Students and staff at Cherokee are obsessed with the latest internet craze, Wordle, the free online video game where creative thinkers attempt to guess the secret word of the day. The New York Times released Wordle on their game site in October 2021, but it gained traction this past month with the help of social media.
How to play
Players have six attempts to guess the Wordle. Everyday the word is random and only five letters. Finding a good starter word is crucial to the game because it determines which letters are found in the word. Yellow filled boxes represent letters that are in the word but not in that place. Green boxes mean the letter is in that spot. Dark grey indicates it’s not in the word at all; those letters will be crossed out on the keyboard, as well.
[Photo Source: The Wall Street Journal]
Though there are many different strategies, the first guess is all up to the player. Some prefer to use majority vowel words like adieu, audio and auloi. While other utilize words compiled mostly of consonants, which allows the player to eliminate as many letters as possible to make guessing the true word easier.
However, the consonant approach is usually used by people who prefer to plug in letters to form words, rather than those who aim to use their brain to figure out the word.
My strategy is to start with adieu because it has a lot of vowels. When I see which vowels are yellow and green, I then find words with those letters.
Makenzie Bird, Sophomore
The game is very similar to the classic crossword puzzle, making players feel nostalgic for the old and excited for the new features. The simplicity of a crossword puzzle combined with the one-per-day element, creates an addicting and overall compelling game.
With all the publicity Wordle received, other inspired companies, fanbases and entrepreneurs created their own form of the game such as:
- Lordle of the Rings-This alteration is for the knowledgeable Tolkien and Wordle fans. The word could be a place, character, or anything significant to the movies and novels.
- Nerdle– Instead of words, the main objective is to guess the math equation and solution. In accordance with the order of PEMDAS, players have six attempts to predict where the proper number and symbols go.
- Taylordle– This one is for the swifties out there who can’t get enough of Taylor Swift. The singer-songwriter has a Wordle created after her. The word may be a song, album, notable lyric, or people involved in her life.
It’s about strategy
Regardless of the variation, the only way to win is strategy. In the Taylordle to the right, the initial guesses were related to one of Taylor’s popular songs, and the final word was also one of her songs from a different album.
Choosing the right word is vital, but sometimes no letters are revealed in the first few guesses. Some players find this helpful because when multiple letters are eliminated it can be easier to plug in different combinations if the word is not an everyday word.
Wordle stumps some of its most intelligent players when using words like swill: a British word for cleaning something out with large amounts of water-or rupee, an Indian currency. Sometimes guessing the Wordle is all about luck, and what letters are revealed early on.
With all the new publicity, many companies and celebrities tweet about their love for the game. A few celebrities here at CHS are talking about it, as well.
It’s a fun mental exercise that is a stimulating way to start the day.
Ms. Birdwell
While teachers and students at CHS discuss the Wordle of the day, the game is making its way into everyone’s lives as the next digital magazine crossword puzzle.
THE WARRIOR WORD 