TECH BYTE: Wordle

If you haven’t heard of Wordle, you’ve at least seen other people playing it while scrolling through Facebook or Twitter. Not only is it fun to say, but it’s fun to play too. So fun, many users call it addicting. But at least it’s not a video game, right? It can be…educational! Software engineer Josh Wardle told the New York Times he came up with the idea for his partner who loves word games. It’s based off his name.

So how does Wordle work? The goal is to guess a hidden five letter word. You get six tries, and hit the enter button to submit your guesses. Each time you guess, the tiles will show different colors, so you can see how close you are to guessing the correct word. A green tile means that particular letter is in the word, and in the correct spot. A gold tile means that letter is in the word, but in the wrong spot. A gray tile means the letter isn’t in the word at all. Trust me, as fun as this game can be, it can get frustrating fast. There’s a new puzzle each day, so if you struggle one day, you might have better luck another time. Some words are obviously harder to solve than others, but for the most part, it shouldn’t take up too much of your time to play.

You can also share how well – or poorly – you played on your social media. It’s always fun to see how you do compared to your friends. If you like Wheel of Fortune, Scrabble, or playing Words with Friends on your phone, this game is for you. There’s no app for it yet, so you’ll have to play it in a semi-old school way – on a website. Just Google “Wordle.” The site is the first one listed.

Good luck, and try not to cheat!