Have You Done Today’s Wordle?

Popular word game WORDLE was bought by the New York Times for low seven figures. You can’t get very far online without seeing the green, yellow and black squares. You also can’t get very far in public without being asked, “Have you done today’s WORDLE?” The simple word game allows for six attempts to guess a predetermined five-letter word. Correct letters in the correct place light up green, while correct letters in the incorrect place light up yellow.

Despite a simple interface lacking a flashy display or even ads, the game seemingly blew up over night. What started as Josh Wardle creating a game for his word-game-loving girlfriend has quickly become an internet sensation, going from 90 players in November to more than 300,000 in January.

People have even gone as far as to analyze personalities based on one’s WORLDE strategies. Some players insist on starting with the same word every day, while others are driven to switch up their starting guess. Other competitive fans enjoy playing on the hard difficulty, but there are more casual devotees who swear by the easy mode. These have all been analyzed and people say they provide a deep insight into personalities. When choosing to play on easy mode, a player could choose to use a letter that is known to not be in the word, or not use a letter that is known to be in the word. While this strategy may allow for an advantage, a player who chooses this strategy is knowingly given up the opportunity to get the word in two or three words. To them, the risk of not getting the word at all is greater than the reward of getting the word sooner.

With a new five letter word everyday, WORDLE challenges your intellectual and linguistic knowledge. Taking a few minutes out of your day to play the fun word game that also challenges you can provide benefits. Taking a break from fast paced society to have a few minutes focusing on something simple may be what draws many people to continue playing the game day after day.

Another draw to the game is that there is only one word a day. You must play for that word on that specific day or it is gone. The fleeting nature of the opportunity to play and one’s desire to keep the streak alive continues to bring people to the game.

But how long will it last? In modern times it is easier than ever to make it big on the internet. However, there seems to be a new internet craze every week. With the constant changing of the trend cycle, many brands, games or even people who are popular one week find it difficult to evolve quickly enough to stay relevant. WORDLE being sold to The New York Times all but guarantees its eventual obsolescence. Although the exact buying price wasn’t disclosed, it has been said to be low seven figures. To start, the simplicity of the current site will be gone. Additionally, the game will remain free initially, implying an eventual need to pay for the game that is now free.

What was once a resurgence of a time when the online gaming and the internet as a whole were more simplistic and communal, has become just another of the modern capitalist agenda. Gone are the days when I can take my “fun little word game” for granted. The moment in which seemingly the whole world is wrapped up in five letter words is fleeting.