Wordle has taken over the family group chat - Polygon

My partner’s mom has this saying (more or less) that she didn’t care what her kids message her, she just wants regular messages to make sure we are all alive and well. Now, thanks to the viral word guessing game Wordle, she doesn’t have to worry anymore.

In Wordle, you spend six turns trying to guess a daily word. With each subsequent guess, the game gives you hints that tell you which letters are or aren’t in the final word. Once you win (or lose) you can share your score by copying and pasting a grid, which shows off the colors that correspond to your guesses. Each day, everyone gets the same word. That, in combination with this built-in sharing feature, makes it the perfect message to copy, paste, and send away.

Before Wordle, my family group chat was typically reserved for making plans or sharing photos. It wasn’t dead, but it was sparse. Now, I consistently wake up with messages from members of my family with scores and comments on how the puzzle went. “I got a little overzealous and started guessing words right away instead of gathering possible letters,” my partner said of Wordle puzzle 219. More recently, my partner’s brother told us about how there’s actually a hard mode and how to turn it on.

My partner’s mom and step-dad are always the first to send a score in the morning. (Both are early risers.) Throughout the day, replies from my partner, his two brothers, his sister-in-law, and I will trickle back as we find time in our day, across varying timezones, to do the puzzle. My partner’s mom said, “It’s a great way to take a few minutes out of a busy day to participate in a shared experience.” She said, “It’s fun to see how everyone is doing and how each of us have had different strategies to find answers.”

Wordle is easy to learn and doesn’t take all that much time each day to play. Because of its design, it’s a fun game that appeals to and is accessible across generations and these group chats help us share that joy together.

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Wordle has taken over the family group chat - Polygon
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