Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

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delamer
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?] spoiler, Jan 15th’s answer is revealed

Post by delamer »

JupiterJones wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 11:02 am
delamer wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:01 am I don’t understand the idea of using a 2nd word that doesn’t incorporate any hits that you get on the 1st word (or generally not incorporating all hits from any previous words).

I read a similar suggestion elsewhere, and it baffles me.

But I do know that people use different forms of logic to arrive at the correct conclusion, so . . .
My gut feeling is that the repeated letter guessing increases the chances of getting a good, low score at the expense of an increased chance of losing the puzzle outright. The different letter approach does the opposite. Although I'd imagine it probably doesn't make too much different in many cases--such as my example!
It’s an intriguing possibility.

Maybe the strategy would be different if there was a time limit?
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
sureshoe
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?] spoiler, today’s answer is revealed

Post by sureshoe »

tuningfork wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:21 am
runner3081 wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 10:46 am Wish I had enough free time for games like this, haha.
The great thing about Wordle is that you can only play once per day. You can't end up losing a half hour playing word after word after word, unless you purposely seek out one of the clones that allow unrestricted play.
So this thread introduced me to it, and I found myself playing the unlimited version for 40 minutes past bedtime. Doh.

I like the page that limits my crack addiction.
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?] spoiler, Jan 15th’s answer is revealed

Post by sureshoe »

This is all based on WHEEDL so any solutions are not spoilers.

Having played yesterday for the first time, getting the first starter word was interesting - I see a lot of people listing words with multiple vowels... which is interesting. I felt blasting consonants was more important. I do:
1) RENTS
Many times, this gets me 2-3 letters. If it gets me 3, I usually have it solved by the 3rd guess, 4th at worst. If I only get 2 letters, depending on what they are and position, I mix and match strategy.

Second word > CLOMP
By this point, I usually have at least 3 letters and work for position/etc.

If I only have 1 or 2 letters and I'm stuck, I do BAWDY.

The only time I lost when the answer was ADDED. I've since gotten things like IGNOT and ADDER (thanks Added).

At this point, it's a pretty trivial (but addicting) game. Now, I really want to code up a WORDL optimization engine. Assuming someone has already done that.
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Cheez-It Guy
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?] spoiler, Jan 15th’s answer is revealed

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

What's the relevancy at this point of retaining in the title that the January 15th answer is revealed?
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MidwestMike
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by MidwestMike »

Cheez-It Guy wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:45 am What's the relevancy at this point of retaining in the title that the January 15th answer is revealed?
OK, gone.
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

Thanks!
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?] spoiler, today’s answer is revealed

Post by AlphaLess »

Swivelguy wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 3:42 pm
MidwestMike wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:22 am What’s everyone’s starting word? Mine is satin.
I downloaded a word list (not Wordle's exact limited word list, nor a complete scrabble word list, but somewhere in the middle) and scored every word on how popular the letters in it are, not just based on overall letter frequency, but also weighted for letter placement. The outcome of this exercise is that the best single word, the word that is the most similar to all words, is LATER. However, there isn't a great second word to pair with it that has no letter overlap. As a result, I start every game with:

TONES, then
DAIRY, and if I'm still at a loss,
CLUMP
It really depends.

A given word, say, LATER, could be the best first word, only if the daily Wordle puzzle was random.

Last few days, I am using some "best" words for 1st word, and they hit pretty poorly.

Why?

Because of author's choice of hidden words.
I don't carry a signature because people are easily offended.
AlphaLess
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?] spoiler, Jan 15th’s answer is revealed

Post by AlphaLess »

Cheez-It Guy wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:45 am What's the relevancy at this point of retaining in the title that the January 15th answer is revealed?
Historically, that is what happened.
I don't carry a signature because people are easily offended.
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Doom&Gloom
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by Doom&Gloom »

Should probably add "Possible Daily Spoilers" to the title.

Well, because.
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Artful Dodger
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by Artful Dodger »

I've been playing the last five days, and so far have got all the words.

