WORDLE: The World’s Newest Obsession

Chances are that you’ve been asked “How many tries did you get the Wordle in?”. Wordle is a word puzzle that refreshes daily. You get 6 guesses to guess today’s 5 letter word. If you guess a word with letters that are in the Wordle, these letters will turn yellow. If the letters are in the correct position, they will turn green. Wordle has become a very addictive worldwide sensation- and you can only play it once a day! Another fun feature with Wordle is that you can share your results- spoiler free! If you click on your record, there is a share icon. Click this icon and choose how to share, and your Wordle progression will turn into emojis. Cool right? Play today’s Wordle here: https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html

As of recently, New York Times has purchased Wordle and transferred the game to their own website. It is said to have been purchased from Josh Wardle (the founder), for a “low seven figures”. New York Times claims the game would “initially” remain free, which leaves questions as to if they will eventually put up a paywall. This would be devastating for the millions of users who play the daily Wordle. Hopefully the New York Times will let Wordle remain free and stay out of public scrutiny

After the switch to the New York Times website, many have made claims stating that the game has become more difficult. Previous words such as “cynic,” “ulcer,” and “ultra” have gotten users in a fuss. The New York Times stands by the claim that they never altered Wordle’s gameplay, and the ‘words getting more difficult’ was just a coincidence. When Wordle was created a few months ago, a script had been uploaded and each daily Wordle had already been decided. Unless the New York Times altered this script (which they can), the answers have not been purposefully made more difficult.

Many spin-offs have also been made for Wordle. A simple google search can bring you to a multitude of knockoffs of the game, notable ones being Wordle Unlimited, Taylordle (a Taylor Swift Wordle), and a site where you can create your own Wordle and challenge friends. These sites can keep you entertained while you wait for the next official Wordle.