Word-game lovers in the kingdom have joined millions of people around the world in playing a popular online-puzzle that is stimulating, frustrating and fun, as well as creating an Internet sensation.
Wordle, which bears some resemblance to colour-coded breaking board games like Mastermind, is a free web-based game that has caught the attention of global media channels trying to work out its sudden popularity.
It gives users six tries to guess a new, mystery five-letter word, every day, through the power of deduction…and players like GDN intern, Hussain Aref Yaqoob, enjoys the challenge.
Random
“I came across the game on my Twitter feed around two weeks ago when people where posting random Tweets of coloured bricks,” said the Hamad Town resident. “It did not make much sense to me, hence why I looked it up out of curiosity.”
Wordle is the brainchild of Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle and it was originally created for his partner Palak Shah who loves crosswords, spelling games and puzzles too.
It was released to the world in October last year, with 90 people playing on November 1, followed by millions taking on the challenge by the end of the first week of the New Year.
A new puzzle is released every day at midnight and each time a word is guessed, the letters will turn green, yellow or grey to indicate if it is in the correct spot.
Green means the letter is in the right position, yellow means the letter appears somewhere in the word but not in the current position and grey means the letter isn’t in the word at all.
The brainteaser quickly captured the hearts and minds of people of all ages and nationalities all over social media and recently made headlines in major newspapers such as The New York Times and The Scotsman.
Mr Wardle even told The New York Times that he ‘thinks people kind of appreciate that there’s this thing online that’s just fun and it’s something that encourages you to spend three minutes a day and that’s it’.
According to The Scotsman, ‘the buzz around the game has much to do with its current hype on social media, with many users choosing to share their daily Wordle results on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, as well as with friends’.
That is why Mr Aref, who has been a fan of puzzle games like Hangman for years, likes it. “The reasons I enjoy this specific game is that the word is globally shared,” said our 24-year-old Bahraini journalism trainee candidate who’s highest score so far has been guessing the word in three tries. “There is a nice sense of challenge to compete against everyone and see where we each got our guesses right and when, especially with the identifying coloured pattern that you can easily post in nearly any of your social media apps.
“I will not say it’s addictive, but it is a thing to mess with if you want to pass the time over breakfast. Especially as your mind squishes hundreds and hundreds of words to figure out the answer.”
Mr Aref’s strategy is to always start with the word AUDIO. “It covers four vowels, leaving only the letter ‘E’ out,” he explained. “It instantly sets the pace for the rest of the game for me. It is in that mental exercise of running through words, especially when you get three letters right and you are trying to figure what word in the English dictionary contains all three letters, that makes this game quite a fun past time.”
New Indian School student Avanti Suresh, 16, from Hoora, hopped onto the challenge this month, with her best being finding the word in four tries. “It’s challenging,” said the teen. “My father introduced me to it and I find it very stimulating.”
Ms Ramkumar
Meanwhile, cruciverbalist Sowmya Ramkumar, who has published her third book of crosswords to see more people turn to the hobby during the pandemic, started playing the game in December.
“I love words and was introduced to a version of this game by my brother, Kumar, when I was a child,” said the financial consultant and long-time resident in Bahrain. “We used to play it on car trips and also taught it to the next generation in our family. When I rediscovered it in its viral new avatar, I messaged him first to let him know!”
Her fastest winning solution came in two tries but she says three has been her sweet spot. She also enjoys it for its ‘shareability’ and it inspired her to create her own puzzle called XWordle, which combines her love for crosswords with Wordle.
“This game is such fun,” added Ms Ramkumar. “It only takes a few minutes and has become a daily ritual as soon as I get up in the morning. I’m thrilled that my son’, Adhvik, has also been playing it daily and is learning new words each day.
“I firmly believe that the endorphins released when solving puzzles can keep people upbeat and happier.”
Wordle is available to play from any device with a web browser such as a smartphone, desktop computer or tablet via https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/.
mai.alkhatib@gulfweekly.com
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