What the hell is Wordle, and why is Twitter full of people tweeting coloured squares?

Have you spent the last few days wondering why the hell your Twitter timeline is currently flooded with people tweeting a load of cubes with no context? Me too. All the cubes are courtesy of players tweeting their daily score from a new word game that’s been an unexpected hit, gone viral and made a simple idea an internet phenomenon. It’s called Wordle, it’s free to play and it’s pretty much the online equivalent of ITV’s Lingo. But what exactly is Wordle? How and where do you play? Why is everyone tweeting green and yellow squares? WHERE DID IT COME FROM? Here’s everything you need to know about Wordle explained.

How do you play Wordle?

Okay, so: Wordle is a game where you have six guesses to guess a five letter word. Your first attempt is a shot in the dark, and if you get it right straight away then consider yourself a living God. The chances are though, you’re not going to get it on the first attempt. But what you do get is some feedback on your guess:

Green letters mean you’ve got the right letter in the right spot, and yellow letters mean the letter is in the word, but in the wrong spot. You then work on your feedback until you (hopefully) guess the five letter word before your six guesses are up. You can only play once a day, and the word puzzle refreshes daily.

If you do a Google search for Wordle, you’ll find the link to play. It’s the top result, and here it is again if you want to try your luck at it now.

Ok but why is Twitter full of people tweeting squares?

The reason Wordle has gone viral is because of players tweeting how they did daily, and the game gives you the option to copy your score to tweet it. Every wordle puzzle has a daily number, and you can tweet it to join in the conversation, like so:

Where did Wordle come from?

Wordle was created by Josh Wardle, a Brooklyn based software engineer. He made the game for his partner, and the game suddenly blew up. It’s a good, simple and fun social game that people can share their results and discuss without giving away the answer. That’s everything you need to know about Wordle explained – now go and tweet your score!

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