The Return of Wordle

Photo Credit: Tada Images/Shutterstock via Science Friday

In the past few months, Wordle and other New York Times games have made a surprising return. What are these games that Hamberites can’t stay away from? 

The New York Times offers various free daily puzzles, such as Wordle, where players are given six tries to guess a five-letter word, and Connections, where the goal of the game is to form four groups of related words. Other games offered on their website include Strands, Sudoku, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Tiles, Vertex, and The Crossword.

Wordle first became famous in 2023, trending for a few months, but later fell out of popularity. 

However, just a year later, it seems to be making a comeback. This time, though, it’s not just Wordle that has captivated this new crowd of players. Some of the other games that The New York Times offers are now getting their share of the spotlight.

“I downloaded the [New York Times] app and there’s a bunch of games — like Connections,” said Sabine Tung (11). “They’re fun! Connections is my favorite — and the mini [crossword].  I like the mini.”

The New York Times app and other social media platforms have also helped to boost players’ competitive spirit. Players are able to use these platforms to share their game results online, which has incentivized many to consistently play the games in order to compete with others.

Many students, such as John Xu (11), believe that games like Wordle are “addicting for most people.” Xu has yet to indulge in the game himself, but has “seen a lot of people play because they want to compete with their friends.” 

Sam Liu (11) speculates that students enjoy Wordle because the game “for one person is the same for everyone else. [There is] a little bit of competition involved because everyone is trying to solve the same puzzle.” Liu also believes the limited nature of the game contributes to its appeal. “I think it definitely would fall off if they made it so that you could do as many as you want per day.” he said.

Liu also mentioned that he personally likes Wordle because “part of it is just guesswork and another part of it is that it helps my vocabulary. My vocabulary is kinda mid.” Wordle can help to expand vocabulary, simply due to the sheer amount of new words that are learned from playing every day.

However, while it’s nice to believe that one’s IQ will increase after playing a series of enjoyable word puzzles, it is still up for debate. 

An article on CNN explains that, although Wordle trains the cognitive ability of your brain, regularly playing the game does not translate to having a larger IQ. According to Aaron Seitz, a psychology professor at the University of California Riverside, “You’re just a person who does well at Wordle versus another person who doesn’t do as well on Wordle.”