If you’ve spent absolutely any time at all on the internet in the past month or two, you’ll probably have heard of the free word-guessing game Wordle.
The premise is simple – you have six attempts to guess the day’s five-letter word. Green squares mean you have the right letter in the right place, yellow squares the right letter in the wrong place, and grey squares mean a letter isn’t in the word at all.
Well, this fun little game has just scored its creator, Josh Wardle (yes, really), a cool seven-figure payout from the New York Times, which has bought Wordle to add to its portfolio alongside games like its Crossword and Mini Crossword, Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Tiles and Vertex.
“As part of our portfolio of games, Wordle will have an exciting future with the help of a team of talented engineers, designers, editors and more, furthering the user experience,” said Jonathan Knight, general manager for The New York Times Games.
For his part, Josh says that Wordle is a natural fit for the Times, which provided inspiration for its origin as a game for his word-puzzle-loving partner.
“I’ve long admired The Times’s approach to the quality of their games and the respect with which they treat their players. Their values are aligned with mine on these matters and I’m thrilled that they will be stewards of the game moving forward,” he said.
The Times has promised the game will initially stay free, but there’s no guarantee it will remain that way forever – so if you want to get as much Wordle in as you can before any potential paywalls go up, you’d best GUESS THOSE WORDS QUICK SMART, ‘CAUSE – oh bugger, out of tries…
