What is Wordle and why is everyone talking about it?

What do all those coloured squares mean?

If you’ve opened Twitter in the past week, you’ve probably seen the signature coloured squares of Wordle. But what is it, where did it come from, and why is everyone seemingly obsessed? In short, Wordle is a word game that can be played once a day, and it’s got the internet in a twist.

Play on words

The origin of the game is a story of modern romance. Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle knew his partner loved word games. So he created a game for the two of them to play. After he shared it with his family and their WhatsApp group became hooked, he released it to the wider world. Now, there are over 300,000 daily Wordle players, including many well-known faces.

Jesus Christ, that’s it, me life is RUINED. I’m now completely OBSESSED with this wretched bloody thing and I’m SHITE at it… 😭😭😭😭😭😭
Wordle 201 6/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

— MarianKeyes has written a sequel to RachelsHoliday (@MarianKeyes) January 6, 2022

Wordle players have six chances to guess a five letter word on a board of tiles. If you choose a correct letter in the correct position, it goes green. If you choose a correct letter but in the wrong position, the tile goes yellow. And if the tile is grey, the letter is not in the word at all. The goal is to piece together the final word with each clue your green tiles give you. Each day, the Wordle resets, so just because you didn’t get yesterday’s, not all is lost.

In an internet space often littered with ads and pop-ups and other things vying for our attention, Wordle is contrastingly simple. It’s an array of tiles, on a plain background and that’s it. If you’re looking for a way to do some brain training, or you just want to get in on the fun, give today’s Wordle a whirl.

Wordle is available to play for free here.