Althouse: "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."

January 31, 2022

"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 NYT reports.

58 comments:

tim in vermont said...: Nooooooooo!

[Insert GIF of Capt Kirk shouting "Kaaahhhnnnn!"]; 1/31/22, 4:43 PM
wild chicken said...: Oh no. Does that mean it'll be paywalled? I'm subscriber but didn't mean to make it a permanent thing.

Seems kinda grabby by NYT.; 1/31/22, 4:49 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Increasingly the New York Times' value comes from recipes, crosswords, and other games, not from original reporting.; 1/31/22, 4:50 PM
RoseAnne said...: NYT bought WORDLE?????????????????

Hopefully they won't screw it up.

BTW, sometimes, with little effort, it will allow 4 or 5 times in a row. Other days, it will stick with the one chance.; 1/31/22, 4:54 PM
Clyde said...: I can’t blame the guy for cashing in. I’ll play it until it gets paywalled.; 1/31/22, 4:57 PM
Harold said...: Thus ends my Wordle run, some kind of monetization is all but guaranteed but my real fear is that they will try to improve game somehow in order to justify getting the premium version.; 1/31/22, 4:58 PM
fizzymagic said...: Just lovely. Now they will try to make us pay. Not getting a penny from me.; 1/31/22, 5:00 PM
Bender said...: This is why we can't have nice things.; 1/31/22, 5:08 PM
Crimso said...: MONEY; 1/31/22, 5:09 PM
dbp said...: I'll keep playing, for now.

I've gone 22 days in a row now and haven't lost yet, though it took me all 6 guesses once. If they ask for money, or make the site too cluttered it will end my Wordle-playing era.

Kudos to the inventor, the interface is clean and I'm glad he got his 7-figures.; 1/31/22, 5:13 PM
tcrosse said...: There's a Wordle clone at Wordle Unlimited which, while it lasts, allows one to play as many times a day as one wishes.; 1/31/22, 5:15 PM
rehajm said...: There goes the neighborhood…; 1/31/22, 5:19 PM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: The NYTimes also last month purchased The Athletic sports reporting site. I was a subscriber to The Athletic right up to the moment I got their exciting announcement that they had been acquired.; 1/31/22, 5:21 PM
Joe Smith said...: The first NYT Wordle word will be 'TRANS.'

Of course they'll fuck it up.; 1/31/22, 5:23 PM
tim in vermont said...: I lost on "REMIE" I am amazed that everybody else knew that word.; 1/31/22, 5:23 PM
tim in vermont said...: It was pretty weird that there were no ads. But this is worst case. Next they will be inserting words and deleting words based on the needs of the DCN at any given time. Words like 'guilt' when they have the next Trump show trial, oh yeah, and 'trial' will be another one 'graft' will be banned, and 'bribe' of course will be used or banned depending on the news cycle and if the DNC has decided to accuse the other side of what it is doing, like in the first impeachment, or on defense if Hunter ever gets investigated.; 1/31/22, 5:36 PM
Ted said...: The NY Times says Wordle will INITIALLY remain free, but is part of their overall strategy to increase online subscriptions.

So they're taking something free and ad-free, developed by one guy for fun, and turning it into a new way to get people to pay them money. Because they still can't get people to pay them for their news writing.; 1/31/22, 5:38 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: ...has been acquired by The New York Times Company.”
The NYT reports.

If the New York Times is reporting it, it's probably fake news...; 1/31/22, 5:40 PM
rhhardin said...: SPINE because there are lots of rearrangements that are also words, e.g. penis.; 1/31/22, 5:45 PM
RoseAnne said...: Blogger tcrosse said...
There's a Wordle clone at Wordle Unlimited which, while it lasts, allows one to play as many times a day as one wishes.

That explains it - thanks for mentioning it. I didn't know there was another version. I just wasn't paying that much attention to what I clicked on.; 1/31/22, 5:47 PM
rhhardin said...: My "MOO" game implementation that went out on the sly in the operating system for a telephone switching statistics monitoring system had players from all levels enjoying it. An expert takes (for 4-letter words) 4 guesses (given number of correct letters and number of letters also in the correct position, cows and bulls respectively). A field guy reported one lady excited that she got it in 26 guesses. Truly a pasttime for everybody, which is what it was for. Imagine being working at a terminal all day typing in number assignments and having MOO at your fingertips as well.; 1/31/22, 5:49 PM
Tank said...: And over to the dark side we go.; 1/31/22, 5:56 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: They say they won't paywall it. I hope they don't!; 1/31/22, 6:09 PM
Lincolntf said...: I am so good at Wordle that I scare myself.; 1/31/22, 6:10 PM
farmgirl said...: Trust me, rh- MOO and fingertips are a way of life for me. But I’ve never heard of that word game.
I hope the NYTs doesn’t ruin this Wordle game for you all.; 1/31/22, 6:13 PM
Old and slow said...: I found an old text game (used to see it on BBS dial-in systems) called Dope Wars installed on embedded computers on the production line at a Motorola phone plant in Ireland back in the early 2000's.; 1/31/22, 6:20 PM
Scot said...: Hey, There's Wordle in German now!

https://www.knifemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_6918-768x330.jpg; 1/31/22, 6:20 PM
Bob Boyd said...: They'll probably change it because racist is a six letter word.; 1/31/22, 6:25 PM
Bob Boyd said...: I lost on "REMIE" I am amazed that everybody else knew that word.

