Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Jun 01, 2025

The deceptively simple secret to Wordle's social media domination

The deceptively simple secret to Wordle's social media domination

How Josh Wardle's 30 boxes became a social media phenomenon.

Wordle! One word, five letters, six tries, once a day. If you’re on Facebook, Twitter or really any kind of social media, you’ve almost certainly seen these white, yellow and green boxed letters, almost always posted without commentary. For a game, the rules are simple enough to understand. But that simplicity disguises a surprisingly stimulating exercise: Letter elimination is as important as (and sometimes more than) actual correct guesses. And it’s one of 2022’s hottest fads.

The game is available free on a website (there is no app to download). There are imitators who tried to make monetized versions to sell on Apple and Google Play. (They were shut down after thousands reported them.) There are unofficial spinoffs like Absurdle and math editions like Primel. It’s already a meme on social media. Twitter even had to go so far as to ban The Wordlinator, a bot that figured out the (actually quite simple) code and threatened to spoil the fun.

But what is it about this simple black screen with 30 empty boxes that has enticed millions of players globally?

Perhaps it’s the color block motif that provides a letter-less way of sharing your results. (Josh Wardle, the inventor, released the game back in October, but it didn’t go viral until he added that update, inspired by one of the game’s users.) This letter-less way of posting your results allows people to talk about the game without spoiling it for others — only people who have played the game that day understand what they’re looking at. It’s speaking in a code that only other players can understand, a universal language of white, yellow and green.


That universality (at least for English speakers) is key. As we round into Year Three of the pandemic, we have become desperate for communal experiences. The media landscape splintered long ago, with the proliferations of cable channels and then streaming services and the siloing of radio stations. And now millions of us work from home, without even casual interactions at the water cooler to sustain our social appetites. Throw in dozens of news sources insisting we are all further apart in values than ever before, and it starts to feel mighty lonely staring at a blue screen all day.

Perhaps it's how easy it is to join in. It’s like the sourdough starter craze in April 2020, without the homebound connotations. It doesn't take a genius to play, it's not complex like a crossword, and it makes us feel safely together even as we're upping our mask games and testing ourselves at every cough. Is posting a small block of colored emojis actually being social? We’ll take it.

In the Discord channel where I post my daily results over breakfast, there are people who proudly discuss their strategies and how to pick popular consonants. Is using “ADIEU” (which sorts most of the vowels in one go) better than “TEARS” (which contains some of the most popular letters in English) or “HORNS” (which hits a lot of popular two-consonant combos)? Then there are people who insist “vibes” should guide you — the words you “feel” in the moment. Everyone can agree that double letters are a typographical abomination, while the Brits, the Canadians, the Australians and the New Zealanders grump about our Americanized spellings.

But most of all, Wordle feels like the perfect game for a collective, and perhaps global, sense of burnout. So many of us simply don’t have the time or the energy to pour into a new hobby as we wait for the dreaded announcement that schools are closed once again or that plans have been dashed at the last minute because of positive cases. After all, it's only once a day, and then you forget all about it until tomorrow. It's not an endless road, like “Two Dots,” or a money suck, like “Candy Crush.” It’s just all of us, playing the same word, in our homes, on our phones, trying to best ourselves and our scores as much as we are one another. No matter who you are, every Wordle player can agree that the word “KNOLL” is outrageous. And if you didn’t succeed in six tries this time? Don’t fret! There will be another fresh puzzle again tomorrow.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
EU Central Bank Pushes to Replace US Dollar with Euro as World’s Main Currency
European and Arab Ministers Convene in Madrid to Address Gaza Conflict
U.S. Health Secretary Ends Select COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations
Trump Warns Putin Is 'Playing with Fire' Amid Escalating Ukraine Conflict
India and Pakistan Engage Trump-Linked Lobbyists to Influence U.S. Policy
U.S. Halts New Student Visa Interviews Amid Enhanced Security Measures
Trump Administration Cancels $100 Million in Federal Contracts with Harvard
SpaceX Starship Test Flight Ends in Failure, Mars Mission Timeline Uncertain
King Charles Affirms Canadian Sovereignty Amid U.S. Statehood Pressure
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Founder Warns Against Trusting Regime in Nuclear Talks
UAE Offers Free ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions to Citizens
Lebanon Initiates Plan to Disarm Palestinian Factions
Iran and U.S. Make Limited Progress in Nuclear Talks
The Daily Debate: The Fall of the Dollar — Strategic Reset or Economic Self-Destruction?
Trump Administration's Tariff Policies and Dollar Strategy Spark Global Economic Debate
OpenAI Acquires Jony Ive’s Startup for $6.5 Billion to Build a Revolutionary “Third Core Device”
Turkey Weighs Citizens in Public as Erdoğan Launches National Slimming Campaign
Saudi-Spanish Business Forum Commences in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia and Spain Sign MoU to Boost SME Sectors
UK Suspends Trade Talks with Israel Amid Gaza Offensive
Iran and U.S. Set for Fifth Round of Nuclear Talks Amid Rising Tensions
Russia Expands Military Presence Near Finland Amid Rising Tensions
Indian Scholar Arrested in Crackdown Over Pakistan Conflict Commentary
Israel Eases Gaza Blockade Amid Internal Dispute Over Military Strategy
President Biden’s announcement of advanced prostate cancer sparked public sympathy—but behind closed doors, Democrats are in panic
A Chinese company made solar tiles that look way nicer than regular panels!
Indian jet shootdown: the all-robot legion behind China’s PL-15E missiles
The Chinese Dragon: The True Winner in the India-Pakistan Clash
Australia's Venomous Creatures Contribute to Life-Saving Antivenom Programme
The Spanish Were Right: Long Working Hours Harm Brain Function
Did Former FBI Director Call for Violence Against Trump? Instagram Post Sparks Uproar
US and UAE Partner to Develop Massive AI Data Center Complex
Apple's $95 Million Siri Settlement: Eligible Users Have Until July 2 to File Claims
US and UAE Reach Preliminary Agreement on Nvidia AI Chip Imports
President Trump and Elon Musk Welcomed by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim with Cybertruck Convoy
Strong Warning Issued: Do Not Use General Chatbots for Medical, Legal, or Educational Guidance
Saudi Arabia Emerges as Global Tech Magnet with U.S. Backing and Trump’s Visit
This was President's departure from Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince personally escorted him back to the airport.
NVIDIA and Saudi Arabia Launch Strategic Partnership to Establish AI Centers
Trump Meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara in Historic Encounter
Trump takes a blow torch to the neocons and interventionists while speaking to the Saudis
US and Saudi Arabia Sign Landmark Agreements Across Multiple Sectors
Why Saudi Arabia Rolled Out a Purple Carpet for Donald Trump Instead of Red
Elon Musk Joins Trump Meeting in Saudi Arabia
Trump says it would be 'stupid' not to accept gift of Qatari plane
Quantum Computing Threatens Bitcoin Security
Michael Jordan to Serve as Analyst for NBA Games
×