Wordle takes the internet by storm

Wordle takes the internet by storm.

This is an Inside Science story.

The first big viral trend of 2022 is here, and it's a colorful word game called Wordle.

Players who visit Wordle's website have six chances to guess a five-letter word, which has been randomly selected from a database. With each try, the game tells you how close your letters are to the "word of the day." If the letters you pick are in the word but in the wrong order, Wordle highlights them in yellow. If the letters are in the word and placed correctly, they get highlighted in green. Gray-highlighted letters means they don't appear in the word of the day.

"It's a good, fun game," said Gizmodo's executive editor Andrew Couts. "It only takes a couple of minutes, and it's something to talk about with your friends."