What began as a gift for a partner in October of 2021 has now officially become a part of the New York Times Games.

In case you are unfamiliar with the popular daily word game, Wordle requires players to guess a predetermined 5 letter word in only 6 tries. Once a word is guessed, the letters will turn either green, yellow, or gray. Green indicates that the letter is in the word and in the correct spot, yellow indicates that the letter is in the word but in the wrong spot, and gray indicates that the letter is not in the word at all. The game has quickly become a viral sensation, amassing over 300,000 players in mid-January, just 2 months after it’s creation. The game is even being played here at Esperanza.

“I love going to AP Lit and trying to figure out the Wordle every day,” says senior Hazel Hagen. She and many other students in her class play the game every day and sometimes even work together to try and guess the day’s word. Wordle has created an entire community of people who spend part of their day guessing a 5 letter word. They can be found playing together from places such as in a classroom, at work, or sharing their scores on Twitter, which is also part of the reason the game has gained so much traction. 

Its creator, Josh Wardle (whose creation’s name is a witty pun on his own name), initially created the game as a gift for his partner, then released the game to the public in October. Since then it has become a part of millions of people’s daily routines, and on January 31, 2022, the New York Times announced that they have purchased the game for an undisclosed price “in the low seven figures”. 

The purchase is coming from an attempt from the Times to gain more digital subscriptions, with the hope of reaching 10 million by 2025. Wordle is now one of the many games that the Times has to offer in their portfolio, as well as offering a recipe app (Cooking) and a product recommendation site that they bought in 2016 called Wirecutter. All of this is a part of their quest to increase their digital subscriptions.

Creator Wardle is thrilled about the purchase, telling the Times that he has long admired their “approach to the quality of their games and the respect with which they treat their players”, and that “their values are aligned with mine on these matters”. The Times promises that when the game moves over to them, it will remain free to play for all players, and no changes will be made.