But how did Josh Wardle’s romantic gesture turn into a game that many look forward to every day?

“I’ve always liked word games, but I had never seen one like this before,” said junior Reagan Golbitz. 

Every day a new word is released on Wordle. It has become incredibly popular among Triton students, as well. “I was one of the first people playing it, and now all my friends are, too,” said Golbitz. It has grown in popularity in people of all ages, especially high school students. 

Josh Wardle, a software engineer, is the mastermind behind Wordle.Acording to the New York Times, Wardle made Wordle as a gift for his partner who is a word game finatic, but it has grown to be so much more. He showed it to his family, which led him to releasing it to the world. It has been public since October when it would get about 90 plays a day. It has grown to get over 3 million players.

Since there is only one Wordle released daily, students will not get burnt out as easily. Since most Wordle players are not burnt out, teachers have found Wordle to be a big distraction. “Students attempt to play it whenever there seems to be a lull in class and at the very beginning and end of class,” said teacher James Allen. Emma Campbell, a junior at Triton, plays Wordle. “I try to play every day,” said Campbell. 

Since Wordle is a game that challenges the brain, some might think that it is a good thing that it is popular with teens. Many teenagers don’t exactly reach for brain teasers when they are deciding what to play. “I think it is better than the racing games or football games that students have typically played in the last year,” said Allen. 

Of course, now that it is so popular, all of the major companies want in on this genius game. It was just bought by the New York Times, but many people are unhappy. “I don’t like it because it will eventually be put behind a paywall and people will have to pay for it,” said Golbitz. “ I like the New York Times but not them buying Wordle.” 

The New York Times is making layout changes, and many of the words are getting harder. Wordle answers were words like “Sugar” and “Light.” Now, an increase of word difficulties can be seen with words like “Ulcer” and “Cynic.” Campbell said, “I think the words have gotten unreasonably hard.” “I liked Wordle being independent.” Golbitz said. “They changed the font, like, five days ago but the font was iconic to me.” 

There are knock off versions that can be downloaded on the appstore. If the New York Times does end up putting Wordle behind a paywall, these are a few options that students can turn to: “Wordle!,” “Wordus,” “Word Guess,” “Puzzword,” the list goes on. These, however, don’t have the same one word a day aspect of Wordle that many people appreciate.