I appreciate the other posters start words. I'll have to jot down. I've been doing AROSE.

I usually get the word by the 4th or 5th line, so not exactly a wordle genius, but enjoying the challenge and having fun.
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Cheez-It Guy
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?] spoiler, Jan 15th’s answer is revealed

Post by Cheez-It Guy »

AlphaLess wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 1:57 pm
Cheez-It Guy wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:45 am What's the relevancy at this point of retaining in the title that the January 15th answer is revealed?
Historically, that is what happened.
Yes, but you can't play previous days.
FreddyC
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by FreddyC »

Who needs an optimizer? You can cheat (I don’t cheat).

Here is how you do it: you open the wordle page (you may want to do it in a private window so it doesn’t count), right click and open source, click on the program main.something.is at the bottom (this is in the fox browser, it may be somewhat different in other browsers), then you get a page listing all the words in chronological order, search for the word you know when it was used, and there you have it.
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gwe67
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by gwe67 »

Starting words:

ATONE
GULFS
CHIMP
WORDY
remaining letters are QJKZVB

or

THREW
FLOGS
VAPID
JUNKY
COMBO
remaining letters are QZX
VTI 48%, VXUS 12%, BND 40%
delamer
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by delamer »

gwe67 wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:20 am Starting words:

ATONE
GULFS
CHIMP
WORDY
remaining letters are QJKZVB

or

THREW
FLOGS
VAPID
JUNKY
COMBO
remaining letters are QZX
But remember that the same letter can occur multiple times in a word.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
AlphaLess
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by AlphaLess »

Wordle 217 5/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟩⬛🟨🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I keep using this "best FIRST word for wordle" things, and get unlucky.
Already 4th day in a row that in my first guess, I get zero hits (yellow or green).
I don't carry a signature because people are easily offended.
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Stinky
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by Stinky »

gwe67 wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:20 am Starting words:

ATONE
GULFS
CHIMP
WORDY
remaining letters are QJKZVB

or

THREW
FLOGS
VAPID
JUNKY
COMBO
remaining letters are QZX
I use two starting words - daily and mouse. That covers all of the vowels, and sometimes I’m lucky enough to get one or more of the vowels in the correct position.
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by nisiprius »

Send in the clones!

Spanish-language version

Portuguese-language version Alert, the url is https://term.ooo, I've never seen that domain name before, but Avast isn't giving me any warnings.

Choral music-themed version

These are all faithful to the spirit of the original--no cost, no advertising.

I'm about at level B2 in Spanish and I was actually able to do one in Spanish. I've only just started on Portuguese, there's not a snowball's chance of me solving one in Portuguese except by dumb luck.
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SagaciousTraveler
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by SagaciousTraveler »

I play now. :beer

Thanks for the link.
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SagaciousTraveler
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by SagaciousTraveler »

nisiprius wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 5:12 pm Send in the clones!

Spanish-language version

Portuguese-language version Alert, the url is https://term.ooo, I've never seen that domain name before, but Avast isn't giving me any warnings.

Choral music-themed version

These are all faithful to the spirit of the original--no cost, no advertising.

I'm about at level B2 in Spanish and I was actually able to do one in Spanish. I've only just started on Portuguese, there's not a snowball's chance of me solving one in Portuguese except by dumb luck.
If you find an Italian one, please send it my way. Thanks.
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grabiner
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?] spoiler, today’s answer is revealed

Post by grabiner »

MJS wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:37 am
MidwestMike wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:22 am What’s everyone’s starting word? Mine is satin.
ADIEU followed by SPORT
I don't restrict to vowels, so I start with TRADE, and normally follow with LIONS. If I don't have much information, my third word will be CHUMP. With fifteen letters tested, I usually win on the fourth word, sometimes the fifth.
Wiki David Grabiner
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by D. C. Pline »

nisiprius wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 5:12 pm Send in the clones!

Spanish-language version

Portuguese-language version Alert, the url is https://term.ooo, I've never seen that domain name before, but Avast isn't giving me any warnings.

