Celebrating green in March—with Wordle!
by Mary Jo David
What better month than March to celebrate green? St. Patrick’s Day. Crocus leaves. And Wordle.
Yes, Wordle, the word game that has taken the country—or rather, countries—by storm. It’s as though we are all living through a pandemic and desperate for some solitary fun. Oh wait—we are! And that explains the popularity of this simple, free-to-play, daily puzzle that was launched publicly in October 2021.
The concept is simple—you are presented with six rows of five blank squares each. That’s it, no clues, just rows of blank squares. You have six tries to figure out the correct five-letter word. As you enter word guesses in each row, correct letters in the correct position get a green background, correct letters in the wrong position show with yellow backgrounds, and letters that are not at all correct display with gray backgrounds.
So what’s all the excitement about? As a writer, I should enjoy word games, but they’ve never been my thing—not even Wheel of Fortune! Yet, a few things about Wordle have turned me into a fan: It’s generally a pretty quick game; there’s only one “official” puzzle each day; and it’s fun to share your results with friends, family, and coworkers who also play the game.
Everyone who plays is attempting to guess the same word on a given day, so it’s important not to give away the actual word when you share your results. Wordle creator, Josh Wardle, has made that simple. When you successfully complete the day’s puzzle, you can click “share” to send a Wordle image to others who play. The image is a replica of your results—rows of green, yellow, and gray squares, but the letters don’t show so you don’t spoil it for those who haven’t played yet. A quick glance at your results, and fellow Wordle players can tell immediately if you had a good Wordle day or a bad one. Completing a guess in two rows is a great day; using up all six rows—not so much!
The story goes that Wardle, who is British, created Wordle for his partner, who is American. Eventually it became so popular with their friends and families, that he made it publicly available, and it’s now played by millions. The game has become so ubiquitous, in fact, that Wardle recently sold it to the New York Times for a price rumored to be in the seven figures!
If your interest is piqued (Woah! “PIQUE” would be a great Wordle word!), go to https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html and check out the game for yourself!
When sending your Wordle score to friends, they only see a color legend so as not to give away the actual word. Left: A great Wordle day. Right: A frustrating Wordle day.
