How Wordle spells success

The daily word puzzle Wordle was played a staggering 4.8 billion times last year. Correspondent Susan Spencer talks with editorial director Everdeen Mason and executive producer Zoe Bell of The New York Times' Games about the five-letter word puzzle that has become a daily ritual for millions.
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[@posthocprior]

This piece missed a chance of to explore why The NY Times bought Wordle. Till about 20 years ago, most people bought a newspaper for the classified ads. These were everything from people advertising garage sales to obituaries. This was obviously replaced by websites. Playing games on The NY Times I think is the paper’s attempt to do with games what people did with classified ads. That is, people get the newspaper to play the game and then read the news. Am curious if this strategy of buying Wordle worked.

[@RyanD808]

The most fun way to do a starting word, if you’re in public, is wait to hear someone around you use a five letter word for you to use. It may surprise you how close you can be and it’s exciting! Using the same word first everytime is boring. Everyone dreams of getting it in the first try so make it more interesting for yourself.

[@GreySkyLady]

I do the same. I wait for the universe to send a five letter word, then I use that to start the game.

[@ShirleyDeeDesigns]

My sisters and I all live in different states. Every day we play Wordle and Connections and share our results. It’s a nice way to stay connected.

[@michaelcorvin4330]

I'm such a Wordle nerd (Nerdle?) that I keep a list of all the words used. "Sorry gals, he's married..."

[@rino09876]

I work third shift, so I usually do the wordle as soon as it comes out.

[@sherri.]

I play Wordle, Connections, The Mini, and now Strands! 🤓

[@docmccoy95]

No crossword?

[@sherri.]

@@docmccoy95 The Mini is crossword.

[@michaelcorvin4330]

Strands is quickly becoming my favorite.

[@brendaerasmus7370]

Wordle is not only a national pastime of the USA. I'm sure it's played worldwide. It's also one of the ways my brother, sister and I connect at midnight (sometimes later if we're sleeping at midnight). We live in Cape Town, South Africa.

[@barbn.5249]

We play it daily. We have a messenger group for it to connect with our results daily. Old and young participating. Love it!

[@jaclynstarr644]

Love wordle

[@semipenguin]

When I first heard of Wordle, I heard someone from England complain that the solution, was a word spelled in American English. The most I’ve had in a row was 50. It’s those words where you have the last four letters correct, but keep missing the first one.

[@chazbo2672]

I wish they had mentioned that Wordle had already long existed informally in a similar paper and pencil form as Jotto (and perhaps other names) and many older viewers had probably played it against each other during boring high school classes. Also, part of its current popularity could be related to the level of angst that is spread so easily over social media today. Wordle is a relatively brief and straight forward right or wrong pastime. Yes, you need to enjoy words and puzzles to some extent. Satisfying rather than eye rolling.

[@sebeckley]

I always start with Slate and it usually takes three or four guesses and three minutes.

[@HUMDUDE]

Used to play it every day and then they made you sign in and I was like "bump that!" and haven't played since.

[@johnrolle9321]

Toughest are the words with one letter differentials like(recently) "itch" words, if you will. Ah alas, so close but no cigar. !*#@& 😂

[@josephkarl2061]

The number of times I've failed because of this ☠️🤣

[@hillaryroberts3623]

Such fun daily!

[@lizasilomar8545]

First I do the mini crossword, then I use the words in the crossword (or in the clues) to use in Wordle. I’d rather have it be challenging than easy.

[@rageguy311]

Will there be a segment on 'lingo'...?

[@rjneu2]

This is great!

[@rino09876]

Imho consonants are more valuable to place than vowels.

[@Mark-wd5zb]

I have the same first TWO guesses every day. Not just the first word. I go with Siren. Then Octal. Those two words use 10 of the most common letters in the English language. If "Siren" yields many correct letters, my second guess may be different, but it's rare. I have a few solves in 2. But typically, I solve in 3 or 4, with 4 being the most common number of guesses for me by a lot. Of course I occasionally need 5 or 6 guesses as well.

[@corinneanderson1273]

I've never tried this game.

[@officialSgtPepperArc360]

You have missed a golden opportunity to mention *LINGO!*

[@elliottshevin1319]

... which has been on television screens around the world for DECADES. And Wordle is just a computerized version of Jotto which I played in the 1970s with pen and paper. (I see another commented remembers it too.) Mastermind (the board game, not the TV show) is just Jotto with colored pegs instead of letters.

[@josephkarl2061]

1:01 That's not the worst possible result! You now know these letters aren't useful, and it helps you narrow down the likely suspects significantly, esp. not needing S T A and E. There's a lot of the dictionary that goes out because of those letters 👌👍

[@sciworanil9280]

Life is like Wordle with every failed attempt, you might learn something correct!! says me

[@robdisner]

The Wordle Song kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4rOYZ-Ei9eJqpY

[@johnurban7333]

Reminds me of the game show Lingo

[@rageguy311]

Or the German fünf mal fünf

[@cardinal8268]

I got it on the first try one time. Dumb luck!

[@LindaC616]

I did it twice, but the second time was a fluke. I had started to play the game and it glitched and kicked me out. So when I got back in I knew what the word was.

[@paulo123-]

I have a two word strategy, Stare then Cloud….

[@sankimalu]

First guess Alien, next guess Youth. Thank me later…

[@christinacascadilla4473]

This advertisement paid for by The New York Times.

[@maggiejohnson5891]

SLATE is so boring. And CRATE. I like to change it up. UNTIE, MOUSE, IRONY. My favs.

[@BwInNewJersey]

Sunday Morning using any excuse to include a Wordle segment. Its not design.

[@susannpatton2893]

Am proud to say I have never played it once. Don't intend to

[@LindaC616]

It's so fun. So is "Connections". And you can play for free on your phone. Each game takes less than 5 min of your day, some less than 2.

[@dbeford]

Jeez she’s a journalist and can’t pronounce adieu !!! I bet she does not know what that means !!! 😑

[@DavidMiller-kf1ss]

There was another in the day. Took forever. Can't remember name.❤sodoku numbers is cool, too.

[@hpnc]

Wordle is too easy. Try Octordle or Sedecordle. You're welcome.