Wordle: A Word Game Like No Other

Photo: Michael McWhertor/Polygon

The new digital game, Wordle, has become a sensation across the nation. People spend hours guessing five-letter words and then sharing their results with their friends & family. On the Internet, only one puzzle is available a day for everyone – sort of like a newspaper’s crossword or sudoku. Once you’ve finished the daily puzzle, you have to wait for a certain period of time before you can play the next. However, students have also found apps such as Wordus that allow them to play the game an unlimited number of times.

Similarly to the country, Wordle has spread like a wildfire through Mounds View. Many students are seen playing the game multiple times throughout the day. “[My obsession] started off with my friend telling me to download the Wordus app from the app store,” said a junior from Mounds View High School, Arden Hills, MN. “My interest towards the game has risen to the point where I play it when there is nothing to do and I am bored as there is a lot of downtime at school.”

On the contrary, there are students who knew about the game, but didn’t consider it to be interesting at first glance. “I found out about Wordle because I kept on seeing those green and gray squares labeled ‘Wordle’ on Twitter,” said a senior at Wayzata High School, Plymouth, MN. Just as the game had started to reach its peak popularity, a lot of news sources and famous celebrities started sharing their experiences with the game on social media platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram. “I mostly ignored the game, but only after I saw some of my friends playing the game in the library, did I really start playing it daily,” he added.

Wordle has gained a lot of fame in just the past few weeks, to such an extent that it has caused everyone to form an opinion on how to play the game. Many TikTok users are posting videos of them guessing the word correctly within the first few guesses. There are also people who are making memes on creators who are getting frustrated after not guessing the word correctly. According to The New York Times, the game was created by Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, because his partner loved word games. He had made a guessing game for just the two of them, but now, the game is known across the country.