Can't Stop Playing Wordle? Science Might Be Able to Explain Why

Unpacking the psychological science behind the popular puzzle game that's taken the internet by storm.

By Alex Orlando
Feb 9, 2022 9:30 PMFeb 10, 2022 2:53 AM
Wordle
(Credit: Wachiwit/Shutterstock)

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For most of January, I tried to resist. At first, the colorful grids dominating my Twitter feed were just more visual clutter to scroll past. Soon, though, I noticed that the enigmatic squares were being shared like little badges of honor. I had to know more. As soon as I guessed my first word, I was hooked.

There’s a pretty decent chance you’ve already heard of Wordle. The online game — a puzzle that tasks players with working out a mystery word — has quickly become a viral sensation, with around 300,000 players at the start of 2022. By late January, that number had surged to nearly 3 million. It’s been deemed a “drug” and an “obsession,” and was recently bought for at least $1 million by the New York Times. Wordle’s now-iconic grid has been used in ads for Domino’s Pizza and Guinness beer alike. It’s even inspired imitators, like the cheekily-named BRDL, which asks players to guess the correct “banding code,” or four-letter nicknames for birds.

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