In a phenomenon sweeping across your Facebook timeline, the simple yet addictive game of Wordle is popping up everywhere. It is a fun, albeit simple game, with the undoubted reason for its success being the fact that we all get to play the same word, and subtly flex how we do each and every day. Some of you might remember HQ Trivia, and Wordle has managed to capture that same essence, that feeling of doing it with everyone. Instead of Scott Rogowsky we instead get little green and yellow squares. I’m one hundred percent here for it by the way, I lost actual sleep the other day trying to figure out what to submit for my final guess, but my meager streak of 22 and counting is still alive. (Dang you CYNIC!!) But by now, I am wagering we’ve all developed our own little strategy, one go-to technique for approaching the Wordle, and what other brilliant way to do a personality assessment then to have you enter a 5 letter word unprompted every day! That is the kind of data analysis even Facebook would covet. I guarantee we are months away from pick-up lines at the bar being, “hey girl what’s your Wordle opener?” So here is what your opener tells me about you. (This is better than astrology I am 100% certain.)
They play Wordle for the adrenaline rush. Wordle gives you that special feeling… the endorphins of finality, that pulling of the lotto lever. Are CLICK or RADAR actually good words to open with? No. Are you eventually going to solve it in 2 guesses? Yes. This person stays awake to get their new Wordle at 12:01 a.m. and just guesses whatever pops into their head first. They often are first to post their outrageously lucky guesses but then every once in a while they won’t post at all… because their illogically poor word-choice lead them to being 4 guesses deep and only two yellows to show for it. They are most likely to use letters already blacked out and even more likely to snap their streak (despite being desperate to build a big one). Win or lose they are playing 5 minutes MAX before it loses their attention. And they have been described as having a, “short attention span or undiagnosed ADHD” but people love their fun energy. I would advise this type of person to stay away from gambling though.
2. Whatever the Wordle was yesterday: The Streaker
If you solved yesterday’s puzzle with AROMA, you lead off with AROMA today. You enjoy the daily element of the Wordle, you are a creature of habit, one that enjoys a solid rhythm to your life. It’s not about solving as fast or as cleverly as you can, but instead challenging yourself to become better each and every day. I imagine you sit down with your coffee and morning paper, take a moment to reminisce about your crafty 4 guess solve yesterday, and begin today’s puzzle with a smile. You work a 9 – 5 and claim you genuinely enjoy it- people can count on you to come through when you are needed. But you are often afraid of change. These “streaker types” will, in the end, amass the biggest streak as they will be playing this through 2025.
ADIEU & STORY
You are a results kind of person. You use your first two guesses to gather as much information as possible. You don’t care if you hit three yellow on your first guess, if you have 10 of the 12 most used letters including all vowels identified you feel assured you are going to get it in 6. Sure you might not get it in 3 like some of those people posting on Facebook, but your streak is alive and healthy. You are constantly solving with ease and the only time you push to 6 is because you mathematically eliminated all over variances before the final guess. You are probably an accountant or an engineer, a no non-sense type. Efficient, calculating, left-brained and sharp. You also are probably not very fun at parties. I’d bet you’ve tried submitting a real word that is not allowed in the game and gotten upset.
When you BEGIN something you go ALL-IN. So yeah, YOU’VE been seeing five DIGIT WORDS in your SLEEP. You also TRIED to search YAHOO (not Google) the IDEAL START. WORDS that have a SIXTH letter BRING FEWER VALUE to your overall BEING. Somehow this game, no… SPORT has put a SHIFT on how you see the WORLD. People call you FIREY, or CRAZY, but you LONG DESIRE WISH DREAM to wear the CROWN as the QUEEN on WORDLe. (seriously it’s 6 letters?) You’ve probably convinced yourself that Candy Crush is an actually good game.
So you googled the statistically best starting word. Nothing wrong with that, sure some might call it cheep, or unfair, but facts don’t care about your 5 black squares on your first guess. Your using all the tools at your disposal to arrive at the best answer as quickly as possible. You are constantly starting group chains with your friends to analyze your round and talk about using the word MOURN on guess two and how it was a bad choice due the phonetics of the English language and the uniqueness of the vowel pattern. You haven’t lost since your 3rd game ever and swore you never would again. People enjoy your presence when your using the power for good, but when you’ve sent your 8th message by 9a.m. regarding your 3 out of 6 on AROMA your going to have to do a little soul searching about how important is the Wordle?
If your more of a math guy, I’ve been enjoying this puzzle too. It might not ever stretch you to 6 guesses– but keep it all mental math and on the HARD version and it will push most of us normies. Don’t even get me started on Quordle.
The Zen opens their app leisurely between sips of tea and looks to the world around them for inspiration. Hopefully something like LOVED or UNITY comes to mind and they open with how they feel. They have absurdly long streaks and can solve in 4 guesses every time. Never rushing, enjoying the stimulation of the game, but never feeling the intensity either. The Zen could be playing a Wordle with same energy as reading a book. People think you are more intelligent then you actually are, and you let them believe it. You are most likely to have tattoos.
The Chaotic player uses Wordle as method of self-meditation, you open your app quickly in between moments of pandemonium. At times your thinking about LUNCH and other times that dang song your kids keep singing… BRUNO. And if BRUNO isn’t a word how about just giving me some PEACE and QUIET. You’ve only tried two guesses in 18 minutes because the baby just spilled JUICE … AGAIN and you haven’t had one moment ALONE in the past MONTH. You return to your Wordle, a small place of peace for a moment of escapism. You’ve already solved the word, but you’re in no rush to be done. Your streak was broken because you didn’t look at your phone for an entire day last Wednesday. This is your one moment to yourself. You are probably a Mom, playing on the toilet. And you need a vacation.
So tell me, did I get it right? What is your Wordle opener? How’d you do today? Ever since someone told me a 4 is par, I’ve really aimed to improve my guesses and I have been getting a lot of joy from it. Lastly if you want the PERECT mix of words and math, check out this deep dive video from 3 brown 1 blue, it makes a…. decent amount of sense.
Gamenotes 