# "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:** 409
**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:** [December 29, 2022, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8161 "2022-12-29T05:27:19Z")
**Wordle 557 3/6** ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 🟨🟨⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 STALE LINER IMPEL ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8162 "2022-12-29T07:35:37Z")
Wordle 558 4/6 ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 RATIO SALON BAYOU HAVOC Not an easy one. I think I only got it in four because I was watching a YouTube video about Gypsy Rose Lee. (The theater geeks will get it.) ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8163 "2022-12-29T09:08:01Z")
Wordle 558 4/6\* β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬› β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SNORE TOPAZ VOCAL HAVOC Fourth try was kind of dumb. I forgot to check positions of the known letters. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8164 "2022-12-29T09:39:03Z")
Wordle 558 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Slant Chore Macho Havoc ---
**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:** [December 29, 2022, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8165 "2022-12-29T10:15:36Z")
Wordle 558 5/6\* ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 BEARD FLOAT WAGON SAVOY HAVOC ---
**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:** [December 29, 2022, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8166 "2022-12-29T10:55:55Z")
Wordle 558 4/6 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CRANE TALCS MAGIC HAVOC ---
**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:** [December 29, 2022, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8167 "2022-12-29T12:13:46Z")
Wordle 558 4/6 πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›β¬›β¬› β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CRITS PLACE NACHO HAVOC Looks like a 4 kind of day. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8168 "2022-12-29T12:17:28Z")
Wordle 558 4/6 SL_A_NT _CHO_RE =\> after this, thought I had it down to MACHO and MOCHA M_OCHA_ =\> but clearly overlooked something…let’s go back and try **HAVOC** =\> and let slip the dogs of Wordle! ---
**Author:** ![chiliwillybing](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chiliwillybing/32/12394_2.png) [@chiliwillybing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiliwillybing)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8169 "2022-12-29T12:54:34Z")
Wordle 558 4/6 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ASIDE CHART MOCHA HAVOC ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8170 "2022-12-29T13:05:18Z")
**Some thoughts about the home game** My wife bought the Wordle home game, and we played it for the first time last night. The idea is pretty simple: on each round, one person chooses the solution, the others try to guess it, with the chooser looking over each person’s guesses and placing clear green and yellow tiles on the letters, as appropriate. The number of guesses for each person on each round is recorded, and after each person has been the chooser once, the results are totaled, and the low score wins. This wasn’t a factor last night, but I realized that it can go haywire if some players choose easier words, and other players choose harder words. Suppose Players A, B, and C choose easy, middling, and challenging words, respectively. When Player A is choosing, B and C both get 3’s. When Player B is choosing, A and C both get 4’s. And when Player C is choosing, A and B both get 5’s. So A scores a total of 9, B gets 8, and C wins with a 7. You’d really either need a shared understanding of how easy or hard you all wanted the words to be, or (better) if you had enough people, have one person just be the chooser throughout, and that way all the players would be solving the same words. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2022, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8171 "2022-12-29T13:31:30Z")
There are only a couple thousand answers. The designers could have printed a couple hundred per page in a 10-page pamphlet, grouped by difficulty. Add in some dice and you’re good to go. At the start of each round, roll for difficulty. Each answer person then rolls and looks up the answer for that difficulty. Unfortunately it’s not a do-it-yourself project. It would require real work to group the wordle answers by difficulty. Not doing that is where they dropped the ball. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2022, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8172 "2022-12-29T14:37:51Z")
Wordle 558 5/6 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Tough nut today HEART HAPPY HAWKS HANGS HAVOC ---
**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:** [December 29, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8173 "2022-12-29T16:56:06Z")
Wordle 558 3/6\* ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 TIRED BACON HAVOC Yesterday was a loooong day for me (7 hours in a car bookending a 6-hour visit with family), so β€œTired” just leapt to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8174 "2022-12-29T17:16:16Z")
Wordle 558 4/6 β¬›πŸŸ¦β¬›β¬›β¬› β¬›πŸŸ§β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¦ β¬›πŸŸ§πŸŸ¦πŸŸ§β¬› 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 LOUPE RATIO BACON HAVOC Add me to the Four Club. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8175 "2022-12-29T17:54:51Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Unfortunately it’s not a do-it-yourself project. It would require real work to group the wordle answers by difficulty. Not doing that is where they dropped the ball. I guess it depends on what level of precision you feel you need. I’m perfectly happy with considering (a) just how familiar and β€˜everyday’ the word is, (b) are the letters high or low frequency or somewhere in between, and (c) is there anything obvious that would throw someone off? last night, I started off with CRASH: very familiar, high-frequency letters, nothing weird. Second time I chose, I went with BRING: also very familiar, but G is down in the middle of the pack in terms of frequency, and B is well below the middle. Intuitively, it should be harder than CRASH. I guess for the few hundred solutions since NYT bought the game from Wardle, they could tell you the average number of guesses it took people to solve them, and that would be a more solid metric. But they only have that data for those few hundred words, not the entire list. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8176 "2022-12-29T18:33:39Z")
> **Wordle 558 5/6\* 12/29/2022** > > ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ > ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ > 🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜ > ⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜ > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 > > IMPEL β†’ Hopefully those eliminations will help later… > R_OA_ST β†’ Two vowels and no consonants through 2. Do I dare a double consonant with my next guess? > _A_NN **O** Y β†’ I do, but only helps a little, and not at all for the double. So I noodled around on the keyboard a bit and tried a few non-words of the form -A-O-, then… > W **A** _H_ **O** O β†’ Which I wasn’t expecting to be a Wordle word, but since it was, -OH is a rare ending in English (though not in Chemistry) so it must be HA-O-, which with a little Shakespeare knowledge leads to > **HAVOC** > > I wish Wordle had a button for β€œis this a valid word?” as well as for an outright guess. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8177 "2022-12-29T18:53:07Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > last night, I started off with CRASH: very familiar, high-frequency letters, nothing weird. Second time I chose, I went with BRING: also very familiar, but G is down in the middle of the pack in terms of frequency, and B is well below the middle. Intuitively, it should be harder than CRASH. I see where you’re going with that, and yeah, that could be both doable and good enough. I can envision how, even, and it wouldn’t be particularly difficult or time consuming. (Assign point values to letters based on how frequently they show up in the answer list, sort words by total point value, arbitrarily split the list into however many evenly-sized groups you want.) I’m wondering if having a printed list of all 2000 confirmed wordle answers grouped by difficulty would be too spoilery. Would you hate looking a word up in such a setup? I think I might hate it. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8178 "2022-12-29T21:22:22Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I realized that it can go haywire if some players choose easier words, and other players choose harder words. I suppose, then, that part of the strategy of playing that game is coming up with words that are harder for your opponents to guess. ---
**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:** [December 29, 2022, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8179 "2022-12-29T21:34:04Z")
Ugh. Today was no fun. I was distracted and not on my game – as becomes obvious below! Wordle 558 5/6\* β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬› πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬›πŸŸ¨ πŸŸ¨β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 IRATE CHEAP COACH ANCHO HAVOC I had the hardest time separating that β€˜C’ and β€˜H’. In my mind, they _had_ to be together. With my third try, I stupidly tried both the β€˜C’ and the β€˜A’ in positions I already knew the didn’t belong. When I finally pried them apart, the answer came at last. Tomorrow will be a better day. (I hope!) ---
**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:** [December 30, 2022, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/8180 "2022-12-30T04:54:17Z")
**Wordle 558 4/6** ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SHEAR HANDY HABIT HAVOC [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=408) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=410)