Wordle bought by New York Times

2 February 2022

Word game Wordle, created by Josh Wardle, and hugely popular with — among others — the book-reading posse, plus one or two game developers looking for a piece of the word-game-gone-viral action, has been bought by the New York Times.

Created by a Reddit engineer and launched in October, Wordle gives players just six guesses to determine a five-letter word that changes every day. The soothing daily puzzle has become a hit since its launch, quickly attracting hundreds of thousands, then millions, of players. Social media posts about its game of the day have become ubiquitous, along with screenshots of the game’s distinctive grid.

Update: on the topic of Wordle “copies”, instructions for installing the official real version of the game, rather than an imitation.