# "Wordle," a strangely compelling word game (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [March 25, 2023, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659 "2023-03-25T23:59:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 500
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9981 "2024-11-18T06:17:14Z")
Wordle 1,248 4/6 🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟨 ⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 RAISE CHAIR PLAIN FRAIL ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9982 "2024-11-18T09:47:53Z")
Wordle 1,248 5/6\* \begin{aligned} &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt D} \\ &\bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt O} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt S} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt C} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt M} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt P} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt F} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt N} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt K} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt F} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt L} \\ \end{aligned} ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9983 "2024-11-18T12:34:26Z")
Wordle 1,248 5/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 YEAST (A placed A. Next word is unlikely, but it does fence in all available vowels) MIAOU (Got me an I, which probably follows the A) PLAIN (Got an L. Can’t be LxAIx, so that leaves AVAIL, FRAIL and GRAIL. Sleuth word!) VIGOR (if I’d had any sense, I’d have checked all those words and seen that only one hadn’t been used.) FRAIL (Still, I got a bogey, and continued my streak.) Plus, I know that if I find myself using MIAOU again, I won’t be left with an A and an I. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9984 "2024-11-18T13:11:46Z")
Wordle 1,248 3/6 ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 HEART BRAID FRAIL ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9985 "2024-11-18T13:32:51Z")
Wordle 1248 (1,2,4,8, the first four integer powers of 2 πŸ™‚ ) 3/6 ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ 65 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SLANT CRAWL FRAIL GRAIL had already been used - didn’t need to look that one up! ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9986 "2024-11-18T13:45:49Z")
Wordle 1,248 3/6\* 🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 LEAST CRAWL FRAIL ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9987 "2024-11-18T14:03:11Z")
> **Wordle 1,248 3/6\* 11/18/2024** > > ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ > 🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜ > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 > > T_AL_LY β†’ Not a bad start, and I know LEVEL is out. With two WoFcons guessed, I’d like to try an E and two of the other three, which leads me to > _L_E **A** NS β†’ Placed the A. AO is unlikely, can’t see any words with ?OA?L, perhaps time to try the I? At this point, I decided to sleep on it. In the morning, I saw that with ??AIL, and an R thrown in, it could be - coin toss eliminates the G… > **FRAIL** > Apparently my alternative was on the used words list. Turns out there were _lots_ of possibles - I count 16 of Scoredle’s list of 50 that I would have considered had I seen them, so this was a lucky birdie. Scoredle has a much better second guess - it was down to four possibles, but missed the coin flip and ended with par. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9988 "2024-11-18T14:45:54Z")
Wordle 1,248 3/6 ⬜🟧🟧⬜⬜ ⬜🟧🟧🟧🟧 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 CRANE TRAIL FRAIL Quick and dirty for a change. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9989 "2024-11-18T15:33:32Z")
Wordle 1,248 5/6 β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›β¬› β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›β¬› β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 STERN CLOUD GIMPY HAWKS FRAIL ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9990 "2024-11-19T02:26:54Z")
Never did post my stats for my first 1000 games, so I might as well put them up, here at the end of thread #2: | | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | =loss | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1-200 | 5 | 47 | 99 | 39 | 10 | | | 802 | 4.01 | | 201-600 | 20 | 174 | 163 | 35 | 6 | 2 | | 1439 | 3.5975 | | 601-1000 | 35 | 224 | 121 | 18 | 2 | 0 | | 1328 | 3.32 | | 1-1000 | 60 | 445 | 383 | 92 | 18 | 2 | | 3569 | 3.569 | I’ve averaged my two losses in as 7s, because (a) they should count against my average, and should count against it more than a 6 does, (b) there was only one possible guess for one of them at a hypothetical 7th turn, and (c) the other one was the infamous PARER, and the only other possibility left after 6 was DARER (as in β€œI double dog dare you!” β€œDarers go first!”) and I think I’d have picked even PARER before that. I seem to have gotten better as I’ve gone along, but I think that average of 3.32 guesses per game for games 601-1000 is pretty near the floor of what I can manage over a long haul. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9991 "2024-11-19T04:17:07Z")
