The daily online puzzle demands nothing of us except a few minutes of delighted concentration
Not since Words With Friends, not since Draw Something, has an online game spread with such vigour. Wordle, a short, sweet word game in which the player has six attempts to guess a five-letter word, hangman-style, is everywhere, leaving green-and-yellow-spotted grids in its wake. It was created by software developer Josh Wardle, who wanted to come up with a game that his crossword-loving partner would enjoy playing during lockdown. Then he sent it to his family WhatsApp group and then he gave it to everyone.
Like many, I fell for its charms last week. When it was released to the public in November, 90 people played it, but now hundreds of thousands are on it. I failed to get my first one – for some reason, I thought “tiler” was a better option than “tiger” – but I got the most recent in three tries.
