MUNCIE, Ind. – (NewsLink) The online puzzle, Wordle, has been catching the attention of its players one letter at a time.
Now an entity of The New York Times, Wordle is averaging 300,000 players a day this month. The online game is combining letters and strategy with a side of competition. Some Ball State students have developed their own game plan.
“I always use the word ‘trick,’ I don’t know why, but I like it because it’s got one vowel and a lot of consonants in it,” Alexandra Gallado, Ball State senior, said.
“Normally, I try to use words with letters I don’t already know about. So, even if I know there is a letter in there, I still want to get most of them cleared out of the way,” Will Strobel, Ball State junior, said.
Players have six chances to come up with five letter words with the goal of guessing the word chosen by the algorithm. Green letters signify correct letters in the correct spots. Yellow means players have the right letter just not the right spot. Gray means that letter is not in the final word.
According to C-Net, the five letter word puzzle is trending for its simplicity, once-a-day play, and result sharing, but it’s leaving some players wondering: what’s the educational value?
“I feel like you’re actually getting to learn something,” English graduate assistant Taylor Baugh said. “Sometimes, I do learn new vocabulary words.”
Along with expanding vocabulary, Baugh also said Wordle helps players improve their problem-solving skills while playing during their downtime.
“I just have like a break in my day,” Baugh said.
Contact Grace Bentkowski with questions and comments at gmbentkowski@bsu.edu or on Twitter at @GBentkowski.
