In October 2021, developer Josh Wardle released Wordle. By the end of the year, the word game had gone from a private inside joke to a public social media sensation. If your Twitter feed is anything like mine, every day in January you’ve been bombarded with Wordle scores. Wordle is everywhere. This article is part of the problem.
In an era when even the best games have questionable caveats, it's refreshing to see everyone rally around something as simple and pure as Wordle. Still, nothing good can last in this world, so I’m also constantly paranoid the other shoe will soon drop. If the endless conversations about Wordle go down a dark path, we’ll only destroy the thing that gives us so much joy. So this is my plea. Everyone, I beg you, please don’t ruin Wordle.
What Is Wordle?
When something blows up overnight, that creates a lot of confusion for folks who don’t understand what the thing is, and that confusion can lead to bad vibes. So, first let’s explain what Wordle is.
Wordle is a free, browser-based, word-guessing game that's more like Hangman than a bite-sized crossword puzzle. You have six chances to guess the five-letter word, and each guess provides clues to make your next guess a little more educated. If a letter is gray, that means the letter is not in the word at all. If a letter is yellow, that means the letter is in the word but in the wrong spot. If a letter is green, it’s the right letter in the right spot. The correct answer is five green letters in a row.
Similar to, say, a Zach Gage mobile game, Wordle displays an impressive amount of elegance within its simple design. With only five letters, guessing random words never feels like a totally unfair shot in the dark, and the words themselves are rarely obscure. People have developed Wordle strategies, such as always opening with the same words to knock out common letters. The way the clues naturally funnel you to make better guesses, getting you closer and closer to the “Eureka!” moment, provides exciting momentum. It’s not “Tired.” “Rotor” is almost there. It’s “Robot!” And the rare time you manage to get it right on your first or second try makes you feel like an absolute genius.
Compare Wordle to a past mainstream gaming sensation like HQ Trivia. That mobile game show, which paid winners real money, was pure chaos. By the end, people were more invested with the real-life drama surrounding the on-air hosts than they were with the game itself (shout out to Scott.) Wordle is the polar opposite. Wordle is quiet and cozy, a pleasant little brainteaser for folks who deal with words every day. Nothing about that suggests bad vibes. Yet, that hasn’t stopped some people from ruining the mood.
Why Is Everyone Being Weird About Wordle?
The internet has the magical ability to turn even the most innocent things into aggravating culture wars, and Wordle isn’t exempt. Wordle’s most meta design triumph is that you can only play one game per day, and everyone else online also plays that same game. We’re all trying to guess the same word. At the time of this writing, we’re on Wordle 215. This creates a shared social experience that absolutely fuels Wordle’s success as a viral phenomenon.
Even Wordle’s quietly brilliant, minimalist visual design contributes to this spread. Just by tweeting a grid of colored squares, you can reveal your path toward solving that day’s puzzle without spoiling the answer. How long did you struggle? When was your breakthrough? It adds to the mystique. The daily limit also keeps you from burning yourself out by binging what is, again, a very simple game. Be happy to get your one golden egg from this goose, don’t smother it.
Despite these smart restrictions, Wordle’s rapid spread has led to many people being unable to shut up about it, both to praise it as well as complain about other people always talking about it. Let me be clear, I’m not one of those “Let people enjoy things” scolds. When stuff sucks, it’s very important to say it sucks, even if it’s popular and other people feel differently. However, I can’t support overreactions, from all directions, about something as ultimately innocuous as Wordle. It’s very easy to mute that word and go about your day. And if you like Wordle, you can still tweet about other things.
Unfortunately, hot takes are just the beginning when it comes to the cursed Wordle discourse. As someone who has covered mobile gaming for more than a decade, I was not surprised at all to see Wordle immediately get ripped off once scammers sense that there's money to be made. Apple even took action to remove rushed Wordle clones from the App Store, games that charged ludicrous prices to imitate a free browser game. It’s Threes vs. 2048 all over again. At least now the games are getting more creative. I’ve seen multiple Wordle variations featuring nothing but swear words.
As for Wordle cheating? I have mixed opinions. On one hand, cheating is a vital part of video game history, and it’s not like it really matters if you cheat during a solo experience. On the other hand, Wordle’s score sharing relies on the honor system. If you find yourself using an anagram solver or peeking at Wordle’s source code just to rack up Twitter bragging rights for a free online word game, you’re officially being weird about Wordle. Stop it.
Spell It Out
The world is already weird and bad enough, especially today. So, we don’t need to scrutinize a humble online word game as part of our collective breakdown. Play (the real) Wordle! Or don’t! It’s just a nifty little word game. Calm down.
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