Wordle continues popularity among students

Introduced to many by social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, Wordle has taken over the classrooms. Out of 78 students at CF, 96 percent knew what Wordle was before it was introduced to Schoology, 78 percent play the game regularly. Junior Emma Lau, who is one of those who play regularly, said her boyfriend was the one who introduced her to the viral word game. 

Wordle is a wildly popular world puzzle game that was invented by software engineer Josh Wardle. Created with his partner, Palak Shah, Wardle named the viral game with a play on his own last name. Owned and published by The New York Times, Wordle has become one of the most popular online games for all age groups. 

Lau said her favorite puzzle is the Quordale because it brings more challenges compared to the original Wordle. The Quordle is where players have to solve four words at the same time and are only provided with nine guesses total between four words.

Lau said she used to play the word puzzle at school, but she has been solving Wordle and Quordle as soon as she wakes up. “I used to play Wordle Unlimited in class, but that got boring fast,” she said. 

Although players can look up clues every day for the different puzzles, Lau said that she and her friends don’t want any clues but would rather watch others solve them for fun. Players know they have won when all of the letters turn green. “People were posting their results every day online,” she said. 

Lau considers the game addictive because you can only play it once a day. Wordle also has a streak system, so it encourages participants to play every day. 

Lau said she only does two puzzles a day because they’re the only ones she finds enjoyable and can take skill. “My friends really like the Worldle, which is just Wordle, but you guess different countries. The only reason I’m not into that one is that I don’t know geography,” she said.

Lau said she thinks Wordle is a really good strategic game that she plays right when she wakes up in order to get her brain working for the day. “It’s a good warm-up for the brain in my opinion. My friends and I compare our scores, and it’s fun to be a little competitive. The only thing is that when we fail the challenge for the day, we feel bad about ourselves, especially when everyone else gets the word right,” she said. 

Sophomore Noah LaBrie said no one specifically introduced him to Wordle but more of hearing it from peers. LaBrie said he plays the game during school, preferably during study hall. Since most of his friends don’t enjoy the game, he doesn’t compete with others as Lau does. 

LaBrie said he considers Wordle to be addictive because of the repetition of solving a different puzzle every day. Because the game presents a different puzzle each day, LaBrie said you have to keep away from burnout and make sure you focus on the puzzle each time. 

Although LaBrie said he doesn’t have a favorite puzzle, he said the hardest levels so far have been a tie between puzzles with multiple vowels and words with uncommon letters such as z, x and y. “I’m not sure why, but those really mess me up,” he said. 

LaBrie said he never looks up clues, even though they are published online each day. “I think looking it up defeats the purpose and fun of the puzzle. The feeling of triumph over a difficult puzzle and learning the words is the real prize,” he said.