A new online logic game has hit the Internet and taken the whole world by storm. Created by Josh Wardle as a prototype in 2013, Wordle has reached new heights over the past month, with over 300,000 people participating in the game daily.  The word game has even expanded internationally, as some countries have created their own version of the game in the local vernacular.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the game began to gain popularity in mid-November, and was also fueled heavily by tweets from The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon.  Other game developers began to play and sent it around to colleagues, which furthered exposure and popularity.  Furthermore, there was an increase in the number of participants when Wardle enabled a share feature for social media platforms such as Facebook and apps such as iMessage. 

“It is fascinating to see how fast Wordle has expanded.  I remember playing it at first when there wasn’t as much popularity, and now it is great to see everyone playing,” said junior Bryson Shaub.

The rules of the game are rather simple.  Every day, there is a different five-letter word that is to be guessed by the player.  There is a maximum of six guesses allowed daily, and if the word isn’t guessed by the sixth try, the player loses and will have to wait until the next day to play.  For every guess, each letter is color-coded either green, yellow, or gray to indicate whether the letter is included in the final word.  If a box is gray, the letter is not included in the word; if it is yellow, the letter is a part of the word but is in the wrong spot; if a box is green, the letter is included in the word and is in its correct spot. 

“I play the Wordle every morning right when I wake up, and I have found that it gets my brain going early, and it allows me to feel ready for my day.  It is a fun, enticing activity that isn’t time consuming at all,” said junior Ryan Epstein.

Not only does Wordle provide benefits in an intellectual way, but it has now become a social element for the daily life of many Americans.  Many will stay up until midnight in order to complete the game as fast as they can, and then proceed to compete with friends and family to see who solved the puzzle in the least amount of attempts.  Wordle has managed to strike a balance between friendly competition and a fun, intellectual activity.

Wordle also has made many attempts to include as many different people in the game as possible.  For example, there is a setting for those who are colorblind that switches the color of guesses from yellow and green to contrasting colors, in this case being blue and orange.  

Many fans have been hoping for more opportunities to play the word game, and their wishes have been granted.  New versions of the game are being produced across the Internet, with each one having its own unique twist in order to give fans a new experience while keeping the foundations of the game the same.  Wordle 2 is the same as the original, except the word is six letters instead of five.  Perhaps one of the more interesting iterations of the game is Quordle, in which the participant is allowed nine guesses to find four separate words.  Each guess counts for all four of the quadrants, making it significantly harder.

“It is cool to see all of the different versions of Wordle that are out there.  While I am disappointed that I can only play the original version once a day, it is nice to know that there are plenty of other options after I complete the five-letter game,” said junior Rachel Braunschweiger.

The Wordle phenomenon has taken over and is only continuing to grow.  With its recent acquisition by the New York Times, its popularity is expected to only further increase.  What the game will expand to in the future is unknown, but based on its rapid growth, there could potentially be numerous versions in just a span of weeks.