Why Wordle Matters

I have to admit that I was reluctant to playing the game.

For weeks, I saw the block patterns appearing in my Twitter feed and had no idea what was going on. In fact, I saw my peeps tweeting their Wordle results without even being curious.

How my brain works.

At last, I Googled the word that accompanied the patterns and realized it was an online game, but I still wasn't interested. As soon as I knew what it was, I closed down that Google browser tab and continued with my day.

When DW became hooked, she asked me if I played. "No, I've seen what it is but I'm not really interested." My dismissive comment surprised DW, as she knew that I loved puzzles and word games.

I don't keep many games on my smartphone. At times, I have none. But I do like to play Sudoku and I've recently downloaded one of those puzzles, where you have a bunch of test tubes that have layers of various colours, and you have to sort each colour into their own tube by pouring them onto matching colours.

I like games that are quick and actually use my brain. With the pandemic, I find that I'm constantly in a fog and need to do exercises that provide focus.

"But Wordle does that," DW said. "And the best thing is that it's only one puzzle each day, so you don't get sucked in for hours on end. It takes just a couple of minutes of your day."

For a week, I resisted.

And throughout that week, it seemed that more and more of my Twitter peeps were playing the game. Every morning, there was a steady stream of patterned blocks filling my feed.

And so I tried it.

I was able to solve the word in four attempts, and DW was impressed. For her, four out of six chances to solve the puzzle was her best score: she usually solved the word in five or six attempts.

A couple of days later, I solved the puzzle in three attempts. A couple of times, I did it in two.

I've joined the ranks of Twitterfolk and have posted my results on social media. I saw that a couple of my peeps had voiced their disdain at seeing Wordle scores in their feed; one, who suggested that she would start dropping people who posted their results.

A few days later, I saw that she was no longer following me. Oh well, that's okay.

I don't understand how someone can hate Wordle to a point of complaining about it and cutting off people. Sure, it's a fad that will likely dwindle over time. But for me, it's something that we can share as a community, where we can share the joy of people's results. It's something that can show us that we have something in common.

Sure, I was dismissive of the game and a latecomer. But I never dissed others for playing it.

As a wise person on Twitter noted, "Wordle is the game for these times. It teaches that some problems are solveable [sic] in deductive steps. But more importantly: it reminds others of this."

Yes, the pandemic may be keeping us from each other. But Wordle, free, without ads, without complications, can bring us together in a positive way.