Wordle: What is it, why internet has fallen in love with this viral word game, how to play and other details

Wordle: So, if you are into internet games, you might have heard about the game which is all the rage right now – Wordle. In a span of a few months, the game went from being played by a few people to being loved by lakhs, and I can’t say I am surprised. I played the game for two days and I was hooked onto it. Before I get into the reason for that, though, let me give you an idea of what the game is.

Wordle game: What it is and how it works

As the name suggests, the game Wordle is related to words and, therefore, anyone who loves word games like, say, scrabble or jumble words, is likely to fall in love with it. The game is hosted on a website called Power Language (with a domain of the UK – co.uk) and it is a daily word game.

The game revolves around a five-letter word (a new one every day), and users are supposed to guess what it is. If anyone remembers childhood board game Mastermind, Wordle is a mix of that and vocabulary. Well, vocabulary concerning five-letter words only.

Wordle website shows a virtual keyboard and six rows of five spaces each. Each space denotes the place for a letter, and each row is meant for a subsequent guess. Users are supposed to guess any five-letter word in the first row, and then colour-coded hints are given to the user to proceed to subsequent tries.

Three colour codes are available – any letter in the user’s entry that is not present in the actual word is highlighted in grey. The words that are present in the actual words are highlighted in two colours – if a letter in the user’s guess is included in the actual word but at a different position out of the five spaces, it is highlighted in yellow. On the other hand, any letter in the user’s guess that is present at the same position in the actual word is highlighted in green.

With these colour-coded hints, users can rummage through the brains to shortlist the possible five-letter words that can be the answer and go from there.

Wordle: Why people are loving it

Wordle was started by Josh Wardle for him and his partner, who loves word games. Once the two played the game, he shared it with some relatives, who became obsessed with it. It was then that Wardle (yes, the game is a word play on his name!) opened it up to the rest of the world. In the beginning of November, about 90 people played this game and by the time January rolled around, more than 3 lakh people were already a fan of it.

So when I say it is not just me who loves Wordle, trust me. I have figures backing me up!

But now coming to why the game is lovable. It is clearly targeted at word game lovers, who love any game that can challenge their vocabulary and ability to best others when it comes to words. Historically, we have seen several word-related games becoming popular, first on platforms like Facebook (yes, I am referring to a time when playing Facebook games was cool) and then on app stores.

However, what makes Wordle more interesting is the fact that there is literally nothing to start off a user while guessing the word. Users are supposed to find clues from within their own brain and their own vocabulary. It’s the excitement of knowing that there are only six tries. Once a person solves the game of the day, there is a rush of knowing that it took them six or even less tries to guess a word out of thin air, because the word can be anything. For example, on January 9, the word was ‘GORGE’. (No, I am not telling you the answer for today, and yes, I do know it because I solved it at 1:15 am – I may have a Wordle problem.) Arriving at Gorge, however, took me five tries and boy, was it a rush when I got it right.

The best method (that works for me, at least) is to try two widely different five-letter words in the first two tries. This gives you an idea about more letters than would be possible if you tried once and then tried to think of more and more words around the letters you know about from just the first try. You can then use the combination of clues from the first two tries to start honing in on the actual word.

Another thing that works in favour of Wordle are the zero distractions on the website. It is free and yet there are no ads, and no text that does not pertain to the game. It is minimalistic and simple. The sole focus is on the game and it, in my opinion, enhances the beauty of it as most word games now (apps or websites) are riddled with ads that keep interrupting the gaming experience. No such issues arises with Wordle.

Wordle is the new sensation, and justifiably so, among word lovers, and as one myself, I 100% recommend this to people who love to challenge themselves and like to bring out solutions from thin air!