By Chloe Cochran
If you’re like me, your Facebook feed is filled with colored boxes with captions like: “It only took me 4 tries.” It feels like you’re being excluded from a gaming cult– a cult that you don’t want to be in, yet you can’t help but wonder what it is, and how to get in (if you wanted to).
Wordle was created by Josh Wardle, a software engineer from Brooklyn, New York. What started simply as a game to entertain his partner, is now a game played by nearly 300,000 individuals every day.
The game is simple: guess the five letter word of the day. You’re given six tries, plus helpful hints along the way. With every letter guessed correctly, the “box” turns either green or yellow (green if the letter is guessed correctly and in the correct place, yellow if the letter is guessed correctly but in the wrong place).
What’s the hype? To answer honestly, I don’t know. Which is why I’ve asked several individuals about their take on the game.
“It’s something to distract me during class,” Krailyn Guymon (‘23).
“It makes me feel smart. It’s a competition between my family to see who can get the word in the least amount of tries,” Afton Brown (‘22).
“It stretches my mind and makes me remember words that I forgot,” Adisen Webster (‘24).
“I like it because you can only play it once a day,” Professor Swift (Director of IT).
“I love that everyone who plays [Wordle] tries not to spoil the word of the day to anyone who hasn’t solved it yet. It proves that humans are inherently good,” Will Edwards (‘23).
There’s something to be said about accomplishing the puzzle. Adrenaline rush, maybe? I’m not sure. This game can only be played once a day, so continuously waiting for the next puzzle may be a part of all the “hype.” Or, maybe it’s being the only one to guess the word? Either way, there’s something to be said for this simply complex puzzle; I applaud Josh Wardle for being such a genius. Wordle is a 10/10 game for someone looking for a daily challenge.
Wordle: What The Heck Is It? was originally published in The Herald on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.