I blame the Fluffster offspring. Knowing I can’t resist word games, he sent me the message above about Wordle, the daily puzzle that involves guessing a five-letter word — without any clues — in six tries or fewer. Since it sounded like fun, I started playing.
Two months have passed, and I’m hooked, along with millions of others. Some days I don’t get much done, but I always finish the Wordle. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long.
The Toronto Star recently reported that Canada beats the US at Wordle, and Torontonians are slightly ahead of Vancouverites (see below and article). As a West Coast resident, I must object. Toronto can’t be permitted to beat us at this game.
That said, I’m also suspicious of these results. The article relies on Twitter data, not official Wordle scores. How do we know these Twitter posts are reliable? Perhaps the writer of WordTips cherry-picked a time period that favoured Toronto to arrive at this ranking. I await more persuasive evidence before conceding defeat.
On days when I feel I need more practice, I tackle one of the one of the variations on Wordle.
Hello Wordl lets you choose longer words (5 to 11 letters), plus unlimited rounds. This site will be my fallback when the New York Times puts the currently free Wordle behind a paywall. Not because of the longer words and unlimited rounds, though; the satisfaction I get from playing is because I can complete it quickly and then look forward to the next day’s challenge. Oh, and because it’s free.
I do Quordle when I need a bigger challenge. Guessing four different words at the same time, using the same five letters in 9 tries or fewer, is hard. I’m slowly improving. I’ll keep trying. Just not every day.
Canuckle requires words unique to Canada. Some, like kayak or maple, make sense. Others are a stretch, like cabin or tower (the latter refers to the CN Tower — not so obvious outside Toronto). Apparently landmarks are legitimate solutions. This one’s for occasional use only.
Wordle lets you post your results (how many tries you needed) on social media without giving away the solution (see below). Inevitably, some folks mess up and reveal the answer instead. Ms. Fluffster usually does the Wordle first thing in the morning, and shares her results on Twitter with minimal comments. Then she blocks the spoilsports.
As I discovered when we tried to play the game together, the Fluffster offspring doesn’t try to guess the answer; he first plugs in words with as many different letters as possible to narrow down his options. Sure, this strategy increases his odds of success in the end, but sharply reduces the chance of guessing correctly in three tries or fewer.
We decided that we weren’t compatible co-Wordlers because I’m a gambler. I start out semi-methodically with a standard word or two, then make wild guesses. Consequently, I fail more often than he does. That’s ok. It’s not just about the win streaks. Today, I got it in two!
Crossword by Adrien Coquet from NounProject.com
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