The Internet’s Latest Obsession

On November 1, 2021, 90 people played Wordle. Four months later, 2.7 million people were playing. Its popularity grew massively and seems to be taking English-speaking countries by storm. For many, Wordle has become an obsession, something to look forward to and discuss every single day. But how is it that this game gained so much popularity in the span of four months? 

Wordle is a daily word game found online. It can only be played once a day, and every 24 hours there is a new word to guess. You must figure out the word before your six tries are up, and the game can keep track of how many guesses it has taken you over the days. This relatively simple game started off as a gesture to the founder's partner. Josh Wardle, a software engineer from New York, created the game for his wife who was fond of puzzles. He eventually decided to take it public and was met with a wave of positive reactions. This game's simplicity and accessibility are what made it so popular. During the creation of this game, Josh Wardle decided against many of the common mobile game attributes such as notifications or allowing players to continue to play the game endlessly. However, he did choose to include certain features that contributed to its success, such as the ability to share results. You can share your results on various social media platforms, or send them as a text or email. Many people have found that this game is an excellent means of connection because of the ability to share results. There is also something about knowing you are confined to one attempt per day at the wordle that makes it so much more exciting. 

Wordles' immediate popularity has brought many similar games to the table. From Worldle, a game where you must guess a 5-letter country, to Taylordle, a spin-off where you guess a Taylor Swift song or album title, to Nerdle, where you must guess a math equation in 5 tries. This is just the tip of the iceberg as there are countless spin-offs of Wordle that are likely to satisfy any of your interests. Although Wordle’s success seems to be fairly linear, the game was recently purchased by the New York Times for more than a million dollars. Many people claim that the difficulty of the game has increased, making some players frustrated by the switch. This is actually not the case. When Wordle was created by Josh Wardle, he created a ‘word bank’ which is composed of 2315 somewhat well-known 5-letter words. This means that the final wordle will take place on October 20, 2027. The New York Times is yet to make any changes to this word bank meaning this game will likely run with no changes for many more years without a single word repeat. Although Wordle criticism still exists, this game continues to be an exciting activity in many people's daily routines. 

Wordle is momentarily putting the internet in a more playful place. Amongst all the ways that the internet can be chaotic and polarized, Wordle is an opportunity for a simple connection. It seems as though Wordle has become more than just a game. It generates conversation and acts as a welcome distraction during difficult times. It will be interesting to see if this compelling game maintains its popularity for years to come, or if it will fall victim to the internet's short attention span. Regardless, Wordle is deserving of the title: the internet’s latest obsession.