This Daily Word Game Is Taking Over The Internet

You may have noticed that a simple, free-to-play word game has been taking Twitter by storm. Social media users are eating up word-guessing title "Wordle," and they don't seem keen on stopping anytime soon, at least if the game's popularity on social media is any indication.

As was the case with many word games before it, the mechanics of "Wordle" are invitingly simple. Every day, there's a new five-letter word for players to guess in up to six attempts. After typing a guess, the game lets players know how close to victory they are with green, yellow, and gray boxes. Green means a letter is correct, while yellow means the letter is present elsewhere in the word, and gray denotes a wrong guess.

Though "Wordle" is simple enough once one gets to know its rules, those who don't know them (or about the game at all) may be confused to see a bunch of color-coded squares popping up on Twitter. These posts are the result of spoiler-free system for sharing your score, which was created by a player named Elizabeth. Though "Wordle" has been out nearly 7 months, it seems the game's growing popularity in recent weeks has a lot to do with this new feature. But who is the mastermind behind the game itself?

As if "Wordle" isn't already charming enough, the fact that it was created by someone named Josh Wardle might make it even better. Wardle is best known for two of his prior projects. The Button was a 2015 social experiment that allowed users to reset a 60-second timer by clicking "the button" in question. The mysterious project gained a cult following of pressers and non-pressers alike, many of whom spun plenty of interesting theories along the way. In 2017, Wardle created Place, an open canvas where people had to fight for their designs to make the cut. Wardle currently works at Reddit, so it's no surprise he's so in touch with social media as a software engineer, product manager, and artist.

In addition to his fans, Wardle has his brother Tim cheering him on for his unique approach to gaming success. As the "Wordle" creator's sibling explained in a tweet,"he decided NOT to do all the things you're supposed to do to make a viral hit – like allowing people to play for hours or putting a hyperlink in the sharing function. It works because it's atypical." Sometimes, brevity and simplicity are enough to launch a game into the spotlight.

It seems like just yesterday everyone was playing "Doom" on Twitter, so there's no saying how long this trend will last. As long as it does, players can get started to earn bragging rights and level up their stats. And if you can't get enough, an unlimited version of the game may satiate the most word-hungry players between "Wordle" refreshes.