Unless you have been living under a rock, I am positive you know about the New York Times word game, Wordle. A player has six chances to figure out a daily five-letter mystery word in the game. Players have the ability to keep a streak and share their scores with others. Over 300,000 people participate in playing Worlde every day and the most people to have participated in a day is 2 million. Personally, finding what the Wordle is and how many tries my friends and I took to figure it out discovered it is a frequent conversation topic. Wordle is a fun daily game but I began to wonder, why and how is Wordle so popular right now?

First, what is Wordle’s history? Wordle was created in October of 2021 by Josh Wardle, who initially made the game to entertain his partner during quarantine. When the game was created in October, there were only 90 daily players by November. By the end of January, the game had thousands to millions of daily players. Earlier this year, Wardle sold the game to the New York Times for a price in the low seven figures. Every day, Wordle continues to maintain hundreds of thousands of players. 

But how did Wordle grow in popularity so quickly? Wordle wasn’t made to be addictive, but neurologists say there are many reasons for its popularity. Wordle is free, it is a daily activity, and has a social aspect to it.  Wordle is free and easy to do. It also doesn’t have any advertisements. The daily aspect of Wordle is also part of the reason why it’s so addictive. A new word comes out every day and it only takes 5-10 minutes to complete. The idea of keeping a daily streak also keeps players wanting to come back. Wordle’s bite-sized bit of fun every day is what makes the game so popular. There is also a social aspect to Wordle. Families and friends do the Wordle together and are able to compete with each other. Wordle also allows players to send their streaks and scores to others. Since different generations all play Wordle, all sorts of people can bond through the game.

Wordle gives players an easy way to have fun every day. It is addictive in a positive and brings new ways to bond with friends and family. It is short and sweet and finding the word brings great satisfaction. These factors all contribute to the popularity of Wordle.