Wordle is a popular game that has captured the minds of millions
Wordle is a prime example of a game designed for a wide audience. It will appeal to fans of crosswords and puzzles. The whole world is trying to guess one word. Users have six tries for this. The word changes every day at random, which adds interest to the game.
A brief history of the game Wordle
The popular game Wordle was created in 2021. The story of its creation is simple - a software engineer from the USA, Josh Wardle, wanted to please his beloved, who loves to solve crossword puzzles. Especially for her, he developed a generated puzzle with one word and six attempts to solve it.
At first, the couple played just the two of them, but a little later they were joined by family and friends. Seeing the demand, Wardle decided to open the game online. By the end of 2021, about 300,000 people were already visiting the resource daily.
The popularity of the game was the reason that within a few months the game had spread around the world. So, Wordle versions in different languages began to be actively released. There are also versions with unlimited access (the number of attempts to guess a word is not limited), with different levels of difficulty, with a team game.
One reason for the popularity of Wordle is that the game is actively distributed in social networks and messengers. So, if you go to Twitter, you can notice the hashtag #wordle under which there are about 10 thousand entries. Users not only share their guesses trying to guess the word of the day, but also publish the results.
The developer has made it possible to share the results via a link. The publication specifies the number of attempts made, as well as the guessed word. If you follow this link, only the information about the game will be saved, while the word will be encrypted. This is done in order to fuel interest in daily guessing among players.
The main rules of Wordle
To win in Wordle, you need to guess a word of 5 letters. You are given 6 tries to do this. The word of the day is chosen at random. To make it easier to guess the word, the color of the letters changes. There are certain rules for this:
- if a letter is present in a word and is in the right place, it is highlighted in green;
- if a letter is in a word and is out of place, it is highlighted in yellow;
- if the letter is not in the word, it turns gray.
If you get used to it, you can easily figure out which letters make up a word and increase your chances of a successful clue. Nouns in the singular are most often puzzled, but there may be exceptions from time to time. In the puzzled word can be the same letter, which is also important to consider.
To play the game is not necessary to register or login, make a deposit or a subscription. In practice, everything is much simpler - you go to the site and try to guess the word. There are no other games or activities on the site.
Reasons for Wordle popularity
At first glance, Wordle appears to be a simple game with unpretentious rules. Wordle generates demand through its limitations: you can only play the game once a day, and the game gives you 6 tries to guess the word. According to the developer himself, it takes up to 3 minutes a day to play.
The game will not appeal to those who prefer active games with endless rounds. At the same time, it will resonate with users who prefer unhurried puzzles with a high level of difficulty.
Wordle is available online and requires no registration. It provides minimal settings: you can choose dark mode, colorblind mode or increase the difficulty level. The developer decided not to monetize the game, so there are no ads. This allows you to concentrate 100% on the game.
To make it clear, let's highlight the main advantages of Wordle:
- expands the vocabulary;
- promotes memorization of words;
- there is an active community on social networks;
- there is a healthy community atmosphere around the game;
- critical thinking to healthy variants grows.
In practice, guessing a 5-letter word is harder than it looks. First of all, you need to understand - the number of 5-letter nouns is over 10,000. From this sample, you'll need to guess one, following the clues. If you increase the difficulty level, the sample narrows, but the task also becomes asterisked.
Note that the word list originally had 12 thousand words. After the 5 letter words in English were selected, John and his companion selected 2,500 words whose meaning is known and which are realistic to guess.
The statistics of active players are impressive. At the time the game was freely available, for example, the number of users was about 90. In November 2021, when the game went viral, the number rose to 300,000. At the end of 2022 the statistics confirm - 2 million users enter the game every day. Of these, only 40% manage to guess the word of the day.
Wordle clones
At the beginning of 2022, Wordle gained a second wave of popularity. This led to the creation of various clones of the game. They copied the main principle of the word puzzle game, but added certain features. Some of these clones should be considered in detail.
For example, Absurdle. This is a version of Wordle, which added a competitive element. This version is considered the most complex of all existing. Its main principle boils down to the fact that with each guess the whole word changes. Accordingly, the players guess the letters, they are marked in color, but the word is different with each attempt.
The mechanics used in Wordle have caused games that are not even word-related to be actively created. For example, Framed is a portal where you have to guess a movie using 6 frames.
Scientific Wordle is becoming increasingly popular among the Spanish-speaking population - the words you have to guess are related to the scientific world. Marvle - words from the Marvel universe and Lordle - from the "Lord of the Rings" series - work on the same principle.
