What is Wordle? The new viral word game delighting the internet

If you’ve noticed lots of posts on Twitter containing a bunch of coloured boxes, then you have come across the latest word game sweeping (portions of) the internet: a pleasant little brainteaser named Wordle.

What is Wordle and how do I play?

Simply put, Wordle is a free word-guessing game available online: guess the five-letter word in six tries or fewer. Wordle explains its rules in a handy pop-up the first time you load the game, but it’s all fairly straightforward: if the letter from your guess isn’t in the target word, that letter will turn grey. If is in the word but not in the right position, it’ll turn yellow. If it’s in the word and in the right place, it will turn a nice shade of green. You have six goes to get it right – and if you get it right in one go, that’s weird/basically impossible.

There is only one puzzle available a day for everyone – sort of like a newspaper’s crossword or sudoku – so once you’ve finished the puzzle, you have to wait for the next.

Sounds simple. Why is it so popular?

Everyone is guessing the same word, and thus competing against each other each day – the reason it’s so popular is that you can easily share your results (the occasional bug notwithstanding):

Above, you can see how many guesses I took, which letters I got wrong and right, and even reverse-engineer how I arrived at the answer. Crucially, the results are spoiler-free; it tells you how I went without actually giving the solution. It’s also a bit of a knowing in-joke for those already playing, while outsiders ask “what’s with all the box emoji?”

It’s quick to play, easily shareable, and sparks conversations online about the solution – and how well everyone did.

Who made it?

Wordle is a project from Josh Wardle, an engineer at Reddit, who has (as Mark Serrels recalls for CNET) created some interesting experiments before – including the platform’s Button and Place. Wordle originally launched in mid-October, and only really started becoming popular last week after Wardle added the ability to share results.

Now everyone is playing it – and you can have a go too.