Word of the Day: The ‘CRAZE’ for Wordle

The goal is to go all green.  A new daily word game, Wordle, has taken over screens, giving users six attempts per day to guess the five-letter word given to all players alike.  With everybody around the globe trying to decipher the same word, it’s no wonder why Wordle has become a rapid sensation.

Whether it’s played during an afternoon tea break or after filtering through a pile of homework, Wordle requires the perfect amount of time for decoding and problem-solving. Senior Alyssa Daproza, with her photo gallery of each word of the day, acknowledges just how popular this site has become: “It’s like a game but at the same time, it’s kind of educational because you get to expand your vocabulary,” she stated. “You only have one word a day, so it’s not like you can overdo it and do multiple a day– you have something to look forward to every single day.” 

Although the stakes are low, there’s no game without some competition! Centennial English teacher Kristin Lavender enjoys her fair share of rivalry: “I play against my sister, so as soon as I solve it, I have to send her my results and then I have to see if she can beat me that day,” Lavender explained. It’s quite easy to share the Wordle results: the actual words remain concealed, but players are able to send how many guesses they had and how they eventually arrived at the correct word. Although the game is played individually and away from peering gazes, its interactiveness contributes to its popularity. While everyone is trying to solve the same problem, the steps to get there differ–with a myriad of five-letter words to pull from the vocabulary box, it’s always intriguing to see how players finally end up at one destination. 

Some players have a simple strategy to ensure their winning streak stays alive: start with a lot of vowels. “One word I usually start with is ‘Adieu,’” Daproza mentioned. “Another one I use is ‘Point’ because of the common letters in it. But my strategy after that is, you know, use the vowels to try and crack the word.” 

Lavender tackles the daily puzzle from a similar standpoint: “My first word is usually ‘Reach,’ because I have vowels and I have a consonant cluster– the c and the h and the r usually give me an idea of what I’m working with.” 

Six guesses are typically more than enough to watch all the letters happily flip to green.  The game presents its fair share of clues: alongside the green, gray tiles signify that none of the letters show up in the word, while yellow indicates that the letter is present but misplaced. Neither Daproza nor Lavender have lost yet! 

“I have always gotten it within four tries. I’ve never had to go to all six. If I get it in four, I’m disappointed in myself,” stated Lavender. 

Some words are definitely more difficult than others–players aren’t aware if letters repeat, so words with double consonants in particular may be a bit jarring for players; Lavender and Daproza listed ‘Knoll’ and ‘Abbey’ as some of the most mind boggling words to solve. 

Perhaps Wordle wouldn’t be such a sensation if it weren’t for the one word cutoff. The game adds a perfect amount of leisure time and problem-solving, like a brief brain break before approaching the daily workload. 

“I do tend to have a more addictive personality, so I’d want to continue to play and that’ll take me away from what I really need to focus on,” Lavender admitted. “So knowing that I have that and it’s only one time a day, there’s something intriguing about that to me.”

“There is a Wordle archive where people can do the past words of the day,” mentioned Daproza. “But it’s kind of fun to just do it once a day because it’s like a little routine.” Unlike binging a popular Netflix show and losing track of time completely, Wordle balances brain-wracking and lighthearted fun to leave players waiting in anticipation for midnight. 

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