A Wordle online game is gaining popularity around the world, which was developed by one person and only exists in the web version. As of November 1, 2021, Wordle had 90 daily users, and by early January the number had grown to 300,000, according to The New York Times.
What's the point of playing Wordle?
The original Wordle game exists in English. It is published on the developer's website.
The player must guess a five-letter English word in six tries. On the first attempt, the user can enter any word that matches the size. After confirmation, the letters entered are highlighted in different colors:
• green – if the letter is guessed correctly and is in the correct place;
• yellow – if the letter is in the word but in the wrong place;
• in gray – if the letter is not in the word.
These clues allow players to get closer to solving the word each time.
The game will only allow you to complete one puzzle per day, while all users solve the same word.
Photo: Screenshot
Who developed Wordle?
Wordle was created by Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle. He named the game after his last name.
Wardle first prototyped an online word puzzle in 2013. But the game didn't impress his friends and the software engineer stopped working on it. However, in 2020 Wardle returned to the puzzle, creating it exclusively for himself and his girlfriend Palak Shah. During the lockdown, the developer's beloved got interested in solving crosswords and puzzles. “I wanted to make a game that he would enjoy,” – quotes Wardle in The New York Times.
The pair worked on the words for several months, and after that Wardle sent a link to the game to their loved ones. Those close to the developer liked Wordle, and in October 2021 he decided to make the game available to users around the world.
According to Wardle, limiting the number of parties to one per day was a breakthrough. It increased the feeling of scarcity, it made users want more.
Players also liked the simple website that hosts the game. It has no banners distracting ads or other annoying elements.
“I think people kind of appreciate that there's this thing on the internet that's just funny”, – Wardle noted. – This is not an attempt to do anything shady with your data or your eyeballs. It's just a fun game.
As the game grew in popularity, users began posting their success in guessing the word on social media, tapping a grid of green, yellow and gray emoticons. Wardle noticed this and developed an automated way for players to share their results on Twitter without spoilers. In addition, he and his girlfriend sorted out five-letter English words, eliminating those that , in their view, were little known.
Wordle is now available for users around the world, but Palak Shah says she appreciates that Wordle originally created the game for her. “That's very sweet, – she said. – This is definitely how Josh shows his love.
Is there Wordle in Russian?
On January 10, an analogue of Wordle in Russian was launched by Twitter user @sudo_belousov. The rules are the same: six attempts to guess a five-letter word, highlighting the letters in three colors, one word per day. According to the developer, more than 10,000 people have played the game in two days of its existence. He said he was preparing a mobile application with the game for the App Store and Google Play.
Meanwhile, on January 12, Apple announced that it had removed Apps with Wordle game clones from App Store. Josh Wardle previously decided not to release it as an app or monetize it. According to Apple management, Wordle analogues violate company policy regarding apps that copy other people's ideas.
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com, https://twitter .com /, https://www.kommersant.ru/