Everybody else hasn't played yet. Thanks a lot, Tim.; 1/31/22, 6:26 PM
Scot said...: There is also Absurdle. It changes the target word based on the letters you submit. Is like trying to catch a hopped-up greased pig.

https://qntm.org/files/absurdle/absurdle.html; 1/31/22, 6:30 PM
tim in vermont said...: Remie was two weeks ago; 1/31/22, 7:00 PM
curt said...: Didn’t anyone else get bored with Wordle after guessing the word every time? I think the Times bought a short-lived fad.; 1/31/22, 7:06 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Oh good. Thanks.; 1/31/22, 7:10 PM
tcrosse said...: There's also a Wordle Archive for those who came late to the show.; 1/31/22, 7:14 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I lost on "REMIE" I am amazed that everybody else knew that word."

Are you sure you were playing the real Wordle and not the ripoff app? I think the real Worldle always has very solid standard words. One reason it's guessable is that you just pick the most obvious English word that fits the clues and it's surprisingly often right. Today, I got to the point where there were 3 common words that went with the letters I knew and I just got unlucky and picked the right one third. But I doub that "remie" was ever an answer in the real puzzle!; 1/31/22, 7:16 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The Wordle guy seemed apologetic about allowing "tapir" to be an answer.; 1/31/22, 7:17 PM
What's emanating from your penumbra said...: My source tells me that this is exactly the type of anti-competitive behavior the New and Improved FTC and the DOJ Anti-Trust Division will take a close look at.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/cnbc-transcript-federal-trade-commission-chair-lina-khan-speaks-exclusively-with-andrew-ross-sorkin-and-kara-swisher-live-from-washington-dc-today.html; 1/31/22, 7:18 PM
Static Ping said...: So you are saying TRUMP is never going to be the solution.; 1/31/22, 7:50 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'Hey, There's Wordle in German now!'

REICH; 1/31/22, 8:15 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: Remie isn't in the OED and I've never seen it-- hence it's not a real word. Pft.

Like most everyone else, I'll keep at Wordle it until it goes behind the paywall. I give the NYT their $4 a month but am not paying for the puzzles.; 1/31/22, 8:17 PM
Narr said...: I got it in 2 today--after giving up at 4 last Friday or Saturday . . .; 1/31/22, 8:21 PM
Wilbur said...: I use https://wordle-play.com/

You can play as much as you want and can choose 5,6 or 7 letter puzzles.

I, too, have been a subscriber to The Athletic since its inception. You may cancel your subscription - I did when hearing of the purchase - but you pay in advance annually so my subscription won't expire until August.; 1/31/22, 8:22 PM
Narr said...: What the hell is 'remie'? Or 'REMIE' if you insist.; 1/31/22, 8:27 PM
ga6 said...: Are five letters the limit on NYT employee's vocabulary?; 1/31/22, 8:31 PM
wildswan said...: Minesweeper
Wordle

However Netflix has got Seinfeld. So it's still possible to waste time, effectively.; 1/31/22, 9:25 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Thank God "insurrection" isn't 5 letters.; 1/31/22, 10:31 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Easy to cheat at Wordle bragging rights (I actually got it in 4):

Wordle 227 2/6

🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩; 1/31/22, 11:19 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: Mark Cuban became a billionaire selling something to Yahoo that doesn't even exist anymore.; 1/31/22, 11:53 PM
tim in vermont said...: "What the hell is 'remie'? Or 'REMIE' if you insist."

Sorry, it was 'ramie" but that was my question. Maybe I am playing the ripoff version. It's a word, it has to do with textiles. After that word, I lost my confidence that the word was guessable. Tapir would have been no problem.; 2/1/22, 5:29 AM
Rollo said...: There must be thousands of word game apps out there for people to waste time on. Is Wordle really better or more interesting?

I have game apps to unscramble words in languages I learned in school. I did not realize how little I actually knew of the languages. Eventually I was just trying random letter combinations over and over again, so there's something to be said for limiting the number of guesses.; 2/1/22, 6:36 AM
Karen said...: Good news! In his Twitter feed, Josh says the agreement he reached with the NYT is that Wordle be free going forward.; 2/1/22, 7:19 AM
dbp said...: Made it in 2, for real.

Wordle 227 2/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩; 2/1/22, 7:19 AM
rehajm said...: Karen said...
Good news! In his Twitter feed, Josh says the agreement he reached with the NYT is that Wordle be free going forward.

NYT will collect as much information about you via your phone/computer and share it with NYT allies in gov't, media and business.

'Free'...

Expect an obligation to agree to TOS before you can play...; 2/1/22, 7:43 AM
D.D. Driver said...: Wordle 227 3/6*

🟨🟨⬛⬛🟨
🟨🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩; 2/1/22, 8:51 AM
Narr said...: "Ramie"-- an Asian herbaceous shrub with useful fibers. Good to know.

Five letter word for 'insurrection': rebel.; 2/1/22, 11:53 AM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: Wordle is so last week.; 2/1/22, 11:55 AM
Narr said...: Two!; 2/1/22, 12:21 PM
ColoComment said...: I got curious about the name.

A USPTO TESS simple search results in 8 entries: 6 for "Wordle" and 2 for "Wordles."
The earliest dates of filing were the "Wordles," filed in June and July (resp.), 1992 and each cancelled in 1999. The owner was Time Magazine.
The other [dead] ones date from 2002 (abandoned 2013), 2010 (abandoned 2010), and 2013 (abandoned 2014).

One of the remaining is for "Wordle Unlimited," and the last two [live] trademarks are the word mark, owned by "Monkey Labs Inc," and the design mark (logo), owned by NFT Technology Inc.

...more than anyone ever wanted to know, I'm sure. You should be able to see the search results page, here:

https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=4806%3Amutey1.1.1&p_search=searchss&p_L=50&BackReference=&p_plural=yes&p_s_PARA1=&p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA1%24LD&expr=PARA1+AND+PARA2&p_s_PARA2=Wordle&p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA2%24COMB&p_op_ALL=AND&a_default=search&a_search=Submit+Query&a_search=Submit+Query; 2/1/22, 3:50 PM