Everyone's favorite word game is celebrating its third anniversary this month, and its popularity shows no sign of slowing down.
Wordle was first introduced to the world in October 2021 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic and quickly went viral in a matter of weeks. People loved sharing their daily stats on social media or with family and friends.
The game was invented by New York-based, but Welsh-born engineer, Josh Wardle for his girlfriend who loved playing word puzzles years before it went public.
Wordle, which is a play on words of Wardle's family name, eventually sold to The New York Times in early 2022, where it quickly became its most played game. It was played 4.8 billion times last year, according to CBS News, and the reason it remains so loved is because of its simplicity.
"I really like that Wordle has a simplistic nature, which makes it widely accessible to players of all ages. It also has a daily variety of challenges, which is perhaps another reason that it continues to be so popular," Linguistics expert and Babbel Live teacher, Noël Wolf told Newsweek.
The rules of Wordle are easy enough to understand. Players are tasked with guessing a mystery five-letter word—and must do so in six attempts or less. They are helped along with a color-coded tile system, green meaning they've got the letter correct, yellow shows the letter appears in the word but is in the wrong spot. Finally, a gray tile indicates that the letter does not appear in the word at all.
Aside from its straightforward rules, Wolf believes the game is as popular as ever because of the sense of community it creates amongst players.
"Wordle's shareability across various social media platforms fosters a sense of belonging and common ground that can transcend cultures and borders. Friends and family members who live far apart, or even in different countries, can use it to stay connected," she said.
The word puzzle also sparks "daily conversations" amongst players and "offers a daily break from our high-paced lives," according to Wolf.
"The small victories that Wordle provides may also contribute to a feeling of achievement over time. Wordle keeps things simple and interactive, allowing users to learn almost without realising it," she added.
As well as being a tool for building community, Wordle helps build language skills and vocabulary.
"Using Wordle is a great way to expand your vocabulary and refresh your memory of words you may not have encountered for a while," Wolf said.
"It's also fun to challenge yourself with words that have complicated structures, double letters or that feature uncommon letters like J, Z, Q or X. Some of the challenging words I have come across include 'kazoo', 'parer', and 'epoxy'."
Wolf added: "These rarer words require some flair and lateral thinking to solve, making the experience all the more rewarding. As a linguistics expert, I find it encouraging to see so many people cultivating a casual interest in language through this game."
English (US) ·