Wordle, the word game that conquered Internet users

It is impossible to miss on social networks. For the past two weeks, mysterious messages made up of black, yellow and green boxes have been infesting the news feeds.

Behind these sensational publications hide the phenomenon of the beginning of the year: Word. Starting at 80,000 players per day in November, this game has climbed to 300,000 in early January and is now close to 3 million.

However, nothing was destined for this project to become widespread. Word Designed in 2021 Created by computer scientist Josh Wardle to the amusement of his wife, a fan of word games the The New York Times. Its mechanics remind us of the game show a movementAnd which was broadcast almost 30 years ago on France 2. player Word Six attempts to guess a five letter word. The game indicates which characters are well placed and which are not.

Word It has nothing in common with current mobile games. Rather, it is its opposite. This is not an app: The game is hosted on a personal website by Josh Wardle. It doesn’t display ads, doesn’t include paid options, and doesn’t try to grab the player’s attention with fill metrics, diamonds to win, and notifications. And there is only one word to guess per day, and it is one word for all players. “You’ve done all the wrong things if you’re looking to grow. It is these choices that make the game so popular.“,” The developer at TechCrunch asks.

Josh Wardle shared his game with his British family and American friends. By word of mouth, the site reaches a journalist from The New York Times, which he mentioned in a newsletter in November. The machine is racing. But it is the sharing function on social networks that will really push the game. The mysterious squares represent a grid Word Completed by the internet user but without the words. Thus he can brag about his performance without revealing the solution to the mystery of the day. This intriguing format prompted other netizens to learn about Wordle and test the game.

French versions

The phenomenon arrived in France, but with a serious disability: Word It is in English. for “Provides a solution for those who want to play in French‘, Louan Bengmah, 21, posted on Monday On his personal website Le Mot. «I have Twitch channel As I talk about web development, I thought it was a good little project to live with in my communityWhich helped him for two days. “It wouldn’t have been so fast without her, the weather was good.»

Luan star, respect the soul Word By not seeking income word «for ethical reasons. Respect the work of others Josh Wardle had a great idea, his site is simple, and sharing the results on social media with colorful emojis is great. Everything is really perfect.The developer has not installed a tracker to measure the number of visitors, but he relies on his Twitter account Tweet embed To measure the popularity of his project posted online on Monday. The number of its subscribers reached 2,100 on Friday, compared to 1,500 on Thursday.

Jonathan Magano, 30 years old, Put online on January 8 Sutom game. «Wordle is inspired by the game show Lingo, which for us became Motus. The concept has evolved over time and the rules have become more and more complex. I decided to take them back‘, he explains. The words being searched are longer – 6 to 9 letters – and the first letter is superimposed.But I removed the time limit, explains the developer.

The color code is similar to the TV game code. “We say it doesn’t make sense for the characters to be well placed in red, but that’s what it was like in MotusHe laughs. At the request of players, Jonathan Magano will soon add sound effects similar to those of the TV show. “I would also like to add The black ball , but I don’t know yet.

Opportunistic copies have been removed from the AppStore

Sotom It has been spotted by Twitch personalities and is growing in popularity day by day, with more than 30,000 visits on the site as of Wednesday. Again, the game is not cash. “I coded this in a few hours for fun and didn’t make up anything”, explains this web developer. “I know people will be willing to pay to be able to make a second network every day. But frustration is part of this game, and above all I am a librarian. Sutom’s source code is online, and people can get it.»

Others had no scruples. Earlier this week, copies of Wordle’s app stores were flooded with $30 ads or options to play as many puzzles as you like each day. Apple has finally taken strict action and removed these opportunistic clones from the AppStore. For his part, investors called Josh Wardle. But he wants to keep calm. “I don’t want Wordle to become a full-time job, he explains to TechCrunch.It was just a game for me and my girlfriend.»