You’ve got six tries to come up with the five-letter word of the day. Your first try is unsuccessful, and no letters in the word you guessed are present in the one Wordle is looking for. Next try, you plug in a new word, and finally! Two of the letters in the word you guessed are correct, but the yellow boxes signify that they are not in the correct place. 

   Onto try number three, and the green box you’ve longed to see is finally there, meaning the letter is in the correct spot, along with another yellow box. You’re halfway there now! 

   While brainstorming possible words, a lightbulb goes off in your head. Typing it out and hitting enter, the journey has finally come to an end. All the boxes are green, indicating you’ve guessed the Wordle of the day. 

What even is Wordle?

   Wordle has been gaining popularity since November 2021, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Originally receiving most attention from Twitter, the game has found a spot on TikTok, where many accounts show their viewers tips and tricks to getting the word correct in the fastest way possible. 

   For example, the first word you guess should contain commonly used letters, to see if you need to rule them out early on, or if they are in the word. Some of these words include “early,” “irate,” and “stare.” Instagram is also on the Wordle trend, but more of the posts are of memes about the game, pulled from Twitter.

Why is the game so popular?

   There are many aspects of the game that contribute to its continual increase in popularity. For one, there is only one word of the day, and once completed, you must wait for the new one to come out the next day. Only a short amount of attention per day is required, which is manageable for society today, where our attention span is decreasing. 

   Having to wait a day for the new Wordle makes playing it that much more special and fun. Wordle contains no ads, which is revolutionary for many free games. I’ve downloaded games on my phone over the years, and when they play an abundance of ads, I’m often discouraged from playing, since I don’t want to wait for a 30-second ad to play every 5 minutes. 

Recent purchase of Wordle

   At the end of January of 2022, The New York Times bought the game for around 1 million dollars, shocking fans. They voiced their concerns over The New York Times possibly charging them to play the game, which would turn away many people from playing. In their article about purchasing Wordle, the company states that “the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.”

   Regardless of this new purchase, Wordle’s popularity doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.