On January 20, I discovered that my Twitter feed often had some tiles, interspersed with a combination of green, yellow and white squares. When I closely watched them, I saw that on top was written Wordle, along with a number and fractions such as 2/6 or 4/6. The one with 2/6 closely resembles a Dairy Milk chocolate pattern.
I could not make head or tail of it. Looked like some colour puzzle.
On January 24, I got a WhatsApp forward from my friend providing a link to an article regarding Wordle (well, it’s a word game after all) and its ground rules.
I have been a jumble word puzzle enthusiast and used to pore over newspapers for such puzzles. Many a weekend and office hours were spent solving them. And I am quite proficient in it. So Wordle must be easy.
Sigh! My cockiness was misplaced. I wish I had the patience to read through the ground rules. Exhausted all the tiles without hitting the right word.
Pored through the ground rules and tried to access the game. Heck, the next game will happen only next day. Wordle follows only one word per day! Even newspaper jumbles had five words. Anyway, same word for all the participants, so quite a level playing field. And no apps need to be downloaded.
On January 25, being aware of rules, I was able to solve it 6/6. Looking back, I realised I did goof up a bit. Had used letters that got a grey marking in subsequent words. So basically, it is a guessing-cum-elimination word game built on a bedrock of sound vocabulary. It allows only six tries. A useful rule of the thumb is that if a letter falls into a grey tile, ensure that subsequent words don’t have them.
Wow! The next day, I got 3/6 and as soon as I finished, the screen flashed “splendid”. Began doing some Google search about the background of the game and its creators. From all those readings, I could gather that the game’s inventor is a guy named Josh Wardle and he did so to entertain his partner Palak Shah. This Indian connection surely must have warmed the cockles of many a desi heart. Wordle made its debut last October.
On January 30, by now a couple of my friends have also started wracking their brains for that elusive word that could paint the row green within those six tries. I began getting their results on WhatsApp. From the timings of their messages, I felt basically the Wordle universe can be divided into two: those who solve it around midnight keeping awake at those unearthly hours when the new puzzle is released, or those who do it first thing in the morning.
On February 1, got a few forwards of links stating that the New York Times has decided to purchase Wordle for “low-seven figures”. Checked Twitter and it was abuzz with opinions and memes ranging from plain wonderment that the new game could catch the fancy of a reputable newspaper to fears that the game would soon go behind a paywall.
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