Sedecordle, Nerdle – A Word Puzzle Spin-Off of Wordle

You feel like you’re going insane in the middle of a long speech. When will this be over? When are the sheets, readings, and work going to stop? You tune out the noises and hope that the class will end soon. You scroll about on your phone or computer, overcome by boredom and tiredness. Oh! Today I forgot to do Wordle! The dreary, black and white haze you were in has been replaced with irritating grey, hopeful yellow, and hypnotic green.

Wordle has become a much-needed vacation, a reward for your hard work in all of your lessons. It’s exhilarating to try to discover the five-letter word of the day in six tries, getting grey when the letter isn’t in the word, yellow when it is but in the wrong location, and green when it is both in the word and in the correct spot. You have to go through a lot of five-letter words and keep reminding yourself that some letters may be repeated. Maybe this one will work, although it’s 6 letters long. What about—no, this letter isn’t in the dictionary. Maybe-no, I previously used this letter…but it might occur again.

Wordle’s ease of use and simplicity are two of the game’s numerous attractions. Something so simple and straightforward diverts our attention away from current concerns and unpleasant situations. It provides us a break—a break we need, a break we deserve, a break we work for, a break we are constantly robbed of due to other factors. Wordle, on the other hand, returns it to us. Wordle is neither time-consuming nor mentally taxing. It doesn’t take long or require us to overthink it. It is a refresher, which is what makes Wordle so famous and adored by so many people.

Wordle is a simple and clear application. It stimulated my mind to come up with words that met the criteria. I started playing it a few months ago, and there is no strategy. It’s pure chance. Sometimes you’re lucky and can decipher the word of the day, but other times…no such luck. But that’s okay because the goal of the game is to guess the word, not to win. And, for me, losing is always a fantastic drive to try again and again. When things get dull (or I just don’t want to do the work), I mostly play it in my lectures. It’s a welcome distraction.

The fourth of March is a nightmarish day. My friend and I were collaborating on the word for the day. We couldn’t figure it out as we considered every possibility, from “heard” to “wheat.” We went through 5 attempts (in all honesty, my friend was doing the majority of the work, he was a genius) and were left with “_head.” We searched our brains for appropriate words, whead? thread? Xhead? Until, ultimately, we (more specifically, my friend) realized we could reuse letters. And then it clicked. AHEAD! It’s all in good fun, but when I play the traditional Wordle, I always wish there was another attempt or another word to guess. My wishes were granted as spin-offs began to appear.

Love for the game has presented itself in many ways for different people. Some people are satisfied with the game as it is, but others (like me) desire more. This desire for greater simplicity, more breaks, more ease, and simply more Wordle led to the creation of other Wordle spin-offs. Many were inspired by people’s interests, such as Taylor Swift (Taylordle), Lord of the Rings (Lordle of the Rings), numbers and arithmetic (Nerdle), and many others.

Sedecordle is a popular one in which you predict sixteen words concurrently in twenty-one attempts. It appears complicated, and it is. Trying to figure out all those words at once gives me a headache, especially at the start. But I did want more, and they more than provided. It becomes easier as you near the end. Sedecordle begins as a game of elimination, with all of the letters rearranged into words that really fit. As stressful as it may sound, it is enjoyable, and it did help me squander my time! I wanted something that would last longer so that I could avoid doing homework (as if I didn’t already) by claiming that it was a workout for my brain.

Wordle and all of its offshoots are fundamentally the same. It’s a game in which you guess a word with a limited number of letters (except for the ones that were created for practice like Hello Wordl or WordGuessr). The only differences are semantics: the topics on which they are based, the number of letters in a word, whether you guess more than one word, whether you have more or fewer possibilities, whether you are even guessing a word, and so on.

All of these games are excellent in my opinion. Personal preferences determine the ones you enjoy. It is entirely up to you whether you prefer numbers or themed ones. Personally, I prefer the original and the Harry Potter Wordle (book nerd here). They are all wonderful and fantastic in their own right, with different themes and goals. I’d like to play them all and learn about the various themes while squandering my time since who doesn’t like to procrastinate?

Wordle also provides us with a sense of unity, which is much needed in light of recent events. Millions of individuals around the world, like you, are chipping away at the game. A community has sprung up around the longing for something normal, something uncomplicated. Wordle was just the thing to bring us all together in a world that feels so far. Knowing we aren’t alone in achieving something, even if it’s as easy as guessing a five-letter phrase, is reassuring.