Wordle: Why so many people are obsessed with the new online game
Global News
Wordle is the latest internet sensation, spawning strategy, frustration and a thousand memes.
It’s been described as a “drug,” an “obsession” and a “love story.” Wordle, an online vocabulary game, is taking the internet by storm and has millions of people hooked.
Wordle is deceptively simple to play, but harder to solve than it looks. The once-per-day deduction game asks players to figure out a five-letter word. Players receive a maximum of six guesses to complete the word.
Once players complete the game, successful or not, they are given a cryptic-looking block of squares that they can use for bragging rights on social media. To the outside viewer, the ability to read those squares depends on whether they’ve played the game themselves.
It’s fairly straightforward. Players begin by inputting a five-letter word into the first row of boxes. Upon hitting “enter” the game will show how many of the letters belong in the word.
A green box means the correct letter is in the correct place. A yellow box means the letter appears in the word, but is in the wrong place. A grey box means the letter does not appear in the word at all.
From there, players go on a journey of deduction. If one’s logic and spelling skills are in top form, it’s often quite easy to figure out the word in six tries. But even the most bookish can struggle from time to time.
According to the New York Times, Wordle was designed by Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle. He created Wordle — a riff on his last name — for his word-game-loving wife as a way to kill time during the pandemic.