It's difficult to say whether Wordle's extraordinary success has more to do with its metacultural community rather than its gameplay principles. That's because, at its heart, this is an awesome puzzle. The story goes that Wordle's creator, who was a former Reddit software engineer known as Josh Wardle, dreamt up the idea to be one of the few private rituals shared between him and his word game-loving wife. The two would go through the ages, solving the mysteries in intimate marital bliss, long before wordle game unblocked was released to the internet. However, it's also the truth that Wordle was not a novel idea. The shows LINGO basically operated with the same gimmick back in the mid-2000s and if you've played slow-paced after-school shows, you've likely endured some mind-numbing rounds in Mastermind while waiting for your dad to come pick you up. (Mastermind used letters to represent different colored pegs. However, its overall strategy was the exact same.)


In this sense Wordle's rise could be considered pure chaos. Nobody could've predicted the zeitgeist; it is simply an issue of being in the perfect spot at the appropriate time. The tides of virality are ever-changing, and at times it can lift up an old-fashioned cipher to at the top of a trending page.


But I don't think that Wordle's lack of inventiveness really has any bearing on the overall quality of their product. Strangely enough, Wordle's core appeal can be found in its magnificently ameliorating social emotions. When I sit down with my Wordle is like being prickled with a tranquil smack because it's very difficult to detach anycultural artifact from the global disasters of the past two years. I began playing Wordle in December last year, in an era of utter devastation caused by the Omicron wave. I started playing it right as all of our daffy, post-pandemic euphoria was being humbled by the Almighty Variants. It was back to level one, and I am sure I'm not the sole one who recalls that time as the top ebb of our bleak, everlasting, repeated Covid journeys. As with the other pandemic phases (sourdough to start, The Last Dance, drinks that are guilt-free,) Wordle encapsulates a sense of blissful, effortless peace during a time we're all thirsty for it. Josh Wardle saliently added a share feature to the bottom of each app, which means that your social media feeds are filled with green, gray, and yellow boxes. It's almost as if it's a way to exchange notes with fellow Wordleheads. Some criticize the function, and compare it with the most dark Farmville days on Facebook. Personally, I enjoy the chance to stay clear of discussions about the deadly disease or the end of democracy, and instead just talk about the daily word with people who are circulating through my feed.