I’m sure there are enough Think Pieces out there about Wordle, so let’s add to it. This won’t be too long.
I’ve been playing Wordle, as have my two youngest (not so young, 17 and almost 21). We don’t post screenshot results or anything (their main social media is snapchat, I think, which I don’t do anyway), but I do get the question, “Did you get the Wordle?” from one or the other or both every day.
What interests me are the differences in strategy. It seems to be this way:
First, there’s the question of – do you start with the same word every time? I don’t know what they do, but for a while I did do exactly that until I got bored (a sign of things to come).
The older of the two, is very strategic, good at math, excellent at seeing-the-forest-and-the-trees is strategic about it. I don’t know exactly what his strategy is, but I do know I got scolded for having thrown down a word using a couple of letters that were already known to be out.
I’m more familiar with the younger one’s take on the game because he lives here. He basically stares at the screen and will not enter a word unless he thinks it actually might be the right answer. As a result, he told me, his Wordle sessions can continue (off and on) for hours. Part of the success of the game, to him, comes in getting the answer as soon as possible.
Me?
Hahahaha.
I just want to get it right, eventually. I feel stupid if I can’t get it by the fourth row, but other than that, it’s irrelevant to me whether I get it earlier or later. That’s not the point. The point is basically not to lose completely. And I am very much a “throw down a word and see what letters are correct” type of person. Even if it’s already been used and rejected – the thing is, since the game only accepts actual words, sometimes you have to.
And then I just want to be done with it.
This entertains me because all three takes are very expressive of our respective personalities: Careful and usually accurate assessment of the landscape, then making a decision based on that; A willful determination not to be wrong, ever; and, er…hope something works, be glad when it does, but you know, whatever happens happens, so let’s move on.
What about you?
Charlotte was Both 
I have always played in “hard mode” — using revealed letters in all subsequent guesses. Somehow I started out thinking you HAD to play that way.
I choose a new starting word every day. It makes play more interesting for me.
Figuring out the answer can take minutes or hours. Some days I “see” the answer right away. Other days I have to work out the empty slots and remaining letters on paper.
I would say I am addicted, and I am glad it only allows once-a-day play. I look forward to the mental stimulation and also seeing how others solve for the answer.
I play Quordle (the four-words-in-nine-guesses version), and I think I enjoy it more than Wordle. Instead of being annoyed when friends solve in three guesses a Wordle that took me five, I can solve only 3/4 of the Quordle and still feel great about myself. :-)
I fall somewhere between you and your youngest. As an ever-recovering perfectionist, my hat is off to him. As a harried mother with too much to do, my guilty conscience pushes me toward your strategy of getting it done. I don’t use the same word each time (I agree with getting bored with that), but I always use a word that’s 2 consonants, 1 vowel, 2 consonants to maximize my chances of getting correct letters.
When I played – before it transitioned to NYT – I had a par (4) average. Birdied a few times, one eagle, together with a few bogeys. I started with a different word each time using the most common letters (according to Wheel of Fortune). Mostly because I couldn’t think of an ideal word to remember. Usually it didn’t much help because of a lot of words not using T,S,R,N,D,L,E,A.
Missing on the first try wasn’t bad because ruling out letters is almost as important as getting the right letters, and in the right spot. However, there were more than a few times when I would stare and stare and swear that there was no word in existence that would fit with the remaining blanks, going through every possible combination and permutation. But if you know that only certain consonants go in certain combinations, you’ll eventually hit on it.
It’s a logic puzzle for me. I enjoy word games (Boggle/Scrabble/Spelling Bee), but Wordle is more like my Thinkfun games than it is like Boggle.
I also enjoy the shared fun and frustrations with family and friends in so many places. And strangers–an NFL All-pro linebacker, a host of a morning chat show, a voice from NPR–all trying this same thing.
Thanks for the question! I have A. Method. that involves the same starting guess and usually the same second guess (to nail down vowels.) It works well for the “hard” words, but I sometimes falter on “easier” patterns likea-consonant-e. I also generally do the Wordle before coffee, so that’s not a help. If I really wanted to win every time, I would play in hard mode, but really what I enjoy is the problem-solving aspect. I’ve never guessed it on the first try, but have gotten it on the second and that, to me, is a bummer.
I like the game and your article prodded me to think ‘why do I like the game’? I don’t like scrabble or boggle or other word games. I’m more of a math and logic guy. So Wordl combines the logic of Mastermind with patterns of letters (we call ‘words’). It is this reason that I enjoy the game. As someone else commented — it’s brain fun. And my strategy is always start with ‘atone’. 3 vowels and 2 consonants. For my 2nd word I’ll try to use s, r, and/or I or u.
I like “atone”! I have been starting with “oaten” which is an anagram but less likely for any letter to go green.