7 Facts You Don’t Know About Wordle…

At this point, most of us have played or at least heard of the game “Wordle”. The popular word game, which was released in the end of 2021, now has billions of people playing each day. While you may be familiar with the game, there are some things you may not know. Consider this a short informational piece on the game we have all come to know and love. Lastly, please share your favorite “Wordle” starting word in the comments below!

1. Name of the Game — Let’s begin with a discussion of the “name of the game”. You may be surprised to learn that the name “Wordle” is based on the surname of Josh Wardle, the game developer. Wardle is a software developer from Brooklyn, New York who put a spin on his last name for the title of the game.

2. Inspiration for the Creation — Next, let’s discuss the inspiration behind the creation for the game. Wardle was motivated to create the game for his partner, Palak Shah, who has an affinity for word games. In fact, it was costing him about $100 per month at one point just to keep the game online. For him, it was worth it. He emphasizes that this was really about creating a game for his partner and that making money was not the focus or even desire.

3. A Failed Prior Attempt — It is said that Josh Wardle actually attempted to create a game like this back in 2013. He ran the idea by some friends, but eventually decided against it. That was until he revisited the idea during the global pandemic and it was a major success in only a number of months.

4. Wardle Shares in the Mystery — Interestingly enough, not even Josh Wardle himself knows what the “Wordle” solution will be each day. His guess is just as good as ours!

5. Motivated to Monetize? — Wardle has been approached with the idea of monetizing the game or putting ads on it. He does not feel that this is in his vision for the game. He reiterates that this was not created for the purpose of making money, and he wishes to maintain this intention.

6. Share Feature — When the game was first created, there was not a component that enabled users to share their results with others. That emoji grid that we see all over Twitter and Facebook today with the grey, green, and yellow boxes was actually not even created by Wardle himself. A Twitter user named Elizabeth came up with that idea, which caught the attention of Wardle. He saw the value in it, and decided to incorporate it into the game.

7. Billions of Users — If you are a “Wordle” user, you are one of the more than 3 billion total people who play the daily game. This number has increased drastically in recent months, as it started out with only 90 players back in November of 2021. In addition, developers have created similar games that can be played in various other languages, including German, Japanese, and Portuguese. Similarly, there are now several variations of the game relating not only to words, but also music, geography, trade exports, math, and more. If this interests you, be sure to check out my piece titled “10 Best Games Like Wordle”.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this and that you learned something new! As mentioned, be sure to share your favorite “Wordle” starting word in the comments below and consider following my account. It helps a ton!

-l.a. socol