Image courtesy of geneva.thoitrangboi.info.
Wordle is the word puzzle web game that has been blowing up the internet ever since 2021 blended into 2022. But, where exactly did Wordle come from? Well, Brooklyn-based Josh Wardle invented the game (naturally), where every day, a new mystery five-letter word is chosen by the algorithm, and players have six tries to successfully guess the correct answer. Every time a player guesses a letter in the correct place, the letters become green; when they have guessed a letter in the word, but not in the correct place, the letters become yellow. Letters not in the word remain black. Using these clues, players have been guessing and spelling away to crack the code each day.
Wordle has become known for its charm. After all, Wardle invented the game as a gesture of love for his girlfriend, Palak Shah. During the lockdown, the two would spend their days inside playing various word games, which is what inspired the engineer to create a game of his own for his one true love. When Wardle made the game public to the world in October 2021, it was played by 90 people by November 1. It was the turn of 2022 when the world changed for Wardle—as of mid-February 2022, over three million players have taken a whirl through Wordle world.
When developing the game, there were obstacles. For one, how would the computer know to generate words that were accessible and common to the public? Wardle credits Shah for solving this riddle, choosing words from a word pool that she knew and feeding those to the algorithm, which generated approximately 12,000 words. Additional concerns arose among fans when Wordle was bought by the New York Times (NYT) in late January. To Wardle, this was the organic course of action for his syntactic gem, stating, “If you’ve followed along with the story of Wordle, you’ll know that NYT games [such as Spelling Bee and the Daily Crossword] play a big part in its origins and so this step feels very natural to me.” Now, a mega-company owns it, which is great for Wardle as he sees his vision being met all while earning a pretty penny, which sold for over $1,000,000. With the game being bought by a mega-corporation, Wardle sold Wordle to the NYT for over $1,000,000.
However, fans are not thrilled with the commercial takeover. A common sentiment amongst players is that the words have gotten harder since purchased by the newspaper outlet. The NYT claims that no changes have been made to the game, despite slews of angry fan tweets asking “if Wordle has gotten so much harder since NYT took it over.” The takeover from the NYT also consists of all existing scores and stats being erased and bizzare instances of words not being recognized by the game engine(such as “pupal”).
Inevitably, Wordle has infiltrated the microcosm of Skidmore College, thus the changesissues with the NYT’s acquisition of the game are issues for Thoroughbreds. When asked how he felt about NYT buying Wordle, student Hunter Wasser ’23 stated that “On one hand, I guess it’s nice to see Wardle get some form of compensation now Wordle is so popular, but at the same time I don’t trust the NYT as much as I do an independent guy who never tried to monetize the game, include ads, et.” Wasser sparks a valuable discussion with this response, highlighting the aforementioned charm that the original Wordle had as a one-man-show who made the game for his girlfriend. Wasser also raised the point that “one common word for everyone each day creates a sense of community and shared experience.” Clearly, Wordle is deemed as a charming game because it brings you closer with people no matter your location.
Simultaneously, Wordle has found its way to Thoroughbreds even post-graduation. When asked how she felt about the viral game, Skidmore Class of ’21 alum Tina Irrera told The Skidmore News that “it’s the first thing I do every morning before work, either before or after my daily 9 a.m. meeting.” The fact that there is one word a day that we are meant to solve makes the game more habitual. It’s quick and cultivates easy satisfaction.
Irerra ended off her statement with one that speaks to all daily Wordle-goers: “I hate caulk.”