From cracking riddles to commiserating online, UQ experts explore the viral puzzle game, Wordle.
By Rachel Westbury
Have you noticed the green, yellow and grey squares taking over your social media feeds lately? These are thanks to the viral daily puzzle game, Wordle.
Welsh-born software engineer Josh Wardle knew that his partner loved word games, so he created Wordle as a guessing game just for the two of them. Before long, he decided to share it with the world.
The game was first launched in November 2021 to an initial average of 90 daily players. That number boomed to 300,000 in early January, and is now believed to clock almost 3 million players each day. The New York Times acquired Wordle in late January 2022 for “an undisclosed price in the low seven figures”.
Each day, Wordle gives players six chances to guess a five-letter word. A correct letter in the right place goes green. A correct letter in the wrong place goes yellow. Letters that aren’t in the word at all go grey.
Players can choose to share their daily score online, which is what those 'game grids' (or coloured squares) represent. The shorter and greener the grid, the better the player's result.
The buzz-worthy guessing game has inspired a plethora of art, craft, recipes, memes and jokes online.
Wordle earrings created by @LittleHangryWomen. (Image: @LittleHangryWomen).
Wordle earrings created by @LittleHangryWomen. (Image: @LittleHangryWomen).
Wordle inspired bread created by @breadbykarenhey. (Image: @breadbykarenhey).
Wordle inspired bread created by @breadbykarenhey. (Image: @breadbykarenhey).
Wordle inspired biscuit created by @sweetmickie. (Image: @sweetmickie).
Wordle inspired biscuit created by @sweetmickie. (Image: @sweetmickie).
Wordle score cross stitch created by @traceyfanclub. (Image: @traceyfanclub).
Wordle score cross stitch created by @traceyfanclub. (Image: @traceyfanclub).
It's even inspired the development of a variety of quirky and clever games, like Worldle, a country guessing game for geography lovers.
There's also Absurdle, a game described as an ‘adversarial version of Wordle’, which ‘gives the impression of picking a single secret word, but instead it consider[s] the entire list of all possible secret words which conform to your guesses.’
And for those who aren't shy about strong language, there's the NSFW four-letter guessing game, Sweardle.
So how can avid players (a.k.a. ‘Wordlers’) increase their chances of success?
Wordle comic created by @thejenkinscomic. (Image: @thejenkinscomic).
Wordle comic created by @thejenkinscomic. (Image: @thejenkinscomic).
An educated (first) guess
UQ linguistics expert Emeritus Professor Roland 'Roly' Sussex said that a select number of five-letter words contain the most frequently used letters in the English language – making these words excellent choices for a first guess.
“The most common English letters in order of decreasing frequency are E, A, R, I, O, T, N and S. There has been a great deal of speculation, and quite a bit of clever analysis, based on these letters. S is so useful for making plurals that it merits inclusion,” Professor Sussex said.
“AROSE is one possibility, but S is not so common in second-last position, so a recommended alternative is SOARE, an archaic word for a young hawk. Try it. Not exactly a common word in modern English, but the letters make it Wordle-friendly. Incidentally, it's also the word for ‘sun’ in Romanian.”
Wordle comic created by @thejenkinscomic. (Image: @thejenkinscomic).
According to Professor Sussex, users can also gain an advantage by exploring the possible sequences of sounds in English.
“We don't like three vowels together, for instance, so that ADIEU is possible but probably not Wordle-helpful,” he said.
“If the word starts with S followed by the letters P, T or K, the third letter has to be a vowel, or R or L: SPOIL, SPRAY, SPLAT, STRAY, SKATE.”
“Struggling with Wordle will show you things about English you didn't know, which has to be a bonus. So long as Wordle doesn't curdle your brain.”
Word(le) on the wire
Decoding the daily riddle is only half the fun, however. UQ digital media expert Dr Cedric Courtois explains that players celebrating (or commiserating) on social media is a big part of why the Wordle community has grown so rapidly.
“One of the key drivers of using social media is engagement and playful interaction with friends and acquaintances. Casual social games have been a part of this for over a decade now: they're a shared activity that invites playful conversation,” Dr Courtois said.
“You might remember FarmVille in 2009, asking friends to share resources and favours to maintain and expand on their virtual farms, and then boasting on how well they were doing. In 2016, Pokémon GO became a hit, enticing players to highlight their rare catches and to meet up to hunt for creatures together.
“In that sense, Wordle seems like an extension of that practice. Each player get the same Word riddle each day and you can share the result of your attempts, which unites players and entices conversation.”
To some, sharing your game scores online may seem like a new and unlikely practice. As Dr Courtois explains, the cryptic and colourful Wordle posts are key to the game's success.
OMG IT HAPPENED
— Jason Imms 🅽🅸🅲🅴 (@jasonimms) December 21, 2021
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 184 1/6
“Wordle has been particularly clever about sharing results. They’re shared as a mysterious set of emojis that don't make sense to anyone unfamiliar with the game. That in itself is a conversation starter and undeniably added to the viral success of the game.
“It's not so much about being ‘the best’, but to share an enjoyable activity and poke fun.”
Join the conversation
What do you think of Wordle? Share your thoughts on the game (or your best score) in the comments below.
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