Have you ever found yourself endlessly scrolling through social media or mindlessly refreshing your email inbox? Well, it’s time to put those habits to good use with a game that has recently taken the internet by storm – Wordle. If you are an avid online game player, then you must have played Wordle multiple times by now. If it is not, then it is the right time to try!
This addictive and challenging word game has captured the attention of millions of players worldwide, as they try to crack the five-letter word and guess it in just six trials. With its simple yet engaging gameplay, it’s no wonder that Wordle has become the new obsession of language lovers and casual gamers alike. So, put down your phone and get ready to exercise your brain in the most fun way possible with Wordle. Before, you start to play Wordle, just get into its success once in this blog post.
Josh Wardle – The man behind “Wordle”
Any creation is incomplete without its creator and it is also true for “Wordle”. Josh Wardle is the man behind the interesting concept of “Wordle”. Josh Wardle is a New York based software engineer, and he developed this game out of his interest. Wordle has become a viral sensation since its launch in 2021, with players across the world trying to guess a five-letter word with limited trials.
Interestingly, Wardle did not set out to create a popular game when he developed Wordle. He simply wanted a fun way to play word puzzle game with his partner. He initially shared the game with his family members. Later, Wardle made it widely available in October 2021 by posting it on his own website. “Wordle” had no big advertisements yet it became popular. The game became a viral phenomenon on Twitter in late December 2021 when Wardle incorporated the emoji-style display feature. Wardle has stated that he is surprised and humbled by the game’s success, and he is glad to see so many people enjoying and benefiting from it.
Once Wardle publicly disclosed the game, within a month the game had 90 players. One month later the game had 300,000 daily players, which rose to two million by the following week. In January 31, 2022, The New York Times Company announced that it had purchased Wordle “for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures.” from Josh Wardle. Josh Wardle was also a person listed by the time magazine in “THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2022”. Overall, Wardle’s story is a great example of how a simple idea can have a big impact, and how pursuing your passions can lead to an unexpected success.
“Wordle” – The game – Explained
“Wordle” is one of the popular online games in the recent times. It is a word-guessing game which allows the player to guess a five-letter word in six trials. Wordle draws inspiration from several classic word-guessing games like Jotto, Lingo, Mastermind, and Bulls and Cows. However, unlike these games, Wordle confirms the specific letters that are correct, making it unique and refreshing to play.
Every day, the game uses a randomly ordered list of 2,309 words out of the approximate 13,000 five-letter words in the English language. The word list was carefully chosen by the game’s creator, Josh Wardle, and his partner, who categorized all five-letter words into three categories: the words they knew, the words they did not know, and the words they might have known.
According to The New York Times, the most common first guesses for Wordle are “adieu”, “audio”, “stare”, “raise”, and “arise”. Interestingly, computer algorithms can solve the puzzle with 100% accuracy within five of the six allowed guesses. Also, after gaining a lot popularity among English-speaking users in January 2022, Wordle was adapted into other languages. During February 2022, at least 350 different variants of Wordle was documented on the website “Wordles of the World”.
Let us quickly see how the game works:
- The daily word game basically revolves around guessing a five-letter word which changes everyday
- A random five-letter word is generated by the gaming software which needs to be guessed by the player
- The game offers the player six trials to guess the five-letter word correctly
- The player can guess the five-letter word by entering one letter at a time in the text box using the game keyboard
- If the five-letter word typed by the player exactly matches with the five-letter word generated by the gaming software, then all the letters in the text box will appear in green colour. This also means the player has won the game.
- If the five-letter word guessed by the player is incorrect, then the game provides two responses for the player simultaneously:
- Displays the letters in yellow if the letter forms a part of the five-letter word, but not typed in the correct position, as you can see in the below images
- Displays the letters in grey if the letter is not a part of the five-letter word
This game has become a hit in the year 2022. Twitter timelines were flooded with Wordle results. Nowadays, many people across the world have started to play the game and share their results on social media. The popularity of “Wordle” is because of its simple technique in playing, creating interest among the players, and played in short duration. Also, players can play this game to compete with themselves or with friends and family to see who can guess the word in minimum number of trials.
To summarize, while people often assume that complex ideas are necessary for widespread popularity, “Wordle” shows that simple yet well-executed ideas can become immensely popular in a short period of time.
“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought” says Albert Einstein
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