The Wordle Craze

And how it goes--with this writer, at least.

I was surprised and happy to see CBS Sunday Morning’s segment on Wordle. (See video at the end.) It’s no secret that we Wordle addicts are too often looked down on, as if finding a five-letter word in six tries is not exactly Olympics material. What’s the big deal? Stop the damned bragging!

For those of us who love words and think we know a lot of them, how hard could it be to come up with a five letter word in six tries? Well, it’s hard. Often it’s not just hard, it’s near impossible, and that’s the challenge.

Thanks to that diabolical crew at Wordle, those five letters can repeat, as in ‘eerie’ or ‘sassy’. (It’s true. See photo above.) Or four of the five letters can be the same, but either the first or last letter is different. As in ‘ditch’, ‘hitch’, ‘witch’, ‘bitch’… (No, they wouldn’t use ‘bitch’. But maybe I would.)

After all this time playing and still maintaining a 99% win rate (see stats below), I’m more than a casual Wordle player. I do it first thing in the morning, with my first cup of coffee, and I take it seriously enough that I keep track of the words and how I got there. Here, for example, is the page from January 18 to the 22nd. (The boxed letters are where they belong in the word. The underlined letters are in the word but not in the right spots.)

You’ll see on the 18th that I got nothing in my first two words. Not a single letter! (Serves me right for using words with only one vowel each. That’s a big no-no in Wordle World.)

So no letters. That’s a bad thing, right? Well, not necessarily. Now I know which letters I can’t use. Ten whole letters I can’t use. It means my word is in among the remaining 16, and I’ve used up two vowels. My word almost certainly includes an O, an E, or a U, if not more than one. So I tried ‘stove’. Aagh! One letter off!

It could have been ‘stone’. It could have been ‘store’. (Note the words on the 22nd. That’s how that works.) Good thing I didn’t think of them, and thought of ‘stole’, instead. So I got it in four tries. Not bad. In fact, if you look at my stats below, you’ll see most of my wins are four-try wins. I don’t know if that’s average, but any win is a win while I’m trying to keep my 99 percent. (Wish it was still 100. Now it never will be. Forevermore a 99 percenter. Hopefully.)

Notice a few things here: I’ve only guessed it on the first try once. I’ve guessed it on the second try 40 times—And I do mean ‘guess’ in the true sense of the word. I’ve squeaked by with six tries 42 times. (I’ve only lost a few, but they’re painful so I don’t keep count.)

It says my ‘current streak’ is 17. That’s not 17 wins before a loss, it means 17 tries in a row. If I miss a day, and I have a few times, the streak counter goes back to one. I marvel that I kept a streak going 80 days in a row, but it’s nothing to brag about. It’s the words that count in Wordle.

Some of you are already bored with this, and that’s okay. It’s not for everyone, though I suspect most writers are drawn to it. Anyone who works with words would have to find it irresistible. Wouldn’t they?

Over at Facebook, many of us post our Wordle scores nearly every day. We talk about it without giving the word away, and gripe when the word is nuts— and especially when we lose. We feel a camaraderie because we’re Wordle nerds and we love it. There’s a bond there.

Who knew what an impact a simple game of trying to guess a five-letter word could make? Certainly not software engineer Josh Wardel, who invented the game as a diversion for his partner during the COVID lockdown. He sold the rights to the New York Times in 2022, marveling at the popularity but no doubt happy to be out from under the constant pressure to keep it going. (Happier still about the money, I’m guessing, purported to be in seven figures.)

Yesterday ‘Sunday Morning’ got into it, legitimizing Wordle, giving it some glory, so I’m here telling the world, “Me too!” I’m proud to be a Wordle nerd. I say that because there are those people who gripe when we post our Wordle scores, letting us know that nobody cares.

Except they do. WE do. We care. Millions of us.

Are you with us? No judgement if you’re not, but why the heck not??

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