What is Wordle? The Complete History, Gameplan, and Strategy
There will be very less people around the world who don't know what is wordle. Its popularity is so much spreading at a lightening fast speed. As this game is anyhow related to the keyboard, So we decided to feature this article dedicated to the most viral game of this time 'Wordle.' We know, after a long period of typing practice, you need some rest. But wouldn't it be interesting if you solve a puzzle in that break time! Anyway, in this article, we will clear everything you need to know about 'Wordle': its History, Gameplan (how to play Wordle), and strategies. Read through the whole article and you will have a complete understanding of the 'Wordle' game.
What is Wordle?
'Wordle' is a five-letter word guessing game that gained huge popularity in early 2022. It's a web-based daily word game that can not be played more than once a day. It's totally free; no subscription, no e-mail sign-up, and no app installation required. This brain teaser has some slight similarities with crosswords and sudoku puzzles.
If you are a social media user like Twitter or Facebook, you might have seen many friends sharing scores and results of a game that contains white, yellow, and green Tetris-like boxes. Did you wonder, what was that? Yes, you got it right. It's 'WORDLE'; a viral game of early 2022.
In Wordle, there is only one puzzle word to solve every day which is the same for everyone around the world. A new puzzle is unleashed every day at midnight.
Who Is The Owner Of Wordle?
'THE NEW YORK TIMES' is the current owner of the word puzzle game 'WORDLE'. Firstly, Josh Wardle; A Welsh-born software engineer invented the game 'Wordle'. He was the owner of this viral game then. Later he sold it to 'The New York Times' for the price of undisclosed seven figures. Here is the official statement of Josh Wardle that he quoted on 1st February 2022.
Where to Find and Play Wordle?
You can find Wordle on The New York Times website as they are the owner of Wordle now. Before that, wordle could be found on Josh Wardle's website called powerlanguage.co.uk. For your convenience, here is the web address to play Wordle - https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html
Wordle Rules! How to Play Wordle?
You will find the game rules on Wordle's official website also, but here, we have discussed a brief explanation of 'How to Play' "WORDLE."
'Wordle game has some simple rules, but the gameplay is not as easy as you think. There are millions of players; playing this puzzle worldwide. You have to guess/solve only one word per day that contains only five letters. The word is the same for every player around the world.
If you go to the website to play Wordle, you'll notice a grid showing six lines consisting of five tiles that represent each letter. Those six lines are your 6-attempts, and 5-tiles are your 5-letter puzzle word.
On the first line, you must guess a random 5-letter word. Just type in your guessing word and then hit "Enter." You will then see; each letter on its tile turn to either yellow, green, or grey. These colors have some meaning which you have to understand. Here you go:
A green-colored tile means; the letter you have put in the tile is correct, and it's in the right place. If a tile turns yellow, this means; your chosen letter is there in the unsolved word, but you have put that in the wrong place. And finally, if it's grey, that means; your chosen letter is not valid for the wordle of the day, and you should not select that letter for your next attempt.
Simple! Right? But it's compelling at the same time. Here is a photo that shows some official instructions from Wordle's website.
Just keep in mind a few things before gameplay; all your attempts must have to be a valid word. Fake words are not allowed to submit. For example, if you submit 'AEIOU,' it will not be accepted by Wordle.
A green or yellow-colored letter can appear in a word more than once. Not necessarily have to put five different letters to solve the wordle.
Those who prefer British rather than American spelling should be concerned about the slight differences between US and British spelling.
Wordle Tips, Tricks, and Strategies
It's close to impossible to guess the wordle of the day on your first attempt. If you can do so, you are 1 in a million. Anyways, you have to proceed step by step to solve the puzzle. Many players use many ways to solve wordle. Here, we have shared some proven tips, tricks, and strategies so that you can solve Wordle better than before. Here you go,
On your first attempt, you should pick a random word that contains the most used vowels and consonants in the English language. Just hit enter, then the colors will give you the next direction about which words to use or which should not. Do you remember which color means what? Check the "How to Play" section discussed earlier in this article.
Starting with a common word is a decent approach. For example, the word 'AUDIO' is a better selection than that 'EPOXY.' As you see, the first one contains more common letters than the other. 'ADIEU' is another word many people use on their first attempt because of containing four vowels. Wordle doesn't give you any obscure words. So don't think much about it.
According to Google's director of research Peter Norvig, the most commonly used letters in English are "E," "A," and "T." There are some more letters used commonly such as O, L, N, I, H, S, and R.
You can try these letters as your starting letter of the word. Some examples of good wordle starting words are as follows: "TEARS," "RESIN," "RANTS," "STAIN," "STORE," "NOTES," "TARES," "SNORE," "STARE," "RIOTS," "EARNS," "SLATE," etc.
