What the Hell Happened: Wordle Takes the Internet

The Internet has no lack of time-consuming fads and intriguing crazes, many of which come and go, but how long will this latest one, Wordle, last? The online game, which is simple in concept but slightly more challenging in practice, has captured the attention of millions of users a week. If you’ve been hearing questions along the lines of “Have you done the Wordle yet?” or statements like, “I have a green and a yellow” or exclamations such as “I got it in 2 tries!” and you’re lost: Just hop onto Wordle and see for yourself how you fare.

The internet’s latest and greatest pop culture obsession was actually a quarantine conception by Josh Wardle and, as documented by The New York Times, is the product of a love story. Wardle created the game as something his partner would enjoy and decided to share that simplicity and fun after seeing that game’s popularity among his family members. He said to The New York Times, “I think people kind of appreciate that there’s this thing online that’s just fun.”

It seems that the public is attracted to the game — as any Twitter feed will tell you — but why? How did this minigame capture the attention and focus of so many? Perhaps it’s to do with the site itself, that the straightforward website layout, lack of ads, and barebones objective make this a good little brain break. Or perhaps it’s that it provides a worthy challenge for eager minds. We like to prove competence in what we think we’d easily know, and when that doesn’t work out so well, the game provides users with just enough frustration to keep them coming for more and continuing to play the game. The limiting factor of one game a day is also a competitive component: People want to keep those winning streaks up.

They say “That imitation is the most sincere form of flattery,” and this rings true for Wordle. Since Wordle’s major spike in popularity and user traffic, various spin-offs have been created by enthusiastic Wordle fans. This writer has entertained the Taylor Swift version (Taylordle), the “lewd” varieties (Lewdle and Sweardle) and the “absurdly” hard version (Absurdle). And there is even a numerical Wordle (Primel and Nerdle) for those who are more quantitatively inclined, or maybe just guessing letters if you’re feeling that type of way (Letterle).

But the original also has an exciting future on the horizon. In recent news, The New York Times has added Wordle to its word game arsenal, paying somewhere above $1 million for the platform. Current players are concerned about what this means for the game. Will there be a paywall to overcome in the future? Will the original be lost to the average user forever in its original form? Only time will tell what The New York Times will do with Wordle. But for now, we know that the grey, yellow, and green tiles will continue to occupy screens once a day for many.

—Staff writer Ashley Y. Lee can be reached at ashley.lee@thecrimson.com.