This puzzle doesn’t really seem as innovative as one might suspect, but it was everywhere in social media.
You saw friends posting green and yellow blocks on their Instagram and Facebook Stories. You probably saw a couple even posting about how stumped they were for the day’s puzzle. Soon, it got you interested enough to ask what game they were playing, and sure enough they told you they were playing Wordle.
But why is the game so popular? Why are so many people taking the time out of their busy day to guess one word?
This article will cover everything there is to know about the game and why people are so obsessed with it.
Wordle Overview
Wordle is a word guessing game invented by former Reddit employee Josh Wardle. As a software engineer, he came up with the game back in 2013 and created a prototype for his friends to try out. They really didn’t like it, so Wardle decided to retire the idea [2], [3].
The next time Wardle visited the idea of Wordle was during the Pandemic and proved to be popular amongst his family members. After seeing how his family liked the game, he publicly launched the game.
In 2022, one company bought the rights to the game and is now accessible to play online. There’s no app developed yet, so many people are leaving their tabs open with Wordle on it so they don’t lose their winning streak.
Worldle Key Statistics
- Started with 90 players a month after its release, but grew to 300,000 players over the next two months [4].
- Website traffic reported for January 2022 was at 45 million [4].
- More than 20% of Wordle players in the USA are aged between 35 and 44 years old [5].
- Daily active users for Wordle as of June 2022 is 144,121 [6].
- 14% of Americans play, or have played, Wordle [7].
- 59% of adults and 75% of millenials say that they love to post their scores on social media, which explains why the game went viral after a couple of months [7].
- Sweden is home to the best Wordle players, with the country pulling in an average score of 3.72 guesses [9].
- Canberra, Australia is the city with the best Wordle average score at 3.58 [9].
- North Dakota is the best state in the USA with the highest Wordle average score of 3.65.
How Is Wordle Played?
Wordle is an online word puzzle game where the player guesses a five letter word using six attempts. Every time a player guesses, the game lets them know which of the chosen letters are part of the target word and if they are in the correct order or not [1].
Here’s what you need to know:
- If the letter is correct and is in the correct order, it’s colored green.
- If the letter is correct but in the wrong order, it’s colored yellow.
- Incorrect letters are colored grey.
- Letters can be used more than one time for a single word.
- You need to complete the first word within six attempts.
Think of it as something like the board game Mastermind, but with words.
The game is currently popular around the world and has been adapted to different languages such as Arabic, French, and German to name a few [1].
How Many People Play Wordle?
- The game launched in October 2021. A month later, there were only 90 Wordle players recorded but the growth of the game skyrocketed to where they were getting 300,000 users daily after a couple of months [4].
- By January, traffic to the website was reported to be at 45 million, and this was before the month was over. What’s unclear though is how many of these players are playing Wordle every single day [4].
- In a survey of 2,210 adult sin the USA, the biggest share of Wordle players belong to the age group of 35 and 44 years old at a little bit above 20%, followed by players belonging to the age group of 18 and 34 years old.
- Roughly one in every five millenials are playing Wordle according to a new survey [7].
- Wordle is also one of the top 10 most popular games in the Apple App Store in terms of DAU (daily active users) with 144,121 recorded by June 2022 [6].
- 14% Americans say they play Wordle [7].
- Coming from the same survey, 43% of people who play Wordle say that they first heard about the game on social media while 21% report that the game was recommended to them by friends and family. 12% of respondents say that they heard about Wordle on the news [7].
- The big reason why Wordle went viral is because Wordle players love posting their score. In fact, 59% of adults and 73% of millenials say that they share scores on social media sometimes or as often [7].
- 74% of players reported that they “always” or “sometimes” successfully solve the puzzle, while 17% said “rarely” and 9% are reported to have “never” solved the puzzle [7].
How Many People Play Wordle Daily?
- As of June 2022, more than 144,121 are logging in through Wordle through the Apple App Store [6].
- More than 300,000 people are playing Wordle daily [8].
Global Wordle Stats
What are the Wordle stats looking like for players around the world? Let’s find out [9]:
- Sweden is the country with the best Wordle players, with an average score of 3.72.
- Canberra, Australia is the best in terms of Wordle average guesses at 3.58.
- The USA is ranked #18 in the world with a 3.92 national average.
- Saint Paul, Minnesota is the best city in the USA with the best Wordle scores, with an average score of 3.51.
Poland and Switzerland come in second and third place right after Sweden in terms of the fastest country to solve Wordle puzzles. After all, everyone around the world are guessing the same word and have the same number of guesses. It just so happens that the Swedes are better when it comes to solving puzzles on their first guess or even second guess. And so they just wait until the next day’s puzzle is loaded up and they go back to doing what they love.
You can refer to the chart below to see how each country is doing for Wordle, what their average score is, and what the best Wordle average is in the world.
In the USA, North Dakota is considered as the Wordle State, as you can see from this chart right here. The state has the highest average Wordle score of 3.65 guesses, followed closely by Delaware with 3.70 average score and New Hampshire with an average Wordle score of 3.73 guesses. And as you guessed it, 3.65 is also the best Wordle average around the world.
For cities in the USA, Saint Paul, Minnesota has the highest average with 3.51.
Why Is Wordle So Popular?
There are probably different puzzle games out there available online, but why is Wordle so popular?
The game was so popular that it was acquired by The New York Times. The game captured the attention of puzzle enthusiasts and social media users alike. But what really made this game so popular is its simplistic gameplay.
People around the world share the same starter words for a given day, probably translated within local languages for different countries. The concept was to guess the words based on guessing correct letters made available after each attempt out of six.
Each colored letter will tell you if you’re close to guessing the right word after an initial guess. Green letters mean that the letter is correct and it’s in the right order. Yellow letters mean the letter is correct but not in the right order. Grey letters mean that they are incorrect and do not form part of the word. Note that you might see the same letter within a single word, so there’s that to consider as well.
Using deduction and critical thinking, you use what’s available to you to make an educated guess. Players have six guesses, but the real bragging rights come to how many guesses it actually takes you to solve it. The fewer the guesses, the better you are than the other players. The national average worldwide is somewhere at about three guesses or so.
While the concept sounds addictive, Wordle does a good job of keeping the pace. Everyone just gets only one puzzle per day, no more and no less. The Wordle App on the Apple App store lets you play as many games as possible, but the score isn’t considered official.
You can also find different Wordle simulator apps or games to help you get your fix if you feel that only one puzzle is not enough.
The Wrap Up!
It comes as no surprise that the number of people who play Wordle are right about close to hitting a million on a daily basis. This popular word game started out as a way for the developer and his partner to bond over, and then it became a global phenomenon.
Reference
[1] https://www.gadgetsnow.com/faqs/wordle-what-is-wordle-how-does-it-work-rules-of-wordle-and-more/articleshow/90202966.cms
[2] https://www.goodto.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/what-is-wordle-2022-word-game-647186
[3] https://www.tomsguide.com/news/what-is-wordle
[4] https://www.statista.com/chart/26765/wordle-monthly-visits-traffic/
[5] https://www.statista.com/chart/26667/usage-of-wordle-and-other-online-games-in-the-us/
[6] https://www.statista.com/statistics/299832/leading-mobile-games-usa-dau/
[7] https://morningconsult.com/2022/01/20/wordle-millennials/
[8] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/technology/wordle-word-game-creator.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes
[9] https://word.tips/wordle-wizards/