Other commonly used letters are 'W,' 'H,' and 'Y.' So you can combine these letters with some other commonly used letters. With these combinations, you can start your first attempt with these good words also: "SWORD," "STACK," "ASHEN," "HEART," "WHACK," "WARDS," "STOCK," "STICK," "TEARY," "WICKS," "SHARD," "TACKY," "CRANE," "STORY," "SHACK," "HEARS," "SCONE," "CHAIR," "EARTH," and "REACH."
Note that: choosing a word that contains more vowels will ease your job on your first attempt. Below are some examples of these kinds of words;
"AULOI," "JUICE," "ARGUE," "AISLE," "ABUSE," "AUREI," "ARISE," "ALOES," "ABOUT," "LOUSE," "MEDIA," "JUICY," "OUIJA," "MOUSE," "MOVIE," "SAUCE," "UNION," "SOARE," "QUOTE," "PIANO," "URAEI," "RAISE" "QUITE," "OURIE," "ROATE," "VIDEO," etc.
We get to know that; famous YouTuber Grant Sandersen, also known as 3Blue1Brown, released a video about the process of coming up with the best-starting word. Using math and his algorithm, Sanderson showed; the best-starting word is "CRANE."
Pretty interesting, right?
The more words you know, the more you will get closer to winning the wordle. So vocabulary gives you a boost to win the game. When you get the color signals after your first attempt, you will then be able to solve the puzzle; step by step, using your vocabulary skill in the English language.
Solving a puzzle word is a skill. The more you practice, the better you can do. Play similar word puzzle games to have some experience, knowledge, and expertise. Playing 'Wordle' every day will improve your score over time. If it takes five or six guesses for you to solve the word of the day for now, later, it may turn into two or three guesses after having experienced at Wordle game.
Important note: Don't select grey-colored letters for your upcoming attempts. Grey means you have to avoid that letter for that day. Another thing is; to keep in mind that the letter "Y" can be used as a vowel in a word. For example: "THYME."
Wordle History: How it Got Millions of Players from Only 90 Players
Josh Wardle initially created this game for his partner named Ms. Palak Shah. His partner loves word games like Crosswords, Spelling Bees, etc. And she was so much into it. So, Josh decided to make this guessing game just for the two of them. Keeping similarity with his name, he named the game "WORDLE." The New York Times gave this incident the name 'Love Story.'
Interesting! Right?
Josh then introduced it to his other relatives. Everyone got obsessed with this game. After playing for a few months, Josh decided to release it globally. As an outcome: 'Wordle' got released in October 2021.
In 2013, Josh created a similar prototype. The game allowed its players to endless play, and users could play another puzzle after finishing one puzzle. But his friends were not impressed at that time. Besides, when working for Reddit, Josh created two collaborative social experiments before he made 'Wordle.' Those were named "The Button" and "Place."
Josh single-handedly created the game "Wordle" without a team of engineers.
On November 1, 2021, only 90 players played 'Wordle.' On Sunday, just over two months later, more than 300,000 people played. It got 2 million users in the last weekend of January 2022. Between January 1 and 13, 1.2 million Wordle results weres shared on Twitter. But how they got millions of users from 90 within such a short time? Here is some thought shared:
Josh Wardle said, 'Even though I play it every day, I still feel a sense of accomplishment when I do it: it makes me feel smart, and people like that.' He also thinks the game is popular because it's simple and accessible. Yet also challenging.
Anindya Ghose, the Heinz Riehl Chair Professor of Business at New York University, said, There are several reasons why it’s gone viral - 'it’s simple, it’s free, it’s easy to find, and it’s shareable.'
Other reasons we think are,
There is only one puzzle per day. You have only one shot to go. If you miss that day, you have to wait for the next day to get a new puzzle to come.
Everyone got the same puzzle every day to solve. So there is room for everyone to create discussion among themselves.
Once you solve the puzzle, there is an option to share your result with your friends. So it's easy to share your results.
Is Wordle Free? or Paid?
Wordle is now free for everyone. It has no app. Just go to their website to play the game. The New York Times has bought this game from Josh. And currently, they have no plan to get any charge or execute any subscription plan. The New York Times said, "Wordle would initially remain free to new and existing players."
But looking at their statement above, we can assume that one day this game could go behind a paywall like NYT's other famous games.
Now you have got everything about Wordle. Just practice more and play like a pro. As 'Wordle' is also a brain exercise, it has few health benefits on your mind. Let us know how you enjoyed our article through your valuable comments. Or anything about Wordle, you can ask. We could share more hacks about Wordle like 'How to play Wordle more than once a day?', 'How to win wordle on your first attempt,' etc. But not in this article. If you need these types of interesting topics to be published, let us know through email.
