In Wordle, you have six guesses to figure out the five-letter word. James Doubek/NPR hide caption
toggle caption
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.
Regardless Of What You Think, 'Irregardless' Is A Word
"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
Wardle was reportedly paid a figure in the range of the low seven figures for Wordle, which means at least $1 million. At the time of the sale, Wardle said, "I'd be lying if I said this hasn't been a little overwhelming.
What is the most common answer in Wordle? ›
We see from Figure 1 that “e” is the letter that is most frequently used (1,233 times in total), followed by “a”, “r”, “o”, “t”, “l”, “i”, “s”, “n”, “c”. The most frequently used letter in the first position is “s”, while the most frequently used letter in the second or third position is “a”.
How many people still play Wordle? ›
A Gale-published article even claims that "Wordle is less about winning and more about the friends we make along the way" due to the new ease of sharing. 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.
Why does Wordle have more than one answer? ›
"In an effort to make the puzzle more accessible, we are reviewing the solutions and removing obscure or potentially insensitive words over time. HARRY is an example of an obscure word."
What was the first Wordle answer ever? ›
A Times spokesperson told me it lists the very first Wordle as appearing on June 19, 2021, and the paper celebrated the game's 1,000th word on March 15. Spoiler: That 1,000th word was ERUPT. As in, "Dad will erupt if the Wordle is so tough he loses his streak."
Does nyt make money from Wordle? ›
Wordle has remained a free and ad-free daily offering under the Times' ownership. Instead of creating revenue directly, the game serves as something of a loss leader for the Times' Games subscription—a bundle that includes full access to its popular crosswords and other daily puzzles like Spelling Bee and Vertex.
What is the most common first word in Wordle? ›
By comparison, ADIEU — the most common starting word among Wordle players — trails TRACE by about a fifth of a guess, adding up to 74 extra turns for the bot over the course of a year. In addition to reader guesses, we rely on data sources like usage frequency in The New York Times.
Why is Wordle losing popularity fast? ›
There is much speculation that one reason for its decline is because the New York Times bought the game. Many players were concerned that the game would become drastically different after the shift, but Wordle has not become harder or experienced any change in its gameplay. A second reason is knockoffs.
Has anyone ever got 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 is the most common number of tries for Wordle? ›
Most people should, on average, get it in at least 4, even on days where it is harder. Especially if you aren't making risky moves, four guesses should supply you with enough information to make a correct guess.
Memorizing all of the past Wordle answers is nearly impossible – after all, there have now been more than 1,100 of them. But knowing what's gone before is important, because Wordle answers don't repeat – so you could easily be wasting guesses.
What is the double letter rule in Wordle? ›
Warning: Letters Can Be Used Twice
I repeat, letters can be used twice! If you choose a word with repeating letters and only one letter is either green or yellow and the other is gray, it means the letter only appears once. However, if the second letter is yellow or green, then the letter appears twice in the answer.
How much money is Wordle worth? ›
In January 2022, The New York Times Company announced that it had acquired Wordle "for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures."
What is the valuation of Wordle? ›
This is a very rough valuation. Wordle has a few million daily users– lets just call it 2mn. So, even using the cheapest comp, Rooter, our little napkin valuation has Wordle at 2,000,000 * 21.28 = $42.6mn.
Did someone buy Wordle? ›
The New York Times has acquired Wordle, a simple word guessing game, for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures, the newspaper announced Monday.
Why did Josh Wardle make Wordle? ›
It was created by a software engineer in Brooklyn for his partner. Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, knew his partner loved word games, so he created a guessing game for just the two of them. As a play on his last name, he named it Wordle.
