Wordle: The daily puzzle game that Twitter is obsessed with

If you’re an active Twitter user, chances are you’ve been seeing people sharing emoji boards made up of green, yellow, and sometimes white, sometimes grey squares.

For anyone confused by this seemingly random trend, it’s because people are hooked on a new browser game called Wordle, and those multicoloured squares are them sharing their results.

So, what exactly is Wordle, where did it come from, and most importantly, how do you play it?

What is Wordle?

At its core, Wordle is a simple, puzzle game you can play on your web browser for free. It was created by one Josh Wardle, a programmer who previously made social experiments The Place and The Button for Reddit.

The goal is simple: guess the hidden five-letter word in six tries or less. Do so, and you’re rewarded with a sense of self-satisfaction.

There is a new word every day, meaning everyone who plays is attempting to solve the same one rather than their own unique puzzle, adding an extra level of competitiveness.

While it has been available for almost 200 days, Wordle picked up steam throughout December thanks to the newly added share functionality, allowing players to brag about how many tries it took them to solve a particular puzzle.

Since everyone is given the same word to figure out, the emoji boards are designed to not give away what it is, only showing how each player progressed. What the different squares actually mean will be explained in a moment.

How do I play Wordle?

When you start a Wordle puzzle, you have to just guess what the five-letter word could be. After typing one in, the game will tell you how close you are to the answer.

If a letter is highlighted yellow, that means that letter is included in the word, but it’s in the wrong position. If the letter is highlighted green, it is in the correct position. A letter highlighted in grey, however, is not in the word at all.

Following this process, you keep guessing until you figure it out or run out of tries. For an extra challenge, there is a hard mode that forces you to use the hints you’ve uncovered in subsequent guesses.

The website also keeps track of your statistics, such as how many games you’ve played, your win ratio, and your current and highest win streaks.

Anyone who’s interested can try the game out at this website, with each new puzzle set to go up at midnight.