I had not heard of Wordle until my daughter sent me a link about three weeks ago. Now I am hooked on the daily online word game.
So is my wife. So is my wife’s sister. So is my wife’s sister’s daughter-in-law. You get the idea.
Wordle is the chain letter of the game world. Every new player passes it along to a few family members and friends, who can then share with each other how they did without spoiling it for everyone else.
The game, which first became publicly available in October, now has millions of players. It took off so fast that The New York Times earlier this month bought it for more than $1 million from the game’s inventor, Josh Wardle, an unassuming software engineer from Brooklyn. The Times wouldn’t say exactly how much it paid, but, according to the newspaper company, it was in the “low seven figures.”
What makes the game appealing is that it is simple but challenging, neither too hard nor too easy.
Each day, starting at midnight in our time zone, the game begins with a new five-letter word. Everyone who plays the game plays that word and only that word that day.
The player has up to six tries to guess the word, typing in one letter per tile. After each guess, the tiles change colors to show how close the guess was to the word.
If the letter is in the word and in the correct spot, the tile turns green.
If the letter is in the word but in the wrong spot, the tile turns gold.
If the letter is not in the word, the tile turns gray.
With each guess, the idea is to keep the letters in green in the same spot, move the letters in gold to different spots, and form a new word using letters that haven’t been tried before.
If this sounds complicated, I’m doing a poor job of explaining it. It takes just one attempt to get the hang of it.
The game keeps a running total of the player’s performance. As of Thursday, I had played it 18 times. So far, I’ve yet to be stumped. My average is four tries. I have never gotten it on the first or second guess. Twice it has taken me to the sixth and final guess, although one of those times was before I understood that the same letter could appear in a word more than once.
There is some strategy to the game, although the experts differ on what that strategy is. I like to use at least two vowels on the first word. Some say to start heavy with consonants.
My wife, Betty Gail, likes to play the game in the morning, when her brain is fresh. I usually wait until I’m winding down from work.
When I’m finished, we rehash how we got to the correct guess, sort of like reliving the major plays of a close football game. It doesn’t take much to amuse the two of us obviously.
Most times, I can play the game in less than a few minutes. The other night, though, I was stumped after three guesses. I had correctly guessed the first two letters, A-R. I was almost certain the third letter was O. But I could not think of a single word to make out of the letters that remained unused.
It was driving me nuts. Betty Gail, who had earlier guessed the word on her third try, told me to give it a rest and come back to it. I wouldn’t listen. The harder I thought, the more frustrated I got. (It did get me out of doing the dishes, though.)
I tried in my mind every combination I could think of. None were words. I got close to giving up, but then it finally hit me. A-R-O-M-A. Having a word in which a letter is used twice is proving to be my main nemesis.
Since The New York Times purchased Wordle, there has been speculation how the game might change. The main thing most players wanted to know was whether the newspaper would start charging for what had been free. It says it won’t, at least not initially. It’s hoping, though, that the game will boost online subscriptions to the paper.
Others have wondered whether the Times would make the game harder, such as using more obscure words than the everyday ones that have been Wordle’s staple.
I do have a couple of suggestions that would make the game a little harder but better.
One would be to have a time limit. The other would be to lose a try when a guess is not a word.
Having no time limit takes the pressure off, but it also blurs the distinction between those who are really good with words and those who are just so-so.
I also question why there should be a mulligan for guessing a nonsense word or, even worse, a misspelled one.
I shouldn’t get too cocky about that, though. I was nearly certain the other day that my wife misspelled the baseball term “balk” as “baulk.” A quick search of the dictionary proved me wrong. Baulk is an alternative spelling — one I’ve never seen in print before. Wordle knew it. I didn’t.
If you haven’t tried the game, I recommend it. Click HERE to find it.
The game stretches the brain a little, doesn’t require much time and is harmlessly addictive. The limit of one word a day assures that.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 662-581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
