Wordle is a free online game, which involves the user guessing a five-letter word in six tries. A new word is released every day. While the user is playing, the letters turn green, gray or yellow. Yellow letters mean the player has the right letter but in the wrong spot, while green letters mean the player has the correct letter in the correct spot.  Gray letters indicate to the user that the letter isn’t in the word at all. Many users use certain words for their first guess to find out if letters commonly used are in the word. If the word turns green in all five spaces, the word is correct. The website keeps track of a user’s tries and will remember their device.  

Wordle was made by Josh Wardle in 2013 for his coworkers and friends. The game didn’t stick, so he stopped. During the 2020 quarantine, he fixed it up for his family to play, and they loved it. In November of 2021, the game only had 90 users. At the start of 2022, the number of players was 300,000, increasing to 2 million users soon after, according to theconversation.com.  

Riley Maguire (10) plays Wordle every day, constantly asking people if they have discovered the word for the day.

“My AP World History Class mentioned it every day.  Now I’m obsessed,” Maguire said. 

New York Times bought Wordle in early 2022. The game has gotten so popular that the New York Times values it at over $1 million. Wardle had no problem selling Wordle off to New York Times. The game will continue to be free, in contrast to the other New York Times games. Publishers are aiming for 10 million users by 2025. 

Whether it is a quick thing to get users’ brains working or a fun game to start up their day, Wordle is popular among everyone. For some students at Spartanburg High, it’s a race between friends to see who guesses the word first. 

Cely Voyles (10) has a 4:3 ratio between wins with Maguire.

“My friend, Riley, questioned me about it, now I have competitions with my friends over it,” Voyles said. 

There has been many other versions of Wordle being made and brought up. Heardle, Taylordle, etc…

Cassidy Scherer (10) loves Taylor Swift, and knows all of the pop artist’s songs.

“I first found Taylordle and started playing that everyday. I thought it was the only game like that until I saw other people going on Wordle,” Scherer said.