T-E-A-R-S. That is the first word that I have typed into my phone at the start of each day for the past month and a half. I turn off my alarm and open my phone to multiple texts from friends with their completed Wordle for that day. Wordle has gone from a random lunch conversation brought up by a friend to a part of my daily routine and is honestly one of the highlights of my day. To say that I am obsessed with Wordle would be an accurate statement because I seriously refuse to go a day without it. 

   Now, here’s a little backstory about the viral browser game. The game was originally created by a software engineer in New York named Josh Wardle as a gift for his wife. The game was then released to the public in October of 2021. At the start of November, only around 100 people played Wordle each day, but by February 2022, Wordle has over 2.5 million daily users. Most people probably know how Wordle works, but for those who don’t, the game consists of six attempts to guess a 5-letter word of that given day. Any five-letter word can be used as a guess. Once you submit a word, the letters will turn certain colors. If the letter is grey, that letter isn’t in the word; if the letter turns yellow, that letter is in the word but in the incorrect position; and if the letter turns green, the letter is in the correct spot in the word. 

   After Wordle went viral, hundreds of other variations spiraled on the internet. Each day, I find myself playing the daily Nerdle, Dordle, Taylordle, Quordle, Worldle, Custom Wordle, Crosswordle, etc. There are many more variations, allowing each person to find a “____dle” they love. Others include Absurdle, Wordus, Hello Wordl, Subwaydle, and the list goes on. 

   Wordle is one of the best things to come out of 2022 so far. It’s funny how my extended family dinner conversations and lunches with friends now consist of what everyone’s starting word is for Wordle each day and what our favorite variation of the game is. Some starting words I have found that my friends use include A-D-I-E-U, S-U-I-T-E, A-R-I-S-E, T-R-A-C-E, C-R-A-T-E, and R-A-T-I-O. Each person has their reasoning on why their word is the most effective and how they came up with that word, whether they saw it on TikTok or simply like the effectiveness of the letters it includes.

   While my friends might continue to laugh at the amount of Wordle games I know of and decide to play each day, I will continue to find joy and entertainment in my favorite game.