Tips for beating Wordle, the game your family can't stop playing
Two Wordle games show how different words can lead to the same winning answer. Credit: Lisa Gibbs / Beth Whitehouse
It’s the dead of winter, and the days can feel so routine. To the rescue is Wordle — a daily quest to decipher one five-letter word that is sweeping the nation.
The internet word game craze (five letter word!) has caught Long Islanders in its grip, with many players interviewed saying they pick up their smartphones first thing in the morning eager (five letter word!) to conquer the day’s challenge.
"It’s actually getting me out of bed because I’m so excited to play every day," says Laura Bratchie, 51, an office manager from East Northport. "I think we were all looking for something new and exciting in our lives. It’s become a competition between my husband and I. I have my son playing at college."
Says Mary Ellen Barrett, 55, a magazine editor from Lindenhurst: "I do it in the morning before my day really gets started. I read the paper, drink my coffee, say my prayers and do my word game."
The free game — the name rhymes with hurdle — has become so ubiquitous that a recent "Saturday Night Live" cold open featured a fictional former President Donald Trump playing, and talk show host Jimmy Fallon attempted Wordle live on his talk show. Loren Costello, 61, a retiree from Commack, saw Fallon’s effort. "I was like, ‘Dear God, everybody’s into this," she says. She says she understands why: "It’s short, it’s sweet, but it really gets you thinking."
TIPS FOR NEWBIES
Long Island Wordle players shared these tips and strategies for newbies:
- Use an opening word that has as many vowels as possible to quickly determine what vowels are in the target word. For instance, audio or arise or rates. Those words also employ common letters such as r, s and t. Gina Yankow, 46, a special-education teacher from Northport, likes to use aisle or ounce.
- If you’re stuck, use a pencil and paper to help figure out a next guess. That can help you fill in blanks and move letters around, Yankow says.
- If you’re out of ideas but still have guesses left, step away for a while and then come back to it. “If I’m struggling early on, I’ll walk away and revisit,” says Brian Bratchie, 50, of East Northport, who owns an IT business.
- If you're a newcomer and patting yourself on the back for how great you’re doing right away, put your hand back down. Most people interviewed for this story get the word within the six tries. That’s not surprising, says Bruce Torff, a professor of psychology at Hofstra University (and whose names, coincidentally, are each five letters long). “I would argue it’s not quite as challenging as we think it is,” he says. The Wordle word list of possible words is 2,315, but each guess gives a player a tremendous amount of feedback as well as eliminating which of the alphabet’s 26 letters are not in the target word, he says. “Six tries is really enough to whittle the field."
HOW IT WORKS
Players have six guesses to hit on the day’s five-letter word. Every player that day is working toward the same word — one recent example: SUGAR. Each time a player inputs a guess to his or her grid, the game gives the player feedback that either indicates that letter is not in the word at all (by registering gray), is in the word but in a different position (by lighting up gold), or in the right spot (by turning green).
Players then can post their day’s score on social media. Did it take them three guesses? Did they squeak by with six? Families, friends — they’re all competing for bragging rights as to who got the word with the fewest guesses. "A couple of teachers and I all have lunch together. The first thing we talk about is how many tries did it take you to get today’s word," says Gina Yakow, 46, of Northport.
The beauty of the game, which seems reminiscent of hangman, is that there’s only one official word per day, so it isn’t a major time commitment, many players say. "If I sat there and did 10 in a row, I wouldn’t be interested the next day," says Bratchie’s husband, Brian, 50, who owns an IT business. (Although, don’t shoot the messenger, if you Google "Wordle archive," you’ll find a way to play as many past games as you want). Players also say they’re happy the free game is not an app that they need to download — it’s online at powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/.
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPLOSION
When players share their score on Facebook or other sites, it shows up with their grid with the colored boxes — not the letters — filled in to show how may ties it took them. Social media is what fueled the fire, players say.
"I got started because I was confused by all these boxes showing up on my Facebook and Twitter feed," says Eric Dobrin, 55, a personal financial advisor from Westbury. Echoes Jeanine Malon, 51, a school greeter from East Northport who often competes with her daughter, Sophia, 14: "I was like, ‘What the heck is this?"
Malon says the game is expanding her family’s vocabulary. A recent word — KNOLL — was a tough one, Malon says. "That one just blew my mind." Sophia had to look it up to see that it means a small hill: "I’ll never use knoll in my lifetime," she predicts. Maybe it will come up on an SAT, her mom says.
Knockoffs have also sprung up. David Balsamo, 47, a school administrator from East Northport, says he’s played Queerdle, an LBGTQ version of the game. "It’s kind of naughty and fun," he says.
‘LIKE HITTING JACKPOT’
Lisa Gibbs, 52, a business analyst from Northport, says getting the word right feels like playing a Las Vegas slot machine. "It’s an ‘Oh! I won the jackpot!’ type of feeling," she says. The first time she played, she got the word in two tries. "I couldn’t believe I actually got it in two. That was the last time I got it in two, by the way."
How long does she think she’ll keep playing? She’s not sure. "I’m still playing Candy Crush, and I’ve been playing Candy Crush since 2012," she says. Wordle has proved a great escape, she says. "It’s something that kind of bonds everybody together in a nonpolitical way. I’m looking for more things like that in my life these days, to be honest with you."
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
