WebsiteCompass 9 gives you feedback like a mentor—“adieu” is by far the most common starting word. Other examples include “orate,”“media,”“audio”, “raise,” and “radio.” What’s MadeWordle So Popular? There are many reasons why people are going bonkers for Wordle: • It’s a superbly designed game. Wordle is quick and easy to play, and it rewards skill, luck, reasoning, and intuition. It doesn’t require a specialized vocabulary, so most people can get good results often and easily, and with great visual feedback. • There’s only one puzzle per day. This creates a certain level of stakes. You only get one shot at the Wordle. If you mess up, you must wait until tomorrow for a new puzzle. • Everyone is playing the same puzzle. This makes it easier to discuss Wordle with friends. You can commiserate over the difficulty of that day’s puzzle or brag a little about your success. • It’s easy to share your results. Once you’ve successfully (or unsuccessfully) completed the puzzle for the day, you’re invited to share your Wordle journey on social media. When you do, the word and letters you chose are obscured. All that’s shown is your journey toward the word in a series of yellow, green, and gray boxes. So the puzzle itself isn’t spoiled for others who haven’t yet played. If you’re ready to tryWordle, no app is needed. Simply go to nytimes.com/games/ wordle and play for free! Y If You LikeWordle, Try These Games Given the popularity of Wordle, it’s not surprising that other games were created along the same lines. While they all end in “le,” each offers a unique twist for players. Quordle (quordlegame.net) is a much harder version of Wordle, where you have to guess four words at once in nine tries. Squabble (wordlegame.org/ wordle-games/squabble) is a battle royale/Wordle mix, in which you battle a bunch of other players, all of whom are trying to win a series of Wordlestyle challenges faster than you. Waffle (wafflegame.net) combines Wordle with crossword puzzle game mechanics. Last time we checked, no butter or syrup were involved. Hurdle (hurdlegame.io) makes you guess a five-letter word within eight tries. Worldle (worldle.teuteuf.fr) is a geography-based Wordle clone that gives you six chances to guess one country or territory based on an outline of its shape alone. Heardle (heardlegame.co) is a music game that plays the first two seconds of a popular song. You then have the option of guessing the artist and title or skipping your round. T J A
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