Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
You might have heard of the word game Wordle, or maybe you have even tried the game yourself. And if you haven’t, you have definitely seen the little coloured squares on social media feeds. The online puzzle has become so popular that some players cannot go a day without it!
When Wordle first launched, only 90 people played it. Within two months however, that number grew to 300,000. Social media users – especially celebrities – helped grow the popularity of the game.
How do you play it?
Wordle is a very simple game. That may be why its popularity spread so quickly and widely. Compared to many other computer games, the design is also very simple. It contains just 30 empty squares appearing under the name “WORDLE.”
Players get six chances to guess a five-letter word that has been chosen by the game for that day. The goal is to guess the word in the least number of tries.
To start, players enter a real word. Then, the letters turn different colors to provide the player with clues. A green letter means the letter is in the word and is in the right position. Yellow means the letter appears in the word but is in the wrong place. A gray letter means it does not appear in the word at all.
The game is web-based so users do not need to download it. It is also free to play. Users can play the game once per day.
Simple enough, right?
Wordle was created by Josh Wardle, a New York software engineer. He first made it for his partner, who likes playing word games like crossword puzzles. But he decided to release it publicly in October.
The game immediately took off!
It became so successful that the New York Times recently bought the game from Wardle. This drew criticism from some fans on social media, as they feared that the newspaper would not keep the game free for users. The Times currently requires users to pay for a subscription to read news content on its website. It also offers unlimited online game play for USD1.25 a week.
In a statement the American tabloid said, “At the time it moves to The New York Times, Wordle will be free to play for new and existing players, and no charges will be made to its gameplay.”
The game is so popular that Malaysians took it into their own hands to localise the game
A Bahasa Malaysia version of the game, called Katapat (a portmanteau of “kata” and “tepat”), was released on Jan 22 and garnered over 2,500 users in just three days.
The puzzle kind of looks like a ketupat if users guess the words correctly in a few tries, which is a pretty neat detail.
Creator of Katapat Eugene Low, a 32-year-old app developer from Selangor, developed the game by reproducing Wordle’s code. He says the game would not have been possible without the help of his friends and family, who came up with the name, logo, Malay word list and translations so that Low could bring the game to fruition.
“It’s just nice to have a version closer to home while being carried by the hype of the Wordle. It’s nice to see everyone enjoying it as much as I enjoyed putting it together with my friends,” says Low.
Language experts are even in on it!
As Wordle has grown, so has the number of experts offering advice for the best ways to play the game. One language expert, David Sidhu, recently gave his opinion on the best words to start a game with. Sidhu listed the most common letters from English words: a, r, o, i, and s.
On the other end of the spectrum, Twitter and TikTok users have suggested the starting words: “clout” or “weird”.
Ultimately, it’s all just good fun – and it only takes a few minutes to play
The buzz surrounding the game may be down to its current social media hype, with users sharing their daily Wordle results on Twitter, Facebook or with their friends.
It’s something that requires you to spend a mere three minutes a day on it. And that’s it – it doesn’t want any more of your time than that.
For more stories like this, read: Malaysians Share Stories About Their Favourite And Least Favourite School Teachers and Malaysian Girls, Here’s 5 Reasons Why Dating a Gamer Isn’t so Bad.
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