The app Wordle has taken the world by storm with its addicting and thought-provoking nature. In fact, some members of the Benjamin School community have caught the “Wordle Bug,” and play the game regularly.  

Wordle puts a creative twist on the classic crossword puzzle. Each day, players are given six tries to guess a different five letter word. After each guess is made, Wordle will indicate whether any of the letters used in the guess are in the day’s winning word and if they are in the correct tile. A tile lights up in green if the letter is found in the word and is in the correct spot; a yellow tile indicates that the letter appears in the word but in a different place, and a gray tile means that the guessed letter does not appear anywhere in the word. 

Wordle was initially released in October 2021 but only began to gain traction around the world once the New York Times, which hosts other games on its website, purchased the app in January 2022. Thanks to the New York Times’ advertising and to Twitter, Wordle caught on quickly amongst the public.

Some speculate, such as reporter Rachel Hall of The Guardian, that the popularity of Wordle stems from the fact that it is quite different from most of today’s games and apps. “Wordle’s popularity is thought to be partly because, in an era of apps aggressively competing for your attention and time, the game was deliberately built to be played once a day, and without features designed to promote its growth such as push notifications and email sign ups,” Hall wrote in a Jan. 11 article.

To this end, in recent months, Wordle has become a small part of the day for many at Benjamin. 

Mathematics Department Chair Mr. Mike Ruggie, for example, told The Pharcyde that one of his friends got hooked on the game and told him about it, so he decided to join in on the fun. There is also an aspect of competition to the game, as Mr. Ruggie noted that he and his friends try and one-up one another to see who can uncover the day’s word in the fewest guesses. 

Similarly, senior David Erulker has become a committed user of the app during its meteoric rise to fame. 

“I first heard about Wordle from a few friends who were talking about that day’s answer. I thought it sounded interesting, so I tried it out for myself and it was pretty fun,” said an excited Erulker. “It’s super satisfying to solve the Wordle every day,” he added.