5 ms·

I like the one-a-day idea, and that it's the same for everyone. However, the game itself is exactly the same as 'Lingo' - an old US show that still has a UK ve

I like the one-a-day idea, and that it's the same for everyone. However, the game itself is exactly the same as 'Lingo' - an old US show that still has a UK version airing right now. It has also had its own app for a while. It's amazing how a couple of extra touches can make something explode in popularity.

username3 5y ago
What are the extra touches for those who never played Wordle?
- benoliver999 5y ago
  Well, there's no timer in wordle whereas in lingo you are against the clock. You only get to play one puzzle a day.The solution is the same for the whole world every day. Part of its success is the simplicity I think, and the fact you don't need an app.
- klyrs 5y ago
  I think the real thing that made it go viral are the "certificates" it gives you for solutions, which get shared on social media: https://www.kaggle.com/benhamner/wordle-1-6 https://www.kaggle.com/benhamner/wordle-1-6
  - cryptoz 5y ago
    While that is a part of it, I have also heard that the virality was somewhat forced by journalists writing about wordle endlessly: as fans of word games themselves, journalists boosted its popularity in the earlier days, driving a lot of the 'viral' traffic.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - superdisk 5y ago
    Can somebody tell me how to generate one of these certificates? I can't find a button on the page at all to do it and I feel like a moron, since everyone and their dog is posting them on Twitter.
    - jffry 5y ago
      In the dialog that shows up after you finish Wordle, click the big green Share button and it's copied to your clipboard
    - ihuman 5y ago
      Press the graph icon next to the "WORDLE" on the top of the screen, then press "share"
    - jamespullar 5y ago
      After successfully solving the daily puzzle, you're presented with a small popup that includes stats and a share button. The share button adds the sequence of emojis to your clipboard.
    - vgel 5y ago
      When it pops up the results dialog after you win, there's a green "Share" button in the bottom right. If you closed the results dialog, you can get it to open again by refreshing the page.
      - llbeansandrice 5y ago
        You can also just click the bar graph icon in the top right, next to the settings gear.
    - damontal 5y ago
      If you have an ad blocker on it won’t show
defaultname 5y ago
Free. No ads. Accessible to everyone. Convenient build-in share functionality and a common experience (as you mentioned the common daily word). And of course a clean, technically excellent implementation. If it had a single barrier (install an app, create an account, click through ads, etc), it would have been yet another of countless word games. It was a brilliant confluence for a momentary explosion in popularity. All along, though, people were yipping about the grand benevolence and moral supremacy of this version versus clones (when the app itself was, as you mentioned, not that derived from an existing game, even aping the coloring), and that all looks pretty silly now that the creator quite rightly managed a pretty lucrative "exit" for a trivial work. And I applaud them for it, and respect the brilliant choices made to get there.
- benoliver999 5y ago
  The implementation is so good. Completely client side, which was a stroke of genius when it started getting really popular.
secondcoming 5y ago
To which UK TV show are you referring? It doesn't ring any bells with me.
- sltkr 5y ago
  It's called Lingo. Apparently it was invented in the USA, but had a bunch of national variants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingo_(American_game_show) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingo_(American_game_show) It was pretty popular in the Netherlands as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9959YYGuEBM&t=45s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9959YYGuEBM&t=45s In the Netherlands it started with 5 letter words, as in Wordle, and later they moved on to 6 letter words for variety. But the principle remains the same.

username3 5y ago

What are the extra touches for those who never played Wordle?

benoliver999 5y ago
Well, there's no timer in wordle whereas in lingo you are against the clock. You only get to play one puzzle a day.The solution is the same for the whole world every day. Part of its success is the simplicity I think, and the fact you don't need an app.
klyrs 5y ago
I think the real thing that made it go viral are the "certificates" it gives you for solutions, which get shared on social media: https://www.kaggle.com/benhamner/wordle-1-6 https://www.kaggle.com/benhamner/wordle-1-6
- cryptoz 5y ago
  While that is a part of it, I have also heard that the virality was somewhat forced by journalists writing about wordle endlessly: as fans of word games themselves, journalists boosted its popularity in the earlier days, driving a lot of the 'viral' traffic.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- superdisk 5y ago
  Can somebody tell me how to generate one of these certificates? I can't find a button on the page at all to do it and I feel like a moron, since everyone and their dog is posting them on Twitter.
  - jffry 5y ago
    In the dialog that shows up after you finish Wordle, click the big green Share button and it's copied to your clipboard
  - ihuman 5y ago
    Press the graph icon next to the "WORDLE" on the top of the screen, then press "share"
  - jamespullar 5y ago
    After successfully solving the daily puzzle, you're presented with a small popup that includes stats and a share button. The share button adds the sequence of emojis to your clipboard.
  - vgel 5y ago
    When it pops up the results dialog after you win, there's a green "Share" button in the bottom right. If you closed the results dialog, you can get it to open again by refreshing the page.
    - llbeansandrice 5y ago
      You can also just click the bar graph icon in the top right, next to the settings gear.
  - damontal 5y ago
    If you have an ad blocker on it won’t show

defaultname 5y ago

Free. No ads. Accessible to everyone. Convenient build-in share functionality and a common experience (as you mentioned the common daily word). And of course a clean, technically excellent implementation. If it had a single barrier (install an app, create an account, click through ads, etc), it would have been yet another of countless word games. It was a brilliant confluence for a momentary explosion in popularity. All along, though, people were yipping about the grand benevolence and moral supremacy of this version versus clones (when the app itself was, as you mentioned, not that derived from an existing game, even aping the coloring), and that all looks pretty silly now that the creator quite rightly managed a pretty lucrative "exit" for a trivial work. And I applaud them for it, and respect the brilliant choices made to get there.

benoliver999 5y ago
The implementation is so good. Completely client side, which was a stroke of genius when it started getting really popular.

secondcoming 5y ago

To which UK TV show are you referring? It doesn't ring any bells with me.

sltkr 5y ago
It's called Lingo. Apparently it was invented in the USA, but had a bunch of national variants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingo_(American_game_show) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingo_(American_game_show) It was pretty popular in the Netherlands as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9959YYGuEBM&t=45s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9959YYGuEBM&t=45s In the Netherlands it started with 5 letter words, as in Wordle, and later they moved on to 6 letter words for variety. But the principle remains the same.