The Wonder of Wordle
A five-minute brain-teaser, Wordle is an online word game where players guess a five-letter word with only six tries, clues appearing with every letter closer to the daily word.
Created by former Reddit software developer Josh Wardle, the game’s creation began circa 2013, however it did not reach the limelight until its resurrection during the pandemic. The game was released in October 2021, had 90 people play on November 1 and exploded in a few months and now has millions of daily players. It was recently bought by the New York Times Games division.
“I heard about it after I had seen some celebrities posting about it on Twitter,” senior Amanda Rubio said. “I asked myself, “What is this?” and then eventually saw it being played at school by friends.”
Wordle’s once a day opportunity to play has players wanting to guess the daily word correctly, making the stakes all the higher when they have to wait 24 hours before playing again.
So with all the hype surrounding 2022’s viral find, the only question that lies is: How do you play?
Given only one word a day, players have six attempts to guess the word correctly. As the player progresses, depending on their accuracy, the word’s letters change color. A gray tile tells the player that the letter chosen is not a part of the day’s word, while a yellow tile showcases that the letter is found in the word, however it is not in the right spot. But the most coveted clue is the green tile, pleasing prayers seeming as it symbolizes that the letter is in the right place, one step closer to victory.
As players submit 5-letter words, Wordle begins checking their submissions, letting you know how close or how far you are from guessing today’s word.
The key to success as a beginner is starting off strong. But, which of the hundreds of thousands of five-letter words will you chose from?
“I personally like to use “ADIEU” because it has a lot of vowels,” senior Amanda Charbonneau said. “Statistically, vowels are some of the most common letters, so its always a good way to begin your daily try.”
Achieving as many yellow or green tiles as possible in the initial tries is always a good sign that you’re on the right track.
“I always want to get the word right,” senior Juliana D’Escoubet said. “Sometimes if I’m on my last chance, I’ll check online for some words that have the letters I have and see if that’ll help me.”
The immediate satisfaction and inner sense of accomplishment has players eager for me and certainly has them thinking right from the crack of dawn.
“Wordle gives me a little boost for the day,” senior Christina Silva said. “It gets me thinking at the beginning of the day, especially on the slower days.”
With Wordle’s exponential success, 2022 is off to a great educative start, one can only hope continues as the year progresses.
To join in on the Wordle fun, click the link below and take your chances at guessing today’s word of the day.
Stephania Lopez was on the Grotto News staff from 2019 t0 2022. She was the creative director of the 2021-2022 publication of the renowned literary art...
