A new phenomenon has been born! From teachers to students, kids to adults, this game has taken WCHS and the entire country by storm. From “aroma,” to “moist,” to “pause,” this new word game has gained popularity every day. So are you ready to solve today’s Wordle?

“I love Wordle,” WCHS freshman Stepan Volkov said. “At first I didn’t think it would be fun because you can only play one word a day and it seemed too educational, but as I got a daily streak going on, I couldn’t stop playing.”

Wordle is a relatively new game that was recently bought by The New York Times. The way the game works is every day, there is a five letter word for the entire country to guess. Each player has six attempts to guess the word. When a letter is guessed correctly, meaning in the correct place, the letter turns green. If the letter is in the word but is not in the right space, the letter turns yellow. The player continues to use the hints to guess the word of the day, and after 24 hours, there is a new word for everyone. 

“The reason I think it’s a cool twist on games like daily crosswords is because there is a community aspect to it,” Volkov said. “Because everybody has the same word everyday, there’s almost a sense of being on a team with everyone to try to figure out what the word of the day is.”

Some people even suggested that after The New York Times bought Wordle, the words got increasingly more difficult because people were complaining how easy the words were. We’ll see if that streak continues but some people are now complaining that the game is getting too difficult for the average American.

The reason the game is so addictive is because there is something very satisfying about having a daily streak. Not playing one day can be the difference between being in the loop or not.

With Wordle, people are able to message their friends an image showing how many attempts it took and what letter spaces they got correct. This ups the competitiveness factor of the game because friends try to compete with each other to get the word correct in the least amount of tries. 

“I’ve never gotten the word in one, but I do get three and four tries a lot when I play,” Volkov said. “There is nothing more stressful than when you’re on your last guess and you’re not 100% sure what the word is. That’s why it’s important to use your guesses wisely.”

Another aspect that attracts players is that Wordle is free. Unless The New York Times implements ads or subscriptions to the game in the future, for now the game is so appealing to everyone because all that is needed is access to a phone or computer.

Other websites are catching on to the Wordle format by making similar games with different topics. One Wordle copy has the player guess the daily country (Worldle). Lewdle has its players only guess bad words. Another game quickly gaining popularity is solely math-based where the player tries to discover the correct equations (Nerdle).

“I really like the variety of games that are coming out like Worldle, because this format of a game is very addicting and entertaining,” WCHS senior Jake Michaels said. 

All in all, Wordle and The New York Times is taking over with its unique and innovative game, and both students and teachers at WCHS are all for its increased popularity.

“Wordle is the new game at school that no one expected, but everyone is playing,” Volkov said.