Abigail Yarrison ’24, Editor-in-Chief
A daily puzzle. Five letters. Six guesses.
Blowing up on the internet is the newest sensation, Wordle. Created by software engineer Josh Wardle for his partner, the game has gained over 2 million daily players since it was sold to The New York Times in October 2021. It really started gaining traction when The Times added a spoiler-free share element to the game. Twitter has become filled with Wordle fans boasting a row of five green boxes.
From Scrabble in 1933 to Word Cookies in 2016, word games have always been popular. Often today’s online word games are littered with ads and elements that need to be paid for. Wordle, however, is different. “It is important to me that, as Wordle grows, it continues to provide a great experience to everyone,” Wardle said. When he sold the game to The New York Times, he advocated that Wordle should stay free and without ads.
One puzzle a day is great, but Wordle fans needed more. Introducing Lewdle, Dordle, Crosswordle, Nerdle, Taylordle, and Lordle the Rings the family of free knock-off, but equally entertaining, Wordle games.
- Lewdle. Lewd Wordle. This game’s dictionary is all bad words. The creators Gary Whitta, Leah Whitta, and Adam Nickerson make it clear that however inappropriate, slurs were not included.
2. Dordle, created by Guilherme Tows, this game is, as Tows describes it, “wordle plus wordle.” The game is doubly challenging, as you must solve two five-letter words at once!
3. Crosswordle starts at the bottom and works its way up, ending at the first row. The catch is that letters in each row relate to the row below (using the typical green, yellow, and gray squares). Crosswordle was created by Reddit user “ymichael” and proves to be extra tricky.
Source: Mint Lounge
4. Nerdle takes a completely new spin on Wordle. Richard Mann, the creator, says it is Wordle for math fans. Nerdle replaces words with numbers and equation symbols, and the goal is to create a math equation in under six tries.
5. Taylordle, by the Holy Swift Podcast, is the classic Wordle, but with Taylor Swift songs and albums. This version has become very popular with the Swiftie fans.
6. Lordle the Rings was built using Vue Wordle, an open-source JavaScript framework, and is a Tolkien-based Wordle game. The game’s dictionary includes five letter names and places from the original Lord of the Rings books, but also accepts any “normal” word in the book as well.
I have tried all these games and I find Lordle the Rings to be my favorite (although I may be a little biased as I am a huge Tolkien fan). Crosswordle and Dordle are definitely the hardest to get the hang off, but if you want a challenging word puzzle, they are perfect. I didn’t do too well on the Taylordle, but if you enjoy her music, give it a shot!
