Do You Wordle?

So. Do you? Wordle? I do. Starting mid-January.

For a number of reasons, I am truly awful at word games. First, I cannot spell to save my life. (Whoever is responsible for spellcheck should be sainted, IMHO.) Second, out-of-order letters just look like out-of-order letters to me. When I play Scrabble, I endlessly stare at the tiles trying to decipher the (to me) usually indecipherable. Rarely can I make sense of a crossword puzzle. The word jumble in each day’s newspaper. Forget about it.

But, Wordle I can do. Even I can usually spell a five-letter word. And, shockingly, I am pretty good at Wordle—which is probably why I continue to play.

As a designer, I appreciate Wordle’s nice, clean, simple design. No ads. No fluff. No extraneous garbage. Just a nice, uncluttered web page with easy-to-follow instructions. Green letters are in the correct spot. Yellow ones are in the answer, just in a different position. Grey ones. Not used. (There is even a color blind mode just in case you need it.) How easy and elegant is that?

On January 31st, The New York Times announced it had purchased Wordle. The company said in a statement that “at the time it moves to The New York Times, Wordle will be free to play for new and existing players, and no changes will be made to its gameplay.”

Please, let this be so. 2022 might not have a lot going for it so far (hello, omicron). But, we have Wordle. Wordle makes me feel happy (and smart) for a few minutes each day, and (as my dad used to say) that is not half bad.