Every couple of months, there is a new viral game that seems to take over the Internet like Fortnite, Among Us, Tetris, Minecraft, or Rocket League. Currently, Wordle is that game that everyone looks forward to playing. Wordle is simple: you have six chances to guess the day’s five-letter word. After each guess, the color of the tiles will change to show how close your guess was to the actual word. If a letter appears gray, then it is not in the word in any spot. If a letter appears yellow, then it is in the word, but not in the correct spot. If the letter is green, then it is in the word and is in the right position. The aim of the game is to figure out the secret word in the fewest amount of guesses. 

Wordle was created in October of 2021 by Welsh software engineer, Josh Wardle, according to indianexpress.com, and was bought by the New York Times Company for over $1 million dollars earlier this year. The New York Times currently releases one puzzle a day, and the publication has recently shut down several Worlde archives which were websites that allowed users to guess the previous puzzles. 

“I was sad to see the Wordle archives shut down because I really enjoyed going to that site to try my hand at the past Wordles,” said Coordinator of Academic Affairs Mr. Nicholas Crisafi. “As you know, the New York Times only releases one Wordle per day, and you’re not able to go back and play the previous ones, so the archives, even though it wasn’t a part of the New York Times, was a lot of fun because you were able to do as many as you wanted in a day.”

Students seem to enjoy playing Wordle because of the challenge that it brings and the thinking that it involves.

“I probably started playing Wordle about a month ago, and I think that it is a really fun game,” said eighth-grader Ryan Smith. “I usually start off with the word “audio” because I like to knock out a lot of the vowels at the beginning. Wordle is a great game because it makes you think, and sometimes even increases your vocabulary if the answer is a word you don’t know,” he said. 

“I started to play Wordle at the end of January when my mom showed it to me, and I usually start off with the word “shake” because it uses many popular letters,” said sixth-grader Mason Coles. “Lately, I have been playing Wordle every day after school because it helps me relax before I start my homework. I love how there is always a new word to guess every day and a new challenge,” he said.

“The reason Wordle is so fun to play is that it makes you feel good about yourself when you finish it,” said seventh-grader Ziva Garaj. “I always feel accomplished when I guess the word of the day, and I like comparing how I did with my friends and family to see how I stack up.”

Some teachers even incorporate the game into their lesson plans.

 “I’ve used the Wordle in Spanish as a warm-up in my classes, and I would love to do it more often,” said middle school Spanish teacher Mrs. Andrea Dumont. “I like to complete the Wordles in the morning when I first wake up because it gets my mind thinking and is a nice way to start the day,” she said.

“As an English teacher, I have a great appreciation for Wordle because I think it is a very clever game,” said English Department Chair Ms. Kathleen Devine. “I have only played Wordle once in my classes, but in my lesson plans for next year, I have a Wordle of a figure of speech for the students to guess at the beginning of each class,” said Devine.

“It’s a fun game because it’s quick, simple, and it only takes a couple of minutes to play, so if you have downtime during the day you can take a break, play Wordle, and have some fun,” said Crisafi.