Wordle Facts
So if you too have been bitten by the Wordle bug (more than 3,00,000 have), here are ten facts about this game:
1. Wordle is actually named after its founder
Well, it is actually a play on the name of the inventor of the game, Josh Wardle, who is a software engineer. It is about words, so the name fits beautifully. Incidentally, Wardle was also the man behind the collaborative art project called Place in 2007 and a project called Button at Reddit, where a button had to be pressed by anyone in the world within a minute.
2. It is based on a game show
The word guessing concept of the game is based on that seen in a game show called Lingo, which was aired in 1988. The show itself barely lasted a few months. Wordle seems to be doing much better.
3. It was turned down in 2013…by his friends
Wardle is believed to have made a prototype of the game as far back as 2013. He, however, gave up on the idea when his friends did not like it.
4. It was made for his partner
Wardle has designed the game for his partner Palak Shah. “I wanted to come up with a game that she would enjoy,” he told a publication. But, unfortunately, he did not half succeed.
5. COVID played a role in it
According to Wardle, he came up with the game (or brought it out of cold storage, as he had made a prototype earlier) because his partner, Palak Shah, had started playing Spelling Bee and solving the daily crossword when the pandemic struck. So, COVID did have a role to play in this addictive game.
6. From two to WhatsApp groups to the world
Wardle and Shah initially played the game. However, they showed it to their friends and family, and before they knew it, it was being played extensively on their WhatsApp groups. Finally, Wardle took it public in October 2021.
7. A slow starter
It might seem to be the rage today, but Wordle actually got off to a very sluggish start. It was released in mid-October 2021, and on 1 November 2021, had a total of just 90 players. At the time of writing, it has about 3,00,000! Many attribute its popularity to Wardle’s adding the ability to share scores in the form of colored grids on Twitter.
8. No revenue plans
Wordle is totally free and has no ads. Furthermore, Wardle says he has no plans to monetize the game. “There are also no ads and I am not doing anything with your data, and that is also quite deliberate,” Wardle told the BBC.
9. It should last for over six years at this rate
The game picks out a random word every day from its database of 2500 five-letter words, which in turn have been carefully selected from more than twelve thousand five-letter words in the language. Going at the rate of one word a day, Wordle’s current database should easily last for more than six years, with no words being repeated.
10. A happy present, not an appy future
Wordle right now is being played on a browser. It has no app, and Wardle does not seem too eager to make one for it. He says he is a bit suspicious of mobile apps that demand attention and send push notifications.
