the perfect example that simplicity in games is just as desirable as complex games. The mixture of competition, patience for next day’s word and strategy creates the perfect mixture that leaves me and other players wanting to play day after day. I find myself asking friends and family how many tries they took to guess the word, and it seems to be a topic of conversation in many of my classes. The game is easy enough for people of all ages to learn and enjoy. Although, some daily words are more challenging than others, giving the bit of frustration that irks me enough to play again.
To be quite honest, The Times is brilliant for purchasing the game on its uptrend of popularity. If Wordle continues to increase its number of daily players and maintains a consistent following, it seems like a worthwhile investment. My only fear is that The Times will begin charging for the game as a part of their subscription, and I am not sure if the desire for the game will grow The Times’ profit or cause a downturn in players.
More impressive is the creation of the game itself by Wardle. Firstly, the name of Wordle is a perfect pun of the creator’s name. Like I mentioned, the simplicity of the game works perfectly. The clean design of the game screen, along with the idea of only providing one word a day is brilliant. The gameplay only takes around five or 10 minutes at most every day, which is a perfect brain break from work or school. It engages your mind to come up with new words from subsequent clues, and is the perfect mixture of competitiveness and quick satisfaction.
An aspect of Wordle that might possibly bring just as much debate as the results themselves is players’ starting word. Personally, I use “stare” to start most days because they seem to be frequently used letters, and it typically benefits my score; however, some people choose to knock out vowel possibilities using “adieu.” Some people do not even use the same starting word each day. Whichever strategy you choose to utilize in Wordle, the game is fun and unique regardless, and I would recommend everyone to try it out at least once.
Rating: A+
