This morning I received an email from The New York Times. It never once crossed my mind that maybe they wanted me to come and work for them as their new word maven, finally replacing William Safire, who’d passed away many years ago.
Upon closer inspection of the email I discovered that they did indeed want me to join them but only for the daily playing of the many puzzles and games that run in their fine paper. That was the bad news. The good news was that I could play all the NYT games I wanted for 50% off for a whole year, but only if I acted quickly. I didn’t.
One of my favorite games of theirs is Wordle, and why pay for the game when Mrs. Word Guy and I can play it for free every morning? Just exactly what is going on here? I decided to find out.
In late January of last year The Times purchased Wordle from its creator, Josh Wardle, for an amount said to be “in the low seven figures,” leaving many people wondering why the Gray Lady bought the popular game and just how much she paid for it.
While Randoh Sallihall of unscramblerer.com shed some light on the purchase, writing that, “Wordle brought 10s of millions of new users to The New York Times,” people still wondered about the specifics of the deal.
Before long those questions were answered by Australian Financial Review’s Adir Shiffman, who wrote, “At a $3 million purchase price, the cost of Wordle could be recovered within a year if 10 percent of daily players add a New York Times subscription. Wordle players who don’t want a full subscription might still be attracted to The New York Times games package for $40 a year.”
Before long several companies whose livelihoods depend on words were in the game-buying business. In January, Merriam-Webster bought the word puzzle Quordle, which requires players to solve four puzzles in nine tries. About the purchase, the game’s creator Freddie Meyer wrote, “I’m delighted that Quordle was acquired by Merriam-Webster! I can’t think of a better home for this game. Lots of new features and fun to come, so stay tuned.”
And earlier this month Britannic.com bought Octordle, a game that asks you to solve eight Wordle-type puzzles in 13 tries. (In a way Britannica now owns both Quordle and Octordle since “Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. of Chicago purchased the G. & C. Merriam Company, publisher of Webster’s Third International Dictionary, for $13,960,000” in 1964.)
And if playing all of the above games isn’t enough for you, fear not: There are lots of other choices out there. You could try Waffle, which is sort of a mashup of Wordle and the Jumble, or you could try Dordle, in which you try to solve two side-by-side words at the same time.
Spotify’s Heardle handles music-related words, and should not be confused with AARP’s Hurdle game, which requires you to complete five Wordle-type games in order to clear all of the little hurdles that appear at the top of the game.
If all of this has got you wondering if there are enough word game options out there, consider that while you may not be able to get tickets to her recent concerts, you can take solace in the all-things-Taylor-Swift word game, Taylordle.
Jim Witherell of Lewiston is a writer and lover of words whose work includes “L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company” and “Ed Muskie: Made in Maine.” He can be reached at jlwitherell19@gmail.com.
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