What I've learned from playing Wordle

Look I admit it, I can be a phone gaming addict.

I played Smurf Village for nearly five years, religiously logging in so that I could harvest crops, build new structures, and visit other parts of this virtual world. It was a good way to reconnect with my Smurfs obsession from my childhood.

Equally, I’ve been playing Bejewelled Blitz for about a decade, I’ll usually play at least the daily gold cat game. Heck, if there were a way I could earn money from Bejewelled Blitz, I reckon I could give it a decent crack.

Then Wordle came out, I saw a few friends posting on Facebook or Twitter and wasn’t sure what it was all about. In fact, if I’m honest, I thought it was some sort of a scam at first. But then I started playing and now I’m one of those annoying people who post their scores daily. So, what have I learnt about myself and my friends from the experience of playing this game now owned by the New York Times? Well, here are a few things:

Some of my friends are a lot smarter than I thought

I love my friends; I’m blessed to have some of the best friends in the world (I have to say that because they’re about to read this and think “so you thought I was a dumbo?”). Ok, it’s not that they aren’t smart I just didn’t think some of them had the problem-solving skills or the vocabulary that you need to be able to guess the word in six attempts. Actually, a few have really surprised me with how regularly they can kick my butt, a very pleasant surprise (for all of you that are reading this).

I have some real creatures of habit around me

I will admit that sometimes I use this one to my advantage because I know that they will always start with the same first word (adieu is often a winner). If I see the result for these friends before I’ve played my game, I can apply an informed guess before I play my first word. It’s odd though because some of these people are adventurous and certainly not strict observers of routine in other parts of their lives. But I will accept that little bit of help on occasion (although I also accept it hurts the overall integrity of the game).

Some of my friends are super sneaky

“Wow! Great result, what was your first word?”

“Have you played yet?”

[crickets]

There are a few of my very esteemed friends who will try to apply the same logic mentioned above. If they know what the first word I used is, then they can apply their own problem-solving. The few that try this are not impressed that I use a different first word most days, or at least I cycle through a lot of different first words.

Some are very bad sports

There is a lot of ribbing that goes on between my friends and me when playing Wordle. Some are quite happy to pay out on me and others when they figure out that daily five letter word in fewer guesses than me. Others are quick to fire up if they see a score that beats theirs. In some regards, it’s quite hilarious!

I’m a lot more competitive than I thought

I’ve gotten 2/6 three days in a row, and I have told people about it, I’ve told a lot of people about it! Today after playing the game and getting it out in 5 attempts I went back in and for some reason, the system had re-set, so I took advantage and played the word of the day first and got a 1/6. Now I am not a sporty person by any stretch of the imagination, so these things are my Stanley Cup, Superbowl, NASCAR championship and National Spelling Bee all rolled into one.

Some of my friends are anti-wordle-ites

Look, that’s not even a word but I’ve gotta say when I post on Facebook my daily results, I get some strong messaging from a few of my buddies that they are not fans of the game.

“Oh God! Not you too!”

“I’m blocking you until you stop posting that shit!”

I tried to talk about the game and what it’s like to play, but they are having none of it. I was surprised because some of them I could see doing crosswords or sudoku, but Wordle is just a mile too far. I’ll keep playing and taunting them with this game because if I can’t get daily 1/6 on Wordle, at least I can upset some people with me playing no matter what the result.

What is my one wish?

A week full of 1/6. I think that’s an achievable dream to hold on to.

Thanks for reading, if you haven't played yet, feel free to have a go at Wordle for yourself

https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle