A Word on Wordle

I kept hearing about this “Wordle” game that people are playing on line. So I thought I’d take a look.

For those who don’t know, Wordle is a game where you are given 6 chances to guess a five-letter word. Here are the instructions you’re given:

I’ve played it now for about a week and have come to a couple of conclusions. Number one, it is ridiculously easy. Even today, when I made a massive mistake (unintentionally guessing both a letter I knew wasn’t included and guessing a letter position that I already knew was incorrect – both on the same word), I finished the puzzle in 5. So I’m fairly sure the sweet spot is 4. That’s pretty much where I land every day.

Secondly, the game lets you share results – and that’s a brilliant marketing strategy because it’s through those shared results that people hear about and play the game. But I’m left wondering – why do people keep sharing once they figure out that they’re always getting it done in four moves? For three? Maybe. Two? Absolutely. But in reality, guessing the word on either one or two is pretty much mathematically luck and not skill. It’s only later – moves three and on – where you’ve probably guessed enough letters (as well as having other letters eliminated) to start running through their combinations to come up with possible words. That’s the mentally stimulating part. Face it – there are 26 letters in the alphabet.  Six chances to combine any five of them gets ridiculously easy after you’ve guessed a couple and eliminated half (to include ‘Q,’‘Z,’ and ‘X’ pretty much without even trying). Throw in a few strategies (like the old “Wheel of Fortune” “R, S, T, L, N, E” trick), and you’re done.

So why keep playing? Well, it does exercise the brain a bit, and that’s a good thing.

But if you’re into word games with letters, I recommend one that’s a bit more challenging – the New York Times’s “Spelling Bee” – a game where you get 7 letters – one of them in the middle that has to be used in every four-letter or more word you can combine from the letters available. There will be at least one word that uses all of the letters, and that’s what I try to shoot for, because, unfortunately, you have to subscribe to the games section of the Times in order to play longer than a few minutes.  If you guess all of the easy words right away, you’ll get a “hey, you’re pretty good at this. Would you like to subscribe to keep playing?” message. But still, it gets you thinking, if only for that short time. And unlike Wordle, it gets harder as you go.

Now, I’m not “anti-Wordle.” Like I said, it stimulates the brain if it does anything, and we could really use that. I’m just wondering what more can be done with it. Right now it’s only a mini brain-teaser, but remember, this is the new age of tech. I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know – the typical “we’re gonna catch you with this cute little game” only to have it turn into some massive data-collection method that’s been running all along to figure out how much money we’re willing to spend on product “X.” If it isn’t already, I guarantee someone’s working on it. To tell you the truth, I’m absolutely shocked by its lack of advertising, banners, and click-bait (but I know it’s coming, as soon as Facebook or Google buys it).

What does it say about us though? For some reason, I’m reminded of the 1984 movie, The Last Starfighter. Those who remember it know the plot – aliens try to find and recruit fighters by seeing how well they do on a video game. But the deal there was that it took some skill, dexterity, and imagination to qualify. Have the aliens lowered the bar so far now that they’re content to take anyone who can guess a five-letter word? I think the smart move now would be to just skip earth and move on…