The New York Times Has Bought Wordle

The New York Times has acquired Wordle, a simple word guessing game, for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures, the newspaper announced Monday, January 31.

The game, created by Josh Wardle, will initially continue to be free to play. Wordle, which was released in October 2021, is a daily word puzzle that has soared in popularity, amassing millions of daily players within months.

To play the game, players have six tries to guess a five-letter word. Many users choose to share their results, a grid of green, yellow, and black boxes,  on social media.

Wordle, the name is a cheeky pun on its creator’s name, has had a striking rise. It first appeared on a no-frills, ad-free website in October, and had 90 users on November 1. That number grew to 300,000 by the middle of the month, and now millions play the game daily, according to the Times announcement.

“The game has gotten bigger than I ever imagined,” Wardle wrote in a statement on Twitter. “I’d be lying if I said this hasn’t been a little overwhelming. After all, I am just one person, and it is important to me that, as Wordle grows, it continues to provide a great experience to everyone.”

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