Schona Dhawan '25
Wordle blew the world's minds away. The online game was originally hosted on powerlanguage.co.uk, a small website created by Josh Wardle. The rules are simple: each player has 6 tries to guess the daily 5-letter word. Letters that are placed correctly turn green, letters that are in the word but not placed correctly turn yellow, and letters that are not in the word at all turn gray. Through the process of elimination and careful consideration, most players manage to get the word.
The game that slowly captivated the attention of the world started in October. Josh Wardle, the creator of Wordle made the game as a present for his partner. As described by The New York Times, Wordle was originally a love story. After a few months, the game was shared with family and friends. Soon after reaching ninety
players in November, the game spread even quicker to thousands of players. However, after becoming a viral sensation, Wordle players were devastated as the game was bought by the New York Times in late January. The NYT stated that for now, the game will remain free, but it is most likely that it will, later on, require a NYT paid subscription with access to other games such as the daily crossword or Spelling Bee. Players were shocked that the traditional game was being taken over by a company that seemed solely hungry for money, and many weren’t looking forward to buying a subscription. Will different versions such as Taylordle, one of the more popular ones, to Subwaydle, which is especially popular in New York City, and even Queerdle, dubbed the “yassification of Wordle” be enough for consistent players, or will the NYT come into a big sum of subscriptions in the near future? Life Hacker has shared a possible way you can continue to play in the future once the game becomes paid.
Many websites have suggested tips and tricks to increase players’ efficiency while playing. They’ve suggested sets of words, “word finder websites”, and many more strategies. According to a student, she uses the words that come to her in the moment that have at least 2 vowels. She prefers to gradually do it throughout the
day, instead of doing it extremely quickly. Another Chez Nous sister, Oonagh Yaged, says she uses words she finds to come to her in the moment, or especially the word “adieu” to start off. She averages about four tries on each Wordle and tries to do it throughout the school day. Teachers and many other students play Wordle during the day, and one way or another it’s hard to avoid hearing the answer by the last period from a friend or classmate. According to freshman Dolores Maxwell, she writes down the words she uses and any possible letters while playing. There are many strategies like using words with vowels or common consonants, but at the end of the day, Wordle isn’t just a game anymore, it’s a joyful habit. Whether Wordle players find a way to continue playing for free or not, their passion and love for the game has grown tremendously over the past few months and will continue to grow.
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Edited by: Megan Groo '25, Oonagh Yaged '25, Adithi Vimalanathan '22, Natalia Cseh '23, and Ms. Brilliant
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