Wordle has been one of the most popular internet games in recent years. It has around 3 million players globally in 2022. So, what exactly is Wordle and how did it become such an online sensation?
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What is Wordle
Wordle is a daily word game in which you must guess a hidden five-letter word. You play by guessing several five-letter words and seeing how close they are to the secret word. When you submit a guess, the game will color-code each letter in your guess to show you how close you are.
The secret word changes every day, therefore you can only complete one puzzle each day. You may discuss the same problem with friends, family, or the millions of strangers on the internet since the secret word is always the same for every participant worldwide.
Idea of Wordle
Josh Wardle, an artist and software programmer, developed the game in 2013. Since he and his girlfriend both enjoyed playing games like crosswords and Mastermind, he first created Wordle as a private guessing game that they could play together.
In October 2021, Josh Wardle made the choice to release the game to the whole public. People started exchanging coloured emoji squares representing their everyday accomplishments with one another. Wordle quickly drew a large number of players from all over the world, and since Wardle didn’t want to manage a gaming company, he wasn’t sure how to keep the game running. He sold it to The New York Times in January 2022, which also runs many other popular word games like the NYT Crossword and the Spelling Bee. Game Link
Wordle is completely free to use. You could formerly play Wordle on a dedicated Wordle website. You can now play Wordle on the New York Times gaming site. Game does not have an app, thus you cannot play it on a desktop or mobile app. The game can only be accessed with a web browser such as Chrome or Safari. It is available without a New York Times membership. The best part is that there are no advertisements to detract from your gaming experience.
When the New York Times purchased Wordle from Josh Wardle, they opted to keep the game free, despite the fact that many of their other word games, such as the NYT crossword, cost a membership.
How to Play Wordle Game
Wordle might be confusing to those who have never used it before, but after you’ve played it a few times, it’s easy to get the hang of it. Let’s have a look at the rules of this guessing game.
Wordle’s rules are creatively simple. Your goal is to guess a secret five-letter word in the fewest number of guesses possible. Enter any five-letter word and hit enter to submit a guess. According to a dictionary of five-letter words that Wordle accepts as guesses, all of your guesses must be actual words. You can’t create up a term that doesn’t exist, such as AEIOU, only to guess those letters.
When you submit your guess, the game will color-code each letter to show you how close it was to the letters in the hidden word.
A grey or black square indicates that this letter does not occur at all in the secret word.
A yellow square indicates that this letter is in the secret word, but in the incorrect location inside the word.
A green square indicates that this letter appears in the secret word and is in the correct position.
Getting a green or yellow square will bring you closer to figuring out the genuine secret word since it signifies you picked a correct letter.
Assume you predict “WRITE” and receive two green squares on the W and R, as well as grey squares on the I, T, and E. Your next guess may be WRONG, WRACK, or WRUNG, because these words begin with WR and do not contain the letters I, T, or E.
The secret word has many instances of the same letter, and repeated letters are not given a particular colour designation. When you guess a word with one L and one E, Wordle won’t reveal that both of those letters really occur twice if the hidden word is BELLE.