Choral music-themed version

These are all faithful to the spirit of the original--no cost, no advertising.

I'm about at level B2 in Spanish and I was actually able to do one in Spanish. I've only just started on Portuguese, there's not a snowball's chance of me solving one in Portuguese except by dumb luck.
My Spanish isn't that great, but I am going back to learning. I tried the Spanish Wordle for the first time today, and got lucky!

Wordle (ES) #18 2/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

wordle.danielfrg.com


I am now wordling in a few languages. I approach it differently from most people. I do not have a standard starting word. It does not matter what word I start with, as long as I cover the most common letters within the first couple of guesses. I also play as if I were in hard mode, only allowing myself to guess words consistent with what I know from previous guesses, but I enforce it myself (making it even harder). I can always get the word unless I make a mistake.
delamer
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by delamer »

D. C. Pline wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:44 am
nisiprius wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 5:12 pm Send in the clones!

Spanish-language version

Portuguese-language version Alert, the url is https://term.ooo, I've never seen that domain name before, but Avast isn't giving me any warnings.

Choral music-themed version

These are all faithful to the spirit of the original--no cost, no advertising.

I'm about at level B2 in Spanish and I was actually able to do one in Spanish. I've only just started on Portuguese, there's not a snowball's chance of me solving one in Portuguese except by dumb luck.
My Spanish isn't that great, but I am going back to learning. I tried the Spanish Wordle for the first time today, and got lucky!

Wordle (ES) #18 2/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

wordle.danielfrg.com


I am now wordling in a few languages. I approach it differently from most people. I do not have a standard starting word. It does not matter what word I start with, as long as I cover the most common letters within the first couple of guesses. I also play as if I were in hard mode, only allowing myself to guess words consistent with what I know from previous guesses, but I enforce it myself (making it even harder). I can always get the word unless I make a mistake.
I agree regarding the starting word. Having common letters is important but I don’t see any specific value in using the same word each day.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
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MidwestMike
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by MidwestMike »

delamer wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:55 am I agree regarding the starting word. Having common letters is important but I don’t see any specific value in using the same word each day.
Sure there is. You’ve found a starting word which yields good results. There is no reason to change unless you’ve found a starting word which yields better results. And in that case you should stick with the new word.
delamer
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by delamer »

MidwestMike wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:32 am
delamer wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:55 am I agree regarding the starting word. Having common letters is important but I don’t see any specific value in using the same word each day.
Sure there is. You’ve found a starting word which yields good results. There is no reason to change unless you’ve found a starting word which yields better results. And in that case you should stick with the new word.
But you’ll never find a starting word with even better results if you stick with the same one.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
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MidwestMike
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by MidwestMike »

delamer wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:36 am
MidwestMike wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:32 am
delamer wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:55 am I agree regarding the starting word. Having common letters is important but I don’t see any specific value in using the same word each day.
Sure there is. You’ve found a starting word which yields good results. There is no reason to change unless you’ve found a starting word which yields better results. And in that case you should stick with the new word.
But you’ll never find a starting word with even better results if you stick with the same one.
Sure you can. After you’ve finished the daily puzzle which words would have yielded better results.
sureshoe
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by sureshoe »

MidwestMike wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:32 am
delamer wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:55 am I agree regarding the starting word. Having common letters is important but I don’t see any specific value in using the same word each day.
Sure there is. You’ve found a starting word which yields good results. There is no reason to change unless you’ve found a starting word which yields better results. And in that case you should stick with the new word.
Thanks for the thread, I got addicted on Thursday and have pretty much "solved" Wordl at this point playing the free versions. At this point, it's largely trivial and the only challenge is coming up with the solutions sooner.

To your point - having the right letters is important. I would love to see a documented, "best" Wordl strategy. You could get it with a light dictionary analysis and work, I just don't have the energy to program the interactions.

