In Wordle, you have six guesses to figure out the five-letter word. James Doubek/NPR hide caption
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James Doubek/NPR
In Wordle, you have six guesses to figure out the five-letter word.
James Doubek/NPR
A simple word game is the newest social media and pop culture phenomenon: Wordle.
The task is to guess a five-letter word. You have six tries. After each guess, the tiles change colors to show which letters are not in the word (gray), which letters are in the word but in the wrong position (yellow) and which ones are correctly in the word and in the right position (green).
Some people can win in a few minutes. For some of us, it takes ... longer.
Once you finish, you can post on Twitter how many guesses it took without spoiling the challenge for others. It's the same word every day for everyone, and you can play only once a day.
The free game was created by software engineer Josh Wardle of New York City, who made Wordle — a riff on his name — originally for his partner, Palak Shah, who is a fan of word games. Shah also helped with some of the development.
The app really started picking up steam in October, and as of Monday it has more than 2.7 million players, Wardle told NPR's Morning Edition. And Wardle did it without ads or gimmicks. You don't have to sign up with your email or give personal information to play.
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"Making Wordle I specifically rejected a bunch of the things you're supposed to do for a mobile game," Wardle told NPR. He deliberately didn't include push notifications, allow users to play endlessly or build in other tools commonly used today to pull users into playing apps for as long as possible.
Wardle said the rejection of those engagement tricks might have fueled the game's popularity after all — "where the rejection of some of those things has actually attracted people to the game because it feels quite innocent and it just wants you to have fun with it."
However, the rapid attention can be overwhelming.
"It going viral doesn't feel great to be honest. I feel a sense of responsibility for the players," he told The Guardian. "I feel I really owe it to them to keep things running and make sure everything's working correctly."
But Wardle said he has especially enjoyed stories of how the game has helped people keep connected.
"They'll have a family chat group where they share their Wordle results with one another," Wardle told NPR. "And especially during COVID, it being a way for people to connect with friends and family that they couldn't otherwise see, and it just provides this really easy way to touch base with others."
Strategy: vowels or consonants?
Facebook fan groups have now cropped up, while numerous articles and players offer their own strategy tips.
Using as many vowels as possible in the first guess is one tactic — "adieu" offers four of them. Another method is to try using as many common consonants as possible with a word like "snort."
The game uses common five-letter words as its answers, Wardle told the Times, and he took out the possibility of very obscure words no one would ever guess.
There's also a "hard mode," where any yellow or green letter has to be used in subsequent guesses.
If you guess the word within six tries, the game gives you the option of sharing your prowess on social media. The numbers in the tweet displayed here, as this reporter eventually discovered, mean it was game No. 203 and I guessed the correct answer in three of six attempts:
I don't know what this means but I was very impressed with myself: Wordle 203 3/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
The simplicity, popularity and scarcity of the game — with only one chance to play a day — has offered copycats plenty of opportunity to develop their own versions, including with the ability to play unlimited games.
Of course, you can also take some time once you're finished and try out the NPR puzzle instead.
NPR's Nell Clark contributed to this report.
FAQs
It's the same word every day for everyone, and you can play only once a day. The free game was created by software engineer Josh Wardle of New York City, who made Wordle — a riff on his name — originally for his partner, Palak Shah, who is a fan of word games. Shah also helped with some of the development.
What made Wordle go viral? ›
The biggest driver behind the viral growth of the game was social media, particularly Twitter. Since all players on Wordle are guessing a common word every day, it's fun for players to flaunt their scores with followers, friends, and families.
What is the logic behind Wordle? ›
Basically, a user guesses a 5 letter word and it compares it to the computer generated word and if the letter is in the right place it marks it 'X', if the letter is present but in the wrong position, marks with 'o', and when missing completely it marks '.
What is the story behind Wordle? ›
The prototype to Wordle was originally created by software engineer Josh Wardle in 2013, with the name of the game being a play on his last name. During Covid-19, he had been playing many word games alongside his partner Palak Shah. This period of time encouraged him to create a new game that they could play together.
What is the Wordle phenomenon? ›
A word puzzle that gained popularity in 2021, Wordle is a web game where players have six attempts to guess a five letter word. When a user guesses a word, the squares either stay gray, turn yellow, or turn green. If a square is gray, it means that letter does not appear anywhere in the word.
Do people ever get Wordle on the first try? ›
3. More people solve Wordle on their first guess than can be explained by chance. In the list above, we excluded first guesses that were that day's Wordle solution. That's because, about one game in every 250, a reader gets the answer right on the first try.
What percentage of people get Wordle correct every day? ›
But statistics show that, on average, 0.2 to 0.5 per cent of people guess right on the first try – between five and 12 times more than chance would suggest. Put another way: Of the roughly 2 million daily Wordle players, about 860 people should be guessing the right word on their first try.
What is the most popular first word in Wordle? ›
In its robot brain, a handful of words — SLATE, CRANE, TRACE — are best. For human Wordle players, the most popular opening word by some margin is ADIEU. AUDIO, another four-vowel word, is the fourth-most popular. The strategy seems to make sense: Figure out the vowels, and the other letters will fall into place.
What is the best 3 word start for Wordle? ›
Mashable's own Wordle expert Caitlin Welsh prefers a different three-word starter combination: SCALY, GUIDE, and THORN.
Is Wordle based on luck or skill? ›
Luck is part of Wordle, so it's always possible to solve faster than the bot. But the bot's reliance on math instead of intuition means in the long run its paths to the answer are hard to top. There's a lot to be learned from the way the bot plays, similar to the way top chess players train by using chess programs.
When did Wordle start? Wordle started as a humble independent game played only among friends and family of developer Josh Wardle in June 2021 (the first answer was "Cigar").
How much money did the Wordle guy make? ›
I have to remind myself of how I felt around that time, and I felt miserable," he said. Wardle was reportedly paid a figure in the range of the low seven figures for Wordle, which means at least $1 million.
How many people play Wordle every day? ›
Over 300,000 people played Wordle on January 2, 2022, up from 90 players on November 1, 2021, a figure that rose to over 2 million a week later. Between January 1 and 13, 1.2 million Wordle results were shared on Twitter.
What type of people play Wordle? ›
The survey discovered that baby boomers are the best Wordle players, with an 81% win average. Those identifying as women were more successful than males (77% success versus 72%), though men have a lower guess average and spent less time playing the game.
What is the algorithm behind Wordle? ›
He came up with an algorithm that works by deducing the frequency at which certain letters appear in the list of possible solutions and ignoring other guesses. That is, the words that use the most popular letters in the list of solutions are considered the best starting words to guess.
Is Wordle good for brain health? ›
“There are many cognitive benefits of playing Wordle. Regular play can enhance brain function by stimulating critical thinking, problem-solving skills and memory retention.” Guessing the words correctly is no doubt a buzz – especially if you can do it in fewer than six tries!
How did Wordle get so popular? ›
And the one word per day is the same for everyone. Wordle started to take off when the results of one's guesses could be shared on social media. Given that it is the same word that everyone needs to guess on any given day, this makes it easy to compare your result with the result of your friends on social media.
Why the online game Wordle went viral according to psychology? ›
British psychologist Lee Chambers, who specializes in environmental and well-being coaching, told Insider that Wordle was so appealing because it stimulated both the language- and logic-processing areas of our brains.
Why did Wordle lose popularity? ›
Repetitiveness: Wordle relies on the same basic mechanics every time, and some people may find the game to be too repetitive or boring after playing it for a while. Lack of variety: Wordle only presents players with one new word to guess each day, and some people may find this to be too limiting or unchallenging.