Wordle 1,248 3/6 β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ©β¬›β¬› β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 PLANT CRAWL FRAIL I joined the xxxxx crawl frail club, which now surprisingly has three members. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2024, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9992 "2024-11-19T04:25:02Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’ve averaged my two losses in as 7s, I disagree with counting losses, preferring to list losses separately. eg: β€œ998 wins with a 3.59 average and 2 losses.” But your logic is sound to count losses as 7s if they are to be counted at all. Besides which, with this large a sample size and so few losses, I don’t think it matters either way. > [@RTFirefly](#): > > I think that average of 3.32 guesses per game for games 601-1000 is pretty near the floor of what I can manage over a long haul. Probably, but possibly not. Those games were played with 600+ answers already used. I have no idea what a reasonable floor might be when that becomes 1600+, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it were closer to 3.0 than 3.3. Also, well done, you have me beat. Unfortunately I had to swap phones (checks my wordle stats) 474 days ago, so my recorded stats are essentially cherry picked. But in those 474 games (no losses) my average is 3.43 compared to your 3.32. That’s probably a pretty fair representation of the advantage you have starting with s compared to p. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9993 "2024-11-19T04:58:54Z")
Wordle 1,248 3/6\* ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 PLATE CRAWL FRAIL And I’m joining the xxxxx crawl frail club too, now with four members. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2024, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9994 "2024-11-19T05:13:19Z")
Wordle 1,248 3/6 πŸŸ¦β¬›β¬›β¬›β¬› β¬›πŸŸ§πŸŸ§πŸŸ§β¬› 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 AMUSE TRAIN FRAIL Picked one of my favorite second words, and it worked out well. Didn’t post yesterday, but I also birdied it from a single unplaced letter: _L_OUPE **T** RAI_L_ **TALLY** ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9995 "2024-11-19T08:05:07Z")
Wordle 1,249 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 RATIO LOINS DOING GOING ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9996 "2024-11-19T08:26:50Z")
Wordle 1,249 4/6 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 NEATO MINOR DOING GOING ---
**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:** [November 19, 2024, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9997 "2024-11-19T09:55:55Z")
Wordle 1,249 4/6\* \begin{aligned} &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt D} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt Q} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt U} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt L} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt C} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt M} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt P} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt O} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt N} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \\ \end{aligned} ---
**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:** [November 19, 2024, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9998 "2024-11-19T10:07:33Z")
Wordle 1,249 4/6 β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ©β¬› β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ©β¬› β¬›πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ©β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 PLANT CRONE BOUND GOING I had trouble seeing this because when I was checking \_oin\_, in my head I was pronouncing it like β€œpoint.” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/9999 "2024-11-19T10:49:37Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > That’s probably a pretty fair representation of the advantage you have starting with s compared to p. Also while you don’t strictly play hard mode, you hold yourself to it the vast majority of the time, afaict. And working within that limitation makes a difference as well. > [@EllisDee](#): > > Probably, but possibly not. Those games were played with 600+ answers already used. I have no idea what a reasonable floor might be when that becomes 1600+, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it were closer to 3.0 than 3.3. I keep thinking that at some point they’ve got to start re-using past solutions, otherwise the available pool of solutions will dwindle. Maybe they’ll start doing that at the beginning of 2025. If I were running the game, I’d exclude maybe the most recent 6 to 12 months’ solutions, but put the older solutions back in play on a continuous basis. But I’m not, so I guess we’ll see what happens. I really think they need to start doing it fairly soon though. ETA: Post #9999 in the thread! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659/10000 "2024-11-19T10:57:21Z")
Wordle 1249 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ 210 ⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜ 18 ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟨 6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SLANT DRONE CHINO GOING Could’ve also been OWING which I totally didn’t see. Saw but mentally discarded BOING and BOINK. ETA: Kinda floundered around with this one, but got there. πŸ™‚ ETA: Post #10,000, closing thread #2. πŸ™‚ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659.md?page=499) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-2/981659.md?page=501)