For example, I use RENTS. If I have 1-2 greens, I ignore them. If I have a yellow I try to place it.
Example - only a Yellow S, I do SOUPY. Only a yellow R, I do CRAMP. Only a yellow E, I do EAGLE. A yellow E & R, I do FARED. A yellow SE, GUISE... etc.
If I don't get any matches (or just 1-2 green), I do CLAMP and or HOWDY

Anyhoo - those work pretty well, but a deeper probability analysis could answer definitive. The only time I have lost was on BONGO and DELVE. The double vowels can be tricky.

EDIT > today's was harder. Had to add words to the system :)
Last edited by sureshoe on Mon Jan 24, 2022 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
delamer
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by delamer »

MidwestMike wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:40 am
delamer wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:36 am
MidwestMike wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:32 am
delamer wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:55 am I agree regarding the starting word. Having common letters is important but I don’t see any specific value in using the same word each day.
Sure there is. You’ve found a starting word which yields good results. There is no reason to change unless you’ve found a starting word which yields better results. And in that case you should stick with the new word.
But you’ll never find a starting word with even better results if you stick with the same one.
Sure you can. After you’ve finished the daily puzzle which words would have yielded better results.
More time than I’m willing to invest. Besides, knowing the answer will color your guesses after #1.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by nisiprius »

It seems like a very good challenge for various forms of AI and also for good old straight computer programming.

There are only 2,315 possible answers. At any given stage in the game, there are only a limited number of them that can fit the pattern that has already been revealed. I don't know if Wardle has published the actual list. It would probably be a reasonable first-year computer programming exercise to write a program to list all the words fitting a given grey/yellow/green answer pattern.

I assume a complete dictionary of some kind is used to decide what is a legal "word" for each answer attempt. A Scrabble dictionary has about 700 pages, 60 words per page, so about 40,000. Again, a computer could fairly easily, starting from what's been revealed, find the dictionary word which, when played, will cut down the number of possible answers the most. That's probably not the optimum strategy, though. The optimum strategy is, if there are N words left to try, to test all possible combinations of trial words for the remaining plays, i.e. 40,000N to see which restrict the possibilities the most. That's probably too many for brute force on home computers at this point.

I'm too lazy to search, quite possibly there is already a purpose-built robot Wordle player as I write this.

It would be interesting to see if a self-teaching AI program could evolve a good strategy.
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by JupiterJones »

nisiprius wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 1:06 pm I don't know if Wardle has published the actual list.
His word list is publicly available, yes. And very widely-distributed too! 8-)
"Stay on target! Stay on target!"
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goingup
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?] spoiler, today’s answer is revealed

Post by goingup »

grabiner wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:26 pm
MJS wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:37 am
MidwestMike wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:22 am What’s everyone’s starting word? Mine is satin.
ADIEU followed by SPORT
I don't restrict to vowels, so I start with TRADE, and normally follow with LIONS. If I don't have much information, my third word will be CHUMP. With fifteen letters tested, I usually win on the fourth word, sometimes the fifth.
Are you a Matthew Stafford fan, perhaps? :D
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dodecahedron
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by dodecahedron »

Here is an article on the Math of Winning Wordle from the Art of Problem Solving. (A *very* reputable website, by the way.)

According to the article, "It's proven that any Wordle can be won in 5 guesses or less," though there is no citation to a source stating the proof. (I am guessing this proof may be a somewhat ugly brute force exhaustive computer approach, since the list of possible target words and the list of additional valid guess words are both relatively short.)

The article makes some interesting observations which might be useful for those wanting to choose initial words that narrow down the possibilities as optimally as possible.
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by MidwestMike »

For whatever reason my “account” reset yesterday.
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Raymond
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by Raymond »

MidwestMike wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:22 am For whatever reason my “account” reset yesterday.
Did you clear cookies on your browser?
"Ritter, Tod und Teufel"
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MidwestMike
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by MidwestMike »

Raymond wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:34 am
MidwestMike wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:22 am For whatever reason my “account” reset yesterday.
Did you clear cookies on your browser?
Cleared history but not cookies.
dokeeffe
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by dokeeffe »

The New York Times has bought Wordle

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/busi ... ordle.html

"The sudden hit Wordle, in which once a day players get six chances to guess a five-letter word, has been acquired by The New York Times Company.