The Wordle app
Initially, Wordle only existed in a desktop version. The developer refused to release a mobile app, either on iOS or Android. Other developers, wishing to promote their product and make money from it, took up this "task", at the height of its popularity. This idea turned out to be a failure, but first things first.
For example, the programmer Zack Shacked created a game, duplicating Wordle interface and mechanics. The first time it was available on the App Store. This caused a storm of indignation among users. They actively sent complaints to the marketplace to block the game. Complaints were also directed at clones like What Word or Wordle 3D.
After the negative reaction of users and criticism in the media, most of the applications copying the game disappeared from the markets and ceased to be available for download. Some of the clones remained, but they no longer position themselves as Wordle.
There are two hypotheses for this outcome:
- Marketplaces like the App Store and Google Play have sanctioned developers as plagiarizers. This version is possible for one reason: it is very unlikely that all developers decided to remove the app at the same moment.
- User complaints triggered and the apps were removed. It is possible, as the creation of clones directly violates the market's policy on plagiarism.
It is impossible to say with 100% certainty why the game's clones failed. One thing is certain: while developers are trying to replicate or copy the success of Wordle, the game remains at the peak of popularity.
How to win in Wordle: tricks and tips
Winning in Wordle is awarded if you manage to guess the word. As mentioned earlier, six tries are given for this. If they run out and the word remains undeciphered, the game ends. The encrypted word is not revealed, so the player can only guess what was hidden in the cells.
You don't have to be a genius or know all the words in the world to win at Wordle. Here are a few techniques that will speed up the Wordle unraveling. Important: these tips will only be useful if you run the original version in English. Let's start the game:
- Type in the word "adieu". This word has already become a meme, because it contains 5 vowels in one word. This way you can immediately identify the letters and cut off the unnecessary ones.
- Move the yellow letters. It is necessary to try to pick up such a word so that it does not contain the gray letters previously used in the first attempt.
- Use the method of elimination. Most often a simple word that is actively used in everyday life is riddled. It is necessarily a literary word, not slang.
As statistics show, you can not even try to enter words with the letters "x", "q" and "z". There are very few such words in the English language, and those that exist are little known. At the first attempt also it is not recommended to enter a word with repeating letters.
Important: It is not possible to enter a non-existent word in the game to check which letters are there. Therefore, players will have to think hard about the game both on the first and second and third attempts. Guessing a word becomes easier once there are at least 2 yellow letters, ideally 3. To discover them, it is recommended to enter words with vowels at the beginning of the game.
The game captures its uniqueness. For a reason, there are special team communities where players ponder the daily riddle. In addition, popular bloggers hold broadcasts, where together with subscribers unravel the word.
Some players go for tricks. For example, they guess 1-2 letters from the word and look online for words with matching letters. This strategy is less interesting, but also has a place. There is a nuance: the number of attempts is limited, and there may be more matching words.
What's Hot About Wordle
Many brands take advantage of the game's popularity. The Lego brand, for example, tweeted a post with a yellow, green, and gray box ad. Fans of the game immediately recognized the reference, although Lego retained its own identity. The global hotel chain Hilton is not inferior in creativity. On the Instagram page you can see a post from one of the hotels, the light in the windows of which by colors clearly points to Wordle.
There is one fun fact about the game. So, if you type "Wordle" into the search box, you can notice how the usual Google caption will change in trend with the game. The letters will start to change, and some of them will be highlighted in yellow or green.
Buying and selling the game
A year ago, the game was bought by the New York Times. It trademarked the game's name and moved the server to its Web site. Now, if you type "Wordle" into a search box, the U.S. publication's Web site comes up first. The developer did not disclose the exact amount of the purchase, but according to insider rumors, it was a figure with seven zeros. The deal is part of a strategy to attract digital subscribers.
According to the latest reports, the game remains free. Users are concerned that this won't always be the case. So far, there is no information about monetization, although the game has been moved to a section with other games. You don't need to be signed up for an edition - the game is published in the public domain.
The game has a similarity to Crossword, but with a more interesting and modern mechanic. Players strive to show their own expertise in trying to solve the word. If they succeed, they actively share it on social networks.
Not surprisingly, the game is now in its second year of popularity. Since it now belongs to the New York Times (the publication is read by more than 2 million users), the popularity of the game will only grow.
Wordle is a good tool for stretching your brain, competing with friends or yourself. It is also a prime example of the fact that you don't always need any innovations or latest technologies to create something popular. Sometimes at the peak of popularity are online games with a well-known concept, but quality implementation.
Comments (0)