Since the start of the year, one game, and five letters, seem to have taken over the internet.
Wordle, the simple puzzle that requires users to guess a random five-letter word each day, has become quite the phenomenon.
From 90 daily players when it launched in November to more than two million daily users – and counting – people can’t seem to get enough of Wordle, which is run via a web page as opposed to a mobile app.
The premise is simple: you have six guesses to find the correct word. Any letter that is in the word, but in the wrong place, shows up as yellow, and any correct letter guessed in the right place shows up green. There is just one word each day, and it’s the same for everyone playing across the globe.
Users are able to share their scores on social media without revealing the day’s word to other players, and the website keeps a nice tally of your stats for you.
And while Wordle likes to keep things nice and simple, there are a couple of tricks to switch things up …
Hard Mode
Those who find the standard version of Wordle a little too easy are in luck, as there’s a way to up the stakes. If you want to make things slightly more difficult, you can switch the settings to Hard Mode. In the top right-hand corner of your Wordle screen, you’ll see the settings icon, where you have the option to change modes.
In Hard Mode, whenever you reveal a letter, you have to use that letter in any subsequent guesses, limiting your options to find as many clues as possible in your first few guesses.
Colour Blind Mode
Also in the setting options, you’ll find Colour Blind Mode. Wordle introduced this after feedback from users who were unable to detect the difference between green and yellow squares, making it near-impossible. Colour Blind Mode changes squares to higher contrasting colours – orange and blue – allowing people to identify where letters should be placed more easily.
You can pin Wordle to your phone's home screen
While Wordle doesn’t have an app, there is a way to pin the website to your home screen, to save you manually searching for it every day.
Users just need to open the website in their phone’s browser, and find the option to pin the web page to their home screen.
For iPhone users, open the web page in Safari and find the Share icon in the centre of the bottom toolbar (the square icon with the upwards arrow). Scroll down and select “add to home screen”.
For Android users, open Wordle in Google Chrome. Tap the three dots to the right of the web address and scroll down to find the “add to home screen” option.
Both will then ensure Wordle appears on your homepage, taking you straight to the game.
