When you open the game, you’re greeted by a simple message titled How to Play; Guess the Wordle in 6 tries. The message explains what the game is about. You’re trying to find a five-letter word, so you input a guess to get a result. Gray means the letter isn’t in the word, yellow means it’s just in the wrong place, and green means celebration; you got that one right. Millions of people see this screen every day. It makes you ask, why this puzzle? What is so special about the Wordle?
Wordle, like most other games, invokes good feelings when you succeed. First of all, you are satisfied that you have been able to complete a puzzle that isn’t quite easy. That’s another part of Wordle’s attraction. The puzzle doesn’t feel daunting in front of you, and when you feel challenged while playing, you have the confidence to be able to complete it since it just feels so simple. Jason Riggle is an associate professor of linguistics at the University of Chicago. He says the excitement of Wordle comes from how you’re able to use the game’s feedback to figure out an answer yourself—and when you do you get a sense of validation. This comes in the way that Wordle confirms your knowledge of the English language. The puzzle might be limited to five-letter words, but it still gives you confidence in your reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Wordle also tells you you’re smart. That’s a reason the game is so popular. It evokes feelings of triumph and intelligence, and then it makes you wait a full day to experience that again.
The game starts with the opportunity to input one word, known as your starting word. For your first word, you want to try to get as many letters as possible to give yourself the best start on solving the puzzle. Now, conventional Wordle wisdom says the best way to play is to begin with the same word every day, but what is the best starting word? A reason people love games is to debate over strategy, or in Wordle’s case, the starting word. ADIEU was considered the best word when the game was created and is still very widely used now. Then it was CRANE or CRATE among other similar words as the pattern shifted to words with three consonants paired with A and E. The New York Times’ own Wordle Bot suggested SLATE, following that pattern, but has now shifted to TRACE. There is another view to take with the starting word; you can kick off with a new one every day. I try to do this at least most of the days I play, and that’s how it’s fun for me now. And this is really the appeal of it. You can try to get the word in the lowest amount of guesses, you can try to use and learn new words, or you can just have fun and play casually. The variety is a big reason why people play. Both the variety of playstyles and words means the Wordle appeals to a vast base of people.
But why is it the Wordle? Why not any other puzzle? There are two answers to this question: accessibility and unity. The Wordle is accessible to a large group of people; anyone who speaks the English language can play Wordle and be good at it. The second reason is how Wordle unites us through shared experiences. Everyone gets to see and play the same puzzle each day. Penny Pexman, a psychology professor at the University of Calgary, compares the Wordle to Scrabble. She explains how every game of Scrabble is unique, and while that appeals to some, the shared experience of Wordle works much better for a lot of people. This is because of all of the game’s options. Playing Wordle, you can work together with or compete against family and friends to solve the puzzle, and then you can share this achievement to the world and compare with others online.
What really proves Wordle’s success is how many spinoffs have attempted to replicate the formula. They might not all be about words, but each spinoff has you trying to guess something in a certain number of tries. According to an index I found, there are more than a hundred of them. These include Wordles in twenty other languages, including Australian English and the artificial language Esperanto. There are Wordles for comic book characters, sports players, flags, curse words, dates in history, and my personal favorite, the Kilordle. In this game, you have 1000 guesses to solve 1000 five-letter words. But the best Wordle-like games come from the New York Times. The Times had games before the Wordle, but they were not nearly as popular before the Times acquired Wordle, which boosted their player base by millions. Since Wordle, NYT has released more word games. Connections has you form, well, connections between different words of all topics and has even had a sports edition released recently. Strands is another word-finding game; it’s like a word search with a topic. My favorite of these games was the Mini Crossword, which has now been blocked behind a paywall. This is what inspired me to write this story because who knows if this will happen to Wordle, and I wanted to enjoy it and learn more about its cultural impact.
