# "Wordle," a strangely compelling word game (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [December 24, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604 "2021-12-24T21:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/241 "2022-01-04T08:32:04Z")
Got it in 5. TEARS BISON CLUMP SIDED SIEGE ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/242 "2022-01-04T09:24:45Z")
Five, I feel that I was hampered by starting with two correctly placed letters. SHOVE STALE SHINE SINGE SIEGE The 4th guess was bad luck. I probably should expect duplicate letters. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/243 "2022-01-04T11:10:25Z")
TEARS SOLVE SWIPE SINCE SIEGE ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/244 "2022-01-04T11:34:35Z")
I did this one unofficially on hard as a test. Got it in 3. **S** W **E** AT **S** N **E** _E_R **SIEGE** ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/245 "2022-01-04T14:17:06Z")
My last 2 guesses were the same as @Robot_Arm, though I managed it in 4. RAT_I_O L **I** N_ES_ **SIE** V **E** **SIEGE** The multi-letters are awful. Really not a fan. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/246 "2022-01-04T15:38:04Z")
TONES HIDES SIEVE SIEGE After the first guess I forgot what the colors meant, so mistakenly thought the last two letters were correctly placed. Then had to figure out how multi-letters worked. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/247 "2022-01-04T16:17:01Z")
Just saw an article on this game on the NYT. It was invented by an engineer with the last name of Wardle. Your trivia of the day. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/248 "2022-01-04T17:39:22Z")
Jan 4th took me a while: TROP **E** AM_I_N **E** JUV_I_ **E** L **I** _S_L **E** **SI** DH **E** SIEGE ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/249 "2022-01-04T17:51:56Z")
> And a possibly important strategy hint many here have guessed at – the solution list is a fairly small subset of English 5-letter words, apparently hand-picked to toss out words that are too obscure That’s pretty standard operating procedure for word games. The game will have a curated “game word/target word list” and another curated or somewhat curated list of allowable guesses which is significantly larger than the target words but not as absurdly big as a Scrabble SOWPODS word list (or whatever the acronym is.) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/250 "2022-01-04T17:59:10Z")
Got my first 3! And that was after playing a 2 that omitted one of the yellow letters by mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/251 "2022-01-04T20:10:50Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > My last 2 guesses were the same as @Robot_Arm, though I managed it in 4. > > RAT _I_ O > L **I** N _ES_ > **SIE** V **E** > **SIEGE** > > The multi-letters are awful. Really not a fan. Very similar to me (I’ve stopped cheating, by the way): RAT _I_ O N **IE** C **E** **SIE** V **E** **SIEGE** ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/252 "2022-01-04T20:17:01Z")
RATIO PLIED NIECE SIEGE A lot of similar guess work this time. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/253 "2022-01-04T20:26:18Z")
It occurs to me that I should probably turn on hard mode. I’ve always played that way anyway, because I’ve always found it more helpful for me to use letters I’ve discovered. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/254 "2022-01-04T20:40:27Z")
I’ve never not played following the strictures of Hard Mode, with or without Hard Mode actually turned on (IOW I only guess words that could possibly be correct). But maybe a winning strategy could be to “throw away” an early guess just to get some info about other letters. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/255 "2022-01-04T20:47:44Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > It occurs to me that I should probably turn on hard mode. I’ve always played that way anyway, because I’ve always found it more helpful for me to use letters I’ve discovered. That’s exactly what I did and why I did it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/256 "2022-01-04T20:50:32Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > But maybe a winning strategy could be to “throw away” an early guess just to get some info about other letters. Yeah, you can probably get it in three guesses pretty consistently if you use your first two to eliminate/confirm the most common letters rather than building off of your first guess. I think it’s probably the difference between playing it as a word game vs. playing it as a math/logic game. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/257 "2022-01-04T20:56:25Z")
Bugger hard mode. I failed on normal mode. Wordle 199 X/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ 🟩⬜🟩🟨⬜ 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/258 "2022-01-04T21:29:01Z")
January 4, 2021 CHOIR SIZED SIEGE ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2022, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/259 "2022-01-05T05:31:22Z")
I think I’m doing pretty good. [https://i.gyazo.com/1e3622791db93b7507536c6bae11caf0.png](https://i.gyazo.com/1e3622791db93b7507536c6bae11caf0.png) Except for that one time before we knew repeated letters were possible, I got a good streak going. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2022, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/260 "2022-01-05T06:01:10Z")
Wasted a guess at the end on this one. Wordle 200 5/6\* ⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨 🟩🟨⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟨🟨⬛⬛ 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=14)