The purchase, announced by The Times on Monday, reflects the growing importance of games, like crosswords and Spelling Bee, in the company’s quest to increase digital subscriptions to 10 million by 2025.

Wordle was acquired from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players."
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by quietseas »

dokeeffe wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:35 pm The New York Times has bought Wordle

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/busi ... ordle.html

"The sudden hit Wordle, in which once a day players get six chances to guess a five-letter word, has been acquired by The New York Times Company.

The purchase, announced by The Times on Monday, reflects the growing importance of games, like crosswords and Spelling Bee, in the company’s quest to increase digital subscriptions to 10 million by 2025.

Wordle was acquired from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players."
Pay wall coming, but good for Josh on making a few bucks. Maybe he'll come here and ask for advice on how to invest his windfall.
delamer
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by delamer »

quietseas wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 5:19 pm
dokeeffe wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:35 pm The New York Times has bought Wordle

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/busi ... ordle.html

"The sudden hit Wordle, in which once a day players get six chances to guess a five-letter word, has been acquired by The New York Times Company.

The purchase, announced by The Times on Monday, reflects the growing importance of games, like crosswords and Spelling Bee, in the company’s quest to increase digital subscriptions to 10 million by 2025.

Wordle was acquired from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players."
Pay wall coming, but good for Josh on making a few bucks. Maybe he'll come here and ask for advice on how to invest his windfall.
😁
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
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Rainier
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by Rainier »

Does anyone know how Wordle works? I'm not asking how to play but how it actually functions.

I have a Chrome shortcut saved on my home screen and when it opens it doesn't look like a web browser (no address bar or other controls). I don't have an account yet it still knows all my stats.
dokeeffe
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by dokeeffe »

Rainier wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 5:33 pm Does anyone know how Wordle works? I'm not asking how to play but how it actually functions.

I have a Chrome shortcut saved on my home screen and when it opens it doesn't look like a web browser (no address bar or other controls). I don't have an account yet it still knows all my stats.
Your stats are stored in the cookies of your browser. If you were to go to that site on your phone it would not know your stats.
PoppyA
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by PoppyA »

I start with BASIC
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Raymond
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by Raymond »

dokeeffe wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:35 pm ...Wordle was acquired from its creator, Josh Wardle, a software engineer in Brooklyn, for a price “in the low seven figures,” The Times said. The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players."
There are a bunch of similar games: "There Are Many Wordle Clones And Variants And That’s Good, Actually" - Kotaku.com (Warning: some NSFW words in the article, discussing a variation called "Lewdle".)

Here are others:

Wordle Unlimited (unlimited play)

hello wordl (you can set the word size from 4 to 11 letters) :shock:
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GuyInFL
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by GuyInFL »

NY Times just purchased it for 7 figures
spectec
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by spectec »

I'm using AUDIO as my first word.
Still trying to decide on a good second one.

AUDIT followed by STOLE is also good, depending upon the outcome of #1
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SagaciousTraveler
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by SagaciousTraveler »

The New York Times Company announced in a press release that it had bought the online word game, which has exploded in popularity in recent months, for a price in the "low seven figures." It also said that the game's format will remain unchanged and that it will "initially remain free to new and existing players."
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AnnetteLouisan
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Location: New York, NY

Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

I got today’s in only 3 tries! And only my second day of playing it!

If the whole investing in the market thing doesn’t work out, I’ll switch to this!
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JupiterJones
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by JupiterJones »

SagaciousTraveler wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:17 am The New York Times Company announced in a press release that it had bought the online word game, which has exploded in popularity in recent months, for a price in the "low seven figures." It also said that the game's format will remain unchanged and that it will "initially remain free to new and existing players."
On the one hand, a bummer, since they will almost certainly ruin what was great about Wordle. The shared experience of everyone, everywhere, playing the same puzzle each day is part of the fun. If--or let's face it, when--the audience inevitably narrows to just NYTimes puzzle subscribers, so much for that. (I do happen to already be a subscriber, but still...)

