Since launching back in October 2021, Wordle has quickly become the go-to game for hundreds of thousands of eager players around the world.
The daily word game gives players six attempts to guess a five-letter word, with feedback given after each guess in the form of coloured tiles – green indicating a letter is correct and in the right position, and yellow indicating a letter is correct but in the wrong position.
While an estimated 300,000 people play the game daily, many are unaware of a secret ‘hard mode’.
Activating this mode means that ‘any revealed hints must be used in subsequent guesses’.
Contrary to its name, many users have pointed out that this might actually make playing the game easier.
Since launching back in October 2021, Wordle has quickly become the go-to game for hundreds of thousands of eager players around the world
Wordle’s Hard Mode can be toggled on via the Settings, which can be found by tapping or clicking on the cog icon in the top right of the screen
Wordle’s Hard Mode can be toggled on via the Settings, which can be found by tapping or clicking on the cog icon in the top right of the screen.
Activating it essentially means that players cannot put in a word with a completely different set of letters in order to uncover more letters.
If any green or yellow letters show up, they must be chosen in the next guess.
This is a tactic that many Wordle players have already been using, and can actually make it easier to complete the game.
Taking to Twitter, one user said: ‘I think I’ve actually gotten better at Wordle since switching to Hard Mode?
‘Has anyone else found this to be true? Maybe some of the strategies it’s made me abandon were actually getting in my way.’
Another added: ‘Torn between desire to turn off Wordle’s “hard” mode, because it’s actually a lot easier than regular mode and therefore less satisfying, and the fact I like winning.’
And one joked: ‘Just found out Wordle has a hard mode. So you mean to tell me I’ve been fighting for my life on an easier version?!’
Taking to Twitter, many users claimed that playing with Hard Mode activated actually makes the game easier
Wordle was created by Wales-born software engineer Josh Wardle for his girlfriend Palak Shah, who loves word puzzles.
At the beginning of November, the simple game had only 90 players; now there are said to be at least 300,000 a day.
Due to its success, Wardle sold his creation to the NYT at the end of January for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
The transfer to the NYT platform caused uproar among players, who found that their winning streaks were reset to zero, and claimed that words were harder.
NYT said: ‘We are updating the word list over time to remove obscure words to keep the puzzle accessible to more people, as well as insensitive or offensive words.
‘To ensure your game is in sync with the updated version, you should refresh the website where you play Wordle.
‘We have not made any changes to the basic functionality or rules of the game. We are committed to continuing what makes the game great.’
