“Have you done the Wordle today?” 

 “How many tries did it take you?”  

“I got it in two!” 

The word “Wordle” is passed among students, teachers, families, and friends, but what does it mean? 

Wordle is a once-a-day online game released in October of 2021 but originally developed in 2013. As a play on his last name, the creator Josh Wardle titled the game “Wordle.” It was originally created as a game for just him and a partner who loved word games, but when others found interest in it, he considered doing more, according to Upworthy.com. 

Wordle challenges the player to figure out a five-letter word in six or fewer guesses. Certain colors mean different things: If the letter is in the correct place, it will show up in green. If a letter is in the word but not in the correct place, it will appear in yellow. A guessed letter will show as gray if it is not in the word at all.  

This game rapidly became popular all around the world. It’s intended to make you think for just a little bit of time out of your day, but not too much. Since it is playable only once a day, it leaves people wanting to play again, causing them to come back the next day. 

People have found a variety of ways to get to the game. From a survey sent out to AHS, the most common ways to hear about it were through social media (34.7%), friends (32.7%), or teachers (18.4%). Others found the game via advertisements in other games, or just people within their surroundings. Freshman Audrianna Bayona said, “I heard about it from a friend of mine who had started playing, and she said she liked it and that I should give it a try.” From that moment on, Bayona has played every day.

Wordle is a fun, addictive game that doesn’t have you playing just once. It continues to make you want to play every day. “I think I have been playing Wordle every day for the past three months. I definitely have not missed a day since I started playing,” said Randall Simpson, an English teacher here at AHS who has shown many people this fun new game. “I have shown the game to my parents. They both play. I also showed it to my students. I have no idea how many of my students play Wordle, but it’s a lot. The other day, during 1st period, so many of my students were playing Wordle that I didn’t start class until around 10 minutes after the bell. I think it’s cool that students are playing a language game and learning, even if they don’t realize it.” 

Wordle, however, has its frustrations. Occasionally, there is a double letter, meaning you use it twice. You have to figure that out on your own. “The one thing that can frustrate me about Wordle is when there are two many consonant possibilities. For example,  if you have  _RAVE, there are too many word possibilities, like GRAVE, BRAVE, CRAVE. It makes it less a game of skill and more of a guessing game,” said Simpson. 

Yet the good definitely outweighs the bad. Junior Ethan Steffens said, “I like how it keeps you on your toes and it’s something new that I’ve never seen before.” 

Garrett McLaren, a senior, said he likes that it “Strengthens vocab and makes you think in a different way.” Also, of course, it’s a fun game overall. 

“It’s honestly just addicting,” said sophomore Alex Sonntag. The game also makes for a bit of a competition to see who can get it in the least amount of tries. 

“Everyone in the English department competes against each other,” said Simpson. Miss Rhodes, a study hall teacher, said she likes that it’s “keeping my streak of wins.”

However, the fun doesn’t stop there. Since Wordle, many others have made similar games. Some that the students of AHS play are Mathler, Globle, Nerdle, Worldle, and more.

So as this game progressively becomes more and more popular, the students here continue to play it each and every day. These new words have created a space for fun learning within our community. Have you done the Wordle today?