# "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:** 209
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4161 "2022-06-08T16:36:54Z")
> **Wordle 354 4/6\* 6/8/2022** > > ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ > ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 > ⬜🟨🟩⬜🟩 > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 > > FLOOD → Seems like starting with yesterday’s answer can be famine or feast. > HE_I_S **T** → Lucky T placement! Probably still need another vowel, favor A over U (especially since the first guess eliminated FRUIT)… > G_I_ **A** N **T** → Haven’t tried R yet, but if I do, I’ll have to try a second T… here goes… > **TRAIT** > > Kinda nice to put a little more thought into it after yesterday’s… ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4162 "2022-06-08T16:43:41Z")
Wordle 354 4/6\* 🟨🟩🟩🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 IRATE TRAIL TRAIN TRAIT I agree with @psychobunny. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4163 "2022-06-08T20:23:28Z")
Yesterday I couldn’t think of it for ages. **Tomorrow’s** I breezed through it in seconds. Wordle 355 4/6 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4164 "2022-06-08T20:45:43Z")
Wordle 354 5/6\* ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 BEARD GRAVY TRAIN TRAIL TRAIT ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2022, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4165 "2022-06-08T21:13:43Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Maybe I should find one good opening word and stick to it? > [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Then you give up on getting 1/6 by pure luck. I don’t think it changes the odds. If the opening word is sufficiently common that it’ll eventually show up as a Wordle but hasn’t already, then on any given day you have 1/(number of remaining Wordles) chance of getting it in 1, same as with any other common 5-letter word that hasn’t already been used. What changes is the variance. If I keep playing the same word for the life of the game, then I’ll get it in 1 exactly once. If I play different words, I might never get it on the first try, or I might do so multiple times. But the expected number of instances of getting it in 1 should be the same either way, as long as you stick with common words that haven’t been used yet. Of course, there’s always the strategy of using one word until you hit it, then switch to another word until you hit that one, etc. I’d have to do the math on that. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2022, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4166 "2022-06-08T21:38:55Z")
Yeah, but I don’t know all the words that have already been used. Besides, it’s fun to pick them at random. I just try to pick words that have no repeating letters, although sometimes I forget until AFTER I type it that I’ve used one of those letters already. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2022, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4167 "2022-06-08T22:31:15Z")
I’d say do it the way you enjoy doing it. After all, games are supposed to be fun! It’s easy to Google a list of the Wordles that have already been used, if one is inclined to do so. (My attitude was, I’d seen them all back when you could still play the archive, so why not?) I used that fact to do my one nerdy thing with this game somewhere around #320, put the list (as it was then) into Excel, and used that to calculate the frequencies of each letter in the first ~320 Wordles, and then used those frequencies to pick a standard set of guesses to use until I’ve narrowed things down. But I did that because that’s the sort of thing I do for fun. I’m weird like that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4168 "2022-06-08T22:59:17Z")
Wordle 354 3/6 ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 EARTH TRAIL TRAIT Once again we see a plurality of people posting here going with “Trail” before “Trait”–possibly because we’ve seen repeated letters for the past two days (and this one makes it three). ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4169 "2022-06-08T23:17:24Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Once again we see a plurality of people posting here going with “Trail” before “Trait”–possibly because we’ve seen repeated letters for the past two days (and this one makes it three). That’s me. I will resist using the same letter in a word until the bitter end. It’s the Achilles’ heel to my stats. But then, I’m the boring dipshit that uses the same opening word every single day. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4170 "2022-06-09T00:42:36Z")
A lot of Wordles repeat a letter in the word. Didn’t go through them all, but looked at the first 100 Wordles, and 39 of them repeat at least one letter. (SISSY and ERROR use the same letter three times, and BOOBY, GAMMA, and CIVIC were double doubles.) Surprised me to find so many Wordles with repeated letters. I was saved from the temptation of avoiding repeats by having to choose between very different words, and lucking into the right choice: SLANT CHORE TRAIT After the first two, TRAIL wasn’t an option, but I found myself choosing between GRAFT and TRAIT. Got lucky and picked the right one first. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4171 "2022-06-09T01:04:34Z")
And I haven’t posted today’s game. Wordle 354 4/6\* ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CHILD IMAGE BRAIN TRAIT ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4172 "2022-06-09T02:06:54Z")
**Tomorrow’s Wordle, Today** I feel like Wordle is still giving me the middle finger. Wordle 355 6/6 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 > **Wordle 355** > > CHURN > SHRED > HARPY > BIRTH > MIRTH > GIRTH ---
**Author:** ![SeaSun](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seasun/32/14820_2.png) [@SeaSun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaSun)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4173 "2022-06-09T02:54:25Z")
**Wordle 354 4/6** 🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 TEASE TRAIN TRAIL TRAIT Thought I had it in two, then three…didn’t consider the two T’s, but not sure I’d have played the word before Train and Trail, so four it is. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4174 "2022-06-09T04:11:09Z")
Wordle 355 4/6 ⬛🟨🟨🟩⬛ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CRITS MIRTH BIRTH GIRTH Another 4 of failure. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4175 "2022-06-09T04:27:37Z")
Wordle 355 4/6 🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 RATIO SHIRT BIRTH GIRTH I changed my third guess at the last second. It should have been a three. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4176 "2022-06-09T04:52:57Z")
Wordle 355 4/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛🟨🟩🟨⬛ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 exult, strip, mirth, girth ---
**Author:** ![QMatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/aeb1de/32.png) [@QMatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QMatic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4177 "2022-06-09T06:23:10Z")
Wordle 355 4/6\* ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 FLAME POINT BIRTH GIRTH ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4178 "2022-06-09T10:34:09Z")
Another 4. SLANT CHORE BUMPY GIRTH After the first 2 tries, I had MIRTH, BIRTH, GIRTH as obvious possibilities, plus whatever I’ missed. If I’d started guessing then, it would have been in that order - we all seem to have put GIRTH last among those choices - so I’m glad I didn’t. BUMPY took care of the first two, so GIRTH it was. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4179 "2022-06-09T11:05:58Z")
Wordle 355 4/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CRANE TIROS - I see the three \_IRTH words, plus DIRTY. Maybe more. One out of four (or more) chance of getting it in 3. So… GRIMY - G for GIRTH, M for MIRTH, Y for DIRTY and BIRTH if none of them. GIRTH ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2022, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/4180 "2022-06-09T12:07:02Z")
Holy moley, this was a tough nut to crack. Wordle 355 6/6 🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨 🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 HEART THROW STRIP MIRTH BIRTH GIRTH I’d have been screwed if it was FIRTH [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=208) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=210)