At this point in time, Wordle is one game that is massively played all around the world. You might have only run across this game by seeing people on Twitter sharing their own wins through those green, yellow, and gray blocks. Whether you are someone who’s wondering what Wordle is all about or just curious to know the history behind the viral puzzle game, we have created a detailed guide to tell you everything there is to know about the Wordle game.
What is Wordle? Explained
For the uninitiated, Wordle is a simple yet addictive word-guessing game. The game gives out only one word to everyone across the world. The aim is to guess this word in just six attempts. Since you only have one word, if you fail, the game will be locked until tomorrow.
The Wordle bot chooses the word of the day from its own directory. As such, there are no rules you can follow to accurately predict the word, as it can be anything. While playing Wordle might sound easy, it gets frustrating quickly because of the high number of possibilities and only six chances.
How to Play Wordle Online
Wordle has added a handy introductory pop-up to the website to help new players understand how the game works. As mentioned above, the goal is to guess the word in six attempts. Once you randomly guess a word, you will see either green, yellow, or gray blocks on the letters of the word. And here’s what each color in Wordle depicts:
- The green block indicates that the letter is in the target word and is in the right position.
- Meanwhile, the yellow block hints that the letter belongs in the target word but is in the incorrect position.
- The gray block reveals that the letter is not in the target word at all.
You can play the game once a day, and you get a new word every day. This approach has built anticipation among users and helped in player retention. If you’re still stuck, then learn how to play Wordle using our quick guide.
Wordle Game: The Origin and Future
Wordle was created by Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle. In an interview with the New York Times, Wardle revealed that the game was built for his partner, who loves word games. Wardle subsequently released the game for everyone. Over the past few years, Wordle has gone viral and is played by thousands of people around the world every day.
In February 2022, Wardle transferred the rights of Wordle over to the NYT in an agreement. While the game is now under the New York Times, the developer mentions that it will remain free to play for everyone so people can keep enjoying it. So if you’re looking to get into the game, rest assured you won’t have to pay for it.
Why is the Wordle Game So Popular?
The popularity of Wordle can be credited to three major factors — simplicity, scarcity, and the community experience. Getting started with Wordle is fairly straightforward, and almost anyone can play Wordle regardless of their age. That, combined with the fact that you can play it just once a day, makes users come back to guess the new word.
Inspired by Spelling Bee and NYT crossword, this is exactly what the creator was going for. Another crucial factor is the shareability aspect, where users can easily share their results with their peers on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. We have even seen popular TV celebrities like Jimmy Fallon jump on the hype train as well.
On a personal note, I first came across Wordle on Twitter a year ago. After ignoring it in the beginning, I started playing it and finally got hooked. In a world where leading game publishers are desperately looking to cash in on the next big thing, Wordle is a breath of fresh air. It has emerged as a viral word game that users enjoy playing.
What is the WordleBot? Why Should You Use?
If you’ve played Wordle once or twice, you might have seen a pop-up with a bot. This is the WordleBot, a handy AI companion created by the NYT. WordleBot has been made to analyze your Wordle results and compare them to its own performance. Once you submit your result, it goes through each of your turns and compares it to its own action plan and what it would have done.
Furthermore, WordleBot also shows worldwide stats along with a timer until the next game gets here. Try it out the next time you feel you need to improve.
Wordle: Easy Tips and Tricks
Now that you know how the game works and are looking to join other Wordle users, here are some cool tips and tricks that will help you figure out the word quickly.
1. Choose your first word smartly: The most important thing in Wordle is the first word you choose as your guess to solve the puzzle. Now, you should remember two things – one, entering a word with distinct letters will be helpful, and second, entering two or three vowels in the first guess to get a good feel of the word.
For example, if you enter ARENA as your first guess, you are not fully utilizing your first guess by reusing A. Instead, we suggest you enter a world like RADIO, SPOIL, or MEDIA.
If you can’t be bothered to do the guesswork, check out our list of the best Wordle starting words and take your pick.
2. Same letter can appear twice: Yes, you read that right. If you are running out of letters and most of them have been grayed out, then there’s a good chance that letters repeat in your Wordle. You can get words like SPELL, SHEEP, or CARRY, which require you to input the same letter to guess the word correctly. We suggest you use this handy tip on your fourth or fifth try if you haven’t been able to find many green or yellow blocks until now.
3. Avoid typing excluded gray letters: This is one of the hardest things to remember and follow while solving a Wordle. If a letter has been grayed out, avoid reusing it in your next guess. You are only wasting a turn doing so.
To help you out even more, we have compiled a dedicated guide on the best Wordle tips and tricks. Commit them all to memory to perform your best the next time.
How to Share Your Wordle Result
There was once a time when Twitter was chock full of random Wordle numbers and random green, yellow and grey boxes. While you know what they are now, what you might not know is that you can share your Wordle result with the world right from the game itself.
Once you’re done with solving the game, a handy pop-up will offer you a way to share your result. Simply click it, and it will copy to your clipboard. You can now paste it and share it anywhere, just like you see them on Twitter.
Play Wordle Without the Daily Limit
In case you want to bypass the daily limit of Wordle and play infinite Wordle games every day, you could consider taking a look at Wordle Unlimited. Built by the fans of the game, Wordle Unlimited is an open-source project that replicates Wordle without the daily limit. If that interests you, you can check out Wordle Unlimited (Free). However, if you want even more variety, then go through our list of games like Wordle to find your pick.
Yes, the target word in Wordle is the same for everyone on a given day.
To help retain a sense of scarcity, the developer has decided to restrict the Wordle game to one word a day. You can always come back the next day or try Wordle Unlimited, which is essentially Wordle without daily limits.
Since it is a daily word guessing game, you can’t play past Wordles, at least at the moment. We will have to wait to see if NYT has plans to release an archive feature that will let anyone play previous Wordle games.
You can check out Wordle rules and how to play it through the sections and our linked guides above.
Since Wordle is now owned by New York Times, it’s playable through the official NYT Games (Android/iOS) app. Download and install it to begin.
Yes, Wordle is fully free to play. This applies to both PC and mobile clients, so you can go ahead and play as much as you want.
If you keep playing Wordle regularly, you will create a streak just like you would on Snapchat Streaks. However, do note that not playing even a single day will cause the streak to break, and you’ll have to start over. While it doesn’t provide any benefits, a Wordle Streak is still fun to maintain.
