You may have heard of the Wordle word game. Maybe you even tried the game yourself. The online puzzle has become so popular that some people can’t go a day without it. Many players share their game results on social networks.

On November 1, only 90 people had already played Wordle. Within two months, that number had grown to 300,000. Social media users – especially famous people – helped boost the game’s popularity.

Wordle is a very simple game. Perhaps that is why its popularity has spread so quickly and so widely. Compared with many other computer games, the design is also very simple. It contains only 30 empty boxes appearing under the name “WORDLE”.

Players have six chances to guess a five-letter word that has been chosen by the game for that day. The goal is to guess the word in as few tries as possible.

To start, players enter a real word. Then the letters take on different colors to provide the player clues on the word. A green letter means the letter is in the word and is in the correct position. Yellow means the letter appears in the word but is in the wrong place. A gray letter means it does not appear in the word at all.

The game is web-based, not a application. So users don’t need to download it. It is also free to play. Users can play the game once per day.

Wordle was created by Josh Wardle, a software engineer from New York. He said he first made it for his partner, who likes to play word games like crosswords. But he decided in October to make it public. The game right away took off.

It was so successful that the New York Times recently announced that they purchased the game from Wardle. The newspaper did not say how much he paid for the game. But he said the price was in “the low sevens The figures.” the Time is already known for its very popular crosswords and other games.

The decision immediately drew criticism from some fans on social media. Many said they feared the newspaper would keep the game free for users. the Time currently requires users to pay for a subscription to read news content on its website. It also offers unlimited online play for $1.25 per week.

In a statement, the newspaper said, “As he moves to The New York TimesWordle will be free for new and existing players, and no fees will be charged for its gameplay.

In one message on Twitter, Wardle said he was happy with the deal. He implied that he was working with the Time to ensure that the game would remain free. He added that the game had “gone bigger than I ever imagined”. And he noted that users have shared stories of how the game has helped unite estranged family members and supported those recovering from illness.

As Wordle has grown, so has the number of experts offering advice on the best ways to play the game. A language expert, David Sidhu, recently gave his opinion on the best words to start a game. And the website Restlessness offers a series of tips from TikTok and Twitter users on how to play the game better.

Sidhu lists the most common letters of English words. The first letters it provides are a, r, o, i, and s.

When considering these and the positions in which the letters occur most often, Sidhu suggested the best starting word for Wordle. This word is “soare”, which means a young falcon. It’s a British English word that was commonly used in the 1700s, reports the Collins English Dictionary. Another possibility is the word “samey”, another British English word that describes something that is not unusual or interesting.

Some Twitter and TikTok users suggested starting with “influence” or “weird.” Influence means having power and influence over other people or events. Bizarre means very strange or unusual.

Other popular suggestions on social media include using words with the most common vowels (a, e, i, o, or u) or most commonly used English. consonants (r, t, n and s).

I am Brian Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from The Associated Press, Reuters, Twitter and other online sources.

__________________________________________________

words in this story

puzzle – nm a game or activity in which players must put pieces together or answer questions using their skills

figure – nm a symbol for a number

index – nm a sign or information that helps you solve a problem or answer a question

application – nm a computer program that does a specific job, especially on a mobile device

lift-off – phr v. to succeed

subscription – nm an agreement that you enter into with a company to obtain a publication or service on a regular basis and that you usually pay in advance

point – nm a useful tip

consonant – nm a speech sound (such as /p/, /d/, or /s/) produced by partially or completely stopping the flow of exhaled air through the mouth

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our facebook page.