On the other hand, there are plenty of knock-offs like Hello Wordl out there already. And I'd imagine it wouldn't be too much trouble for someone to make essentially a Wordle clone, down to the one-word-a-day and simple "share" mechanism.

Can't blame the guy for taking the money, that's for sure. Good for him. :moneybag
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SagaciousTraveler
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by SagaciousTraveler »

JupiterJones wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 9:50 am
SagaciousTraveler wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:17 am The New York Times Company announced in a press release that it had bought the online word game, which has exploded in popularity in recent months, for a price in the "low seven figures." It also said that the game's format will remain unchanged and that it will "initially remain free to new and existing players."
On the one hand, a bummer, since they will almost certainly ruin what was great about Wordle. The shared experience of everyone, everywhere, playing the same puzzle each day is part of the fun. If--or let's face it, when--the audience inevitably narrows to just NYTimes puzzle subscribers, so much for that. (I do happen to already be a subscriber, but still...)

On the other hand, there are plenty of knock-offs like Hello Wordl out there already. And I'd imagine it wouldn't be too much trouble for someone to make essentially a Wordle clone, down to the one-word-a-day and simple "share" mechanism.

Can't blame the guy for taking the money, that's for sure. Good for him. :moneybag
Good for the person(s) who created this. I do laugh at the NYT buying it for that amount because as you said its pretty easy to code and there are others out there. If I don't like any of the 'others', I may just code one myself.
Tom_T
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by Tom_T »

Unrelated to the NY Times announcement...

My daughter just informed me that there is a Settings button on the Wordle page, and it actually has a "color-blind" option. If you're like me and you have trouble telling the two "good" colors apart, this setting will completely change your life. Your Wordle life, anyway :) And it actually looks better to me no matter what.
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segfault
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by segfault »

No, but I came here to say this game is uniquely annoying in that it posts text and images to Facebook in a way that I don’t seem to be able to hide all posts from it like I do with other apps. :annoyed
AlphaLess
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Re: Wordle [Anyone playing Wordle?]

Post by AlphaLess »

nisiprius wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 1:06 pm It seems like a very good challenge for various forms of AI and also for good old straight computer programming.

There are only 2,315 possible answers. At any given stage in the game, there are only a limited number of them that can fit the pattern that has already been revealed. I don't know if Wardle has published the actual list. It would probably be a reasonable first-year computer programming exercise to write a program to list all the words fitting a given grey/yellow/green answer pattern.

I assume a complete dictionary of some kind is used to decide what is a legal "word" for each answer attempt. A Scrabble dictionary has about 700 pages, 60 words per page, so about 40,000. Again, a computer could fairly easily, starting from what's been revealed, find the dictionary word which, when played, will cut down the number of possible answers the most. That's probably not the optimum strategy, though. The optimum strategy is, if there are N words left to try, to test all possible combinations of trial words for the remaining plays, i.e. 40,000N to see which restrict the possibilities the most. That's probably too many for brute force on home computers at this point.

I'm too lazy to search, quite possibly there is already a purpose-built robot Wordle player as I write this.

It would be interesting to see if a self-teaching AI program could evolve a good strategy.
If the hidden word selection is random, then a relatively simple program would do.

If the hidden word selection is adversarial, and also learns from the selection of guesses in the previous rounds, then it becomes an interesting game-theoretic problem.

Thus, need criteria and rules.

Criteria could be easy:
- play 1000 times,
- count average number of guesses to solve.
- Minimize that average.

Or could be fancy:
- apply a utility function on the number of guesses to solve,
- average the utility function score.

E.g.:
- solving in 1 guess is 20 points,
- solving in 2 guesses is 10 points,
- solving in 3 guesses is 7 points,
- solving in 4 guesses is 5 points,
- solving in 5 guesses is 4 points,
- solving in 6 guesses is 3 points,
- not solving is negative 10 points.
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