There’s a lot of fuss lately about people sharing their Wordle results on social media.
The clever word game’s meteoric rise in popularity speaks volumes about the pace of change these days. In a matter of weeks, Wordle went from being virtually unknown to a major source of controversy over what people post on Facebook and Twitter.
Wordle players get six chances to guess a five-letter word. A new word is posted once every day and everybody gets the same word. Only words commonly used in the English language are allowed as guesses.
The game uses colored squares to show players results of their guesses. Gray squares indicate the letter is not in the word. Yellow squares mean the letter is in the word, but in the wrong place. Green squares show letters in their correct position.
Millions have embraced Wordle. People who like puzzles and games seem to admire Wordle’s elegance and simplicity. The New York Times recently bought the game from its creator, a move that expanded Wordle’s reach and popularity.
It’s a good brain teaser for problem solvers. The daily puzzle typically takes only a few minutes to solve, though there is no time limit on guesses. Many players begin their day with the satisfaction of successfully completing a fun task.
Fun is a key word here. Wordle is a game, after all. The topic deserves about as much attention as a doll or toy car. There are more serious issues in the world today, after all.
Yet we can learn a lot about each other from how we play games. Psychology, sociology and other branches of science are devoted to understanding human nature. There is value in discussing this game at this moment in history.
A key feature of Wordle is a player’s ability to share results on social media. Initially, this feature added to the enjoyable experience of the game. Since everybody gets the same word every day, it could be fun to compare and discuss results and strategy.
Some said sharing results was an integral feature of the game. People who isolated at home for two years during the pandemic could share a new common experience. There was connection and a sense of unity.
Many non-Wordle playing social media users, however, seemed annoyed by the images of boxes with gray, yellow and green squares clogging their Facebook and Twitter feeds.
Those who don’t “get” Wordle and have no interest in it can mute the keyword so their news feeds are free to be filled with posts about cats, babies and other topics. Some, however, complained about all the fuss over Wordle.
A shared experience that brought joy to many suddenly became something divisive that exposed people as Wordle players or nonplayers. At times it seemed like there was no middle ground.
I have enjoyed playing Wordle since I discovered the game a little more than a month ago. The game tracks results and tells me that as of Friday’s successful outcome, I had consecutively solved 34 puzzles. Most were in three or four attempts, which the game tells me is “Splendid!” I have yet to fail to solve a puzzle.
A few required five guesses. A couple of lucky guesses solved the puzzle in two tries, and one required all six guesses, to which the game said “Phew!”
At first, I shared results on social media. I work in the business of words, after all, and so do a lot of my connections. I liked talking about the game with fellow journalists, English teachers and other friends and family.
One day I noticed someone had green squares on their second line, and all gray squares on their third line.
“Why would someone deliberately guess wrong letters?” I wondered.
If you know a letter is green, you should stick with what you know to be correct and lock in that letter for all future guesses, I believed.
Then I discovered that some days, you can run out of guesses before you run out of letters. Suppose you correctly identified four letters of a word by your third guess and just needed one more letter. Your puzzle might look like _OUND.
Let’s say you have three remaining chances to solve the puzzle, but your remaining letters include W, P, F, H, B and M. (We’ll assume you already used S and R.)
You only have three remaining guesses, but your word could be wound, pound, found, hound, bound or mound.
You could plug in single letters and hope for the correct outcome. Or, you could guess a word like WHIMS that you know has incorrect letters but will either tell you the correct missing letter or eliminate three wrong answers.
That tactic could mean the difference between successfully solving a puzzle in six attempts or less and having a bad day because you ran of guesses.
“I was so close,” you might whine to yourself or to connections on social media.
My point is, I never would have considered the strategy of purposely using wrong letters had I not seen someone else post their results on social media.
The sharing aspect of the game made me a better player. I could have eventually figured out the tactic after losing a game. Instead, I learned from someone else.
I see that as a valuable social lesson. We learn not only from our own mistakes but also from the experiences of others.
That’s a pretty good return on the investment of spending a few moments each morning playing a free word game.
Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.