Dear Kids,
I am in a wordle chat group with your Mimi, Aunties Nahnah, B, and Mara, and your Uncle Matt. We share our scores with each other every day, posting little boxes of green, yellow, and gray. Three out of six. Five out of six. Five out of six. The rare two out of six.
Wordle is a game that took the Internet by storm in January.
Made by Josh Wardle, a British software engineer who has a wikipedia page now, Wordle was created to give Wardle’s puzzle-loving partner something to keep her entertained during pandemic lockdowns in 2021.
It works like this:
Out of the 12,000 five letter words in the English language, there are about 2,500 that are commonly-known.
Every day gets a new word, and the screen appears blank:
You get six tries to guess the day’s “wordle.”
For every letter you guess correctly in the right position, it will appear in a green box. Letters guessed with the correct letter and wrong placement are put in a yellow box. Incorrect letters show up in big ole dark gray.
There is only one word a day. Once you play, you have to wait for tomorrow. How beautiful is that? In a world that’s grown increasingly more addicted to screens, this is a refreshing take on doing something in moderation.
Once you guess the word correctly, the smartest part of wordle takes over: the scorecard.
Kids! This is smart because it makes you want to keep playing. Like when your mom and I tell you it’s time to go home from the park and even if you’re ready to leave, you want to stay because you know it will be going away.
The second smartest piece of wordle is how the scores are shared. In little boxes that show your guess distribution without ruining the game for others. Kids. This is so smart.
It lets other people know about the game with just enough mystery that they want to try it out. And lets you have a conversation about the game without giving it away.
Back to the family chat.
Every day without fail we share our scores. It’s a small way we stay connected, even though we are all over. The scores get posted sporadically. Your Mimi plays early, sometimes I play really late. If the word is entertaining enough, we’ll share our guesses to getting it right.
Like when the word of the day was moist. As gross to type as it is to say out loud.
I’ve broken my streak twice just by forgetting to play. The first time it happened, I woke up in a panic. My wordle!!!!!!!
These things are designed to make you want to keep playing. While the panic I felt was real, it wasn’t real. I picked right back up and kept going, a new streak to conquer.
Attention spans are short.
Usually, a game like this wouldn’t last. Especially a game that gets scooped up by a large publication like the New York Times.
But it’s not the game mechanics or the smart dopamine hits wired into the user experience that keep me coming back.
It’s the connection to my family.
The fun, light reminder that they’re doing the same thing as me. Struggling with a word that is clearly not commonly known (ahem “knoll”) or triumphing with a great first guess that sets them up for a slam dunk two out of six.
Kids, that’s what it’s all about for me: finding ways to connect with the people I care about. Even if it means playing a game that the world has moved on from.
I realize writing this means we can never stop the group chat. Or stop playing wordle. But I’m kind of okay with that?
Love,
Mom
Wordle4eva
#wordle4eva