Wordle is The Game People Love & Love to Hate

Early 2022, cryptic black, green and yellow square lockups started flooding my Facebook account. So much so that I had to finally give in and ask my friend – “WTF is this bullshit all over my feed?” The culprit: Wordle. Here is what it’s all about, some sound strategy, and some more options if you’re already burnt out.

Wordle Meme posted by @mjseidlinger

What are all these mysterious squares flooding our feeds lately? It’s an online game which is aptly called Wordle after its creator Josh Werdle. Wordle, recently acquired by The New York Times, is a word game in which you have 6 tries to guess the correct 5 letter word. After you finish your game, you can share a birds-eye view of how your game went for you with your friends via social media. Hence these wacko “scores” folks are posting which show up as grids of colored squares.

Even tho I love me some Wordle and relish in beating my boyfriend’s Wordle score each day, I also mute friends on social media who post their scores. It’s starting to take over and if I wanted a hostile takeover of my social media, I would have asked Elon Musk to help me out.

In the world of Wordle, you’ll likely fall into a few camps of people:

•  Confused by Wordle altogether.

•  Loath Wordle so much you attempt to ignore folks, un-friend or hide the status of those who post their scores

• Love Wordle but hide your love of it from others

• Passionately love Wordle so much you give zero fucks if sharing every morning on social media annoys folks

I have no idea what Wordle is and at this point I’m afraid to ask – posted by PogoNR

I don’t know what camp I’m in… I’m in the “was once confused and annoyed but now I play Wordle every morning and just don’t tell anyone” camp.

I honestly think that most folks who play Wordle will end up in a similar place as myself after the initial excitement about the game wears off. Some will keep playing and share scores a little less publicly. Others will maybe lose their interest.

Everyone has their own strategy. I asked some of my friends what there’s was and here are their best answers:

“I always start with BEARD… and I suck at it so probably not a good strategy” – Kelly

“My husband discovered (accidentally), that clearing your browser history lets you start over with the same word. Use that knowledge however you choose.” – Jennifer

“I always start with TRASH (per my son’s request) and it covers most of the letters they give in the last Wheel of Fortune game, so it can’t be that bad of a word to start with.” – Gretchen

“I always start with the word P*NIS” – Maya

He solved wordle See? Nobody cares. – See? Nobody Cares. | Make a Meme

The controversy surrounding sharing your score makes me laugh because usually, it’s those who hate Wordle who are making such a fuss. Molly Erickson says her strategy is to, “mute people who post their scores”. Whoa, brutal. But also accurate.

Thanks to a friend of mine I’ve now learned there are several other Wordle-like games.
(or should I be thanking her?)

Worldle – a geography guessing game
Nerdle – a number’s guessing game
Quordle – Wordle meets Soduko
Octordle – an eight-letter guessing game similar to Wordle.
Heardle – name that tune Wordle

Love it or hate it – most of us can’t get enough. Just don’t post them on your social media unless you want to get silenced by some of your friends and family. 

comic by Scott Johnson