By Stuti Rao
From Game Pigeon to Wordle to My Master List
January 2022 was quite an eventful month, at least for me. Lockdown and COVID-19 were gradually becoming a distant memory, I was done with my college applications and could finally breathe, my senior year of high school was picking up, and, most importantly (for this article), I was introduced to Wordle. It certainly was not a historic moment when my friend asked me for help with this new online game, but the moment did solidify my love for word games. Before that day, my word-game experience had been limited to the pigeon iMessage games that I played with my best friend–who unfortunately beat me 99% of the time. While playing Anagrams and Word Hunt with my friends was fun, these word games were dependent on other people responding to my texts. I wanted something I could play and enjoy by myself.
After I fell in love at first play, Wordle became my favorite phone game. Every morning I would sit down in first period AP Econ, wait for class to begin, and try to solve the Wordle in fewer tries than all my friends–regardless of whether my teacher was talking or not. A few weeks later, a fellow wordle-obsessed friend introduced me to the next level: Dordle. It was just like Wordle, except the goal was to guess two words simultaneously (not so subtle foreshadowing). I added it to what has now become my master list. Eventually, the other New York Times word games made it onto the list, and over the past year and a half, I’ve added a few more games.
The list has expanded to seven games, which may not seem like a lot until you’re sitting in a lecture and realize that you’ve spent more than half of it playing word games (true story, I do it all the time). So, as a self-proclaimed master word-gamer , here is a comprehensive guide through my comprehensive list of word games.
The Games
Let’s start with a classic here. I’m sure that most of you know how to play, otherwise I cannot fathom why you chose to read this article (but keep reading anyway). The goal of Wordle is to guess a five-letter word by guessing other five-letter words. Clues are given with each guess. A green letter means that the letter is in the correct position, a yellow letter means it is in the final word but not in the correct position, and a gray letter means that the letter is not in the word.
While the game’s goal is to guess the word, I often try to get the word in three guesses. Wordle also keeps track of each game and shows your stats – how many games you’ve played, how many games you’ve won, your current streak, and the amount of guesses for every game you’ve played. For a beginner, Wordle may seem hard, but once you get the hang of it, the difficulty decreases.
As someone who has played for a long, long time, I understand the subtle patterns of the game (hence the lower score on the difficulty rating). Don’t be discouraged if you’ve never played before, just keep trying.
Difficulty Rating: 2/10
If you understand how to play Wordle, then you’re all set for Dordle. All the rules are the same, except this time, you have to guess two different words using the same guesses, and you have seven tries instead of six. Watch this video playthrough!
Difficulty Rating: 4/10
Of course, I like trying to make my life as hard as possible, so I decided that I would start playing Quordle. As the name suggests, it’s Wordle but with four words. However, instead of six chances, Quordle gives you nine to guess all four words. My favorite moment when playing Quordle, and this happens often for me, is when there are four guesses left for four words. It’s exhilarating to figure out the words based on the clues I have, almost like I’m a detective. The times when I do solve Quordle, I feel like Sherlock Holmes. Watch me play the game!
Difficulty Rating: 6/10
Since I don’t have the monetary means or brain power to play the full version, I play NYT’s Mini-Crossword to satisfy all my crossword needs. This game is pretty straightforward, just use the Across & Down clues to solve the puzzle! To keep it interesting, try solving the puzzle in under a minute and set a personal record (mine is 29 seconds by the way). Don’t worry about tracking the time on your own though. At the top of the puzzle is a smug little timer that mocks you if you solve it too slowly (or maybe that’s just what I think). Unlike the aforementioned games, the size of the Mini changes every day, with different amounts of clues. Sometimes, the puzzles even have themes–but for some reason, they never get easier to solve.
Difficulty Rating: 6/10 (depending on the day)
Now this is a fun game, but still pretty challenging. When you begin the game, you’ll see two words. The word at the top is your starting word that you have to change, one letter at a time, to get to the bottom word. Once you finish the puzzle, the game shows the “Optimal Score” which is the least amount of words it takes to solve the puzzle. The best thing about Weaver, unlike Wordle and the others, is that you can replay as many times (on the same window) until you get the “Optimal Score”. There are also many ways to solve these! I always like looking at the previous day’s solution to see how my solution might have differed. Here’s a quick video demo!
Difficulty: 6/10
Just like its name, this game is delicious(ly fun)! The goal of this game is to unscramble letters from six different words that are interconnected in a square grid like on a waffle! (Think window-shaped.) To unscramble the letters and form a word, simply swap a letter with another into its correct space. The game plays by Wordle’s rules: green for the letter being in the correct spot in the “waffle”, yellow for the letter being in the correct row or column in the waffle, and gray meaning the letter is not in the correct row or column in the waffle. There’s also a catch: you only have 15 swaps to guess all five words. The remaining number of swaps is how many stars you earn, and even though the stars aren’t consequential, it feels better to have 5 stars than 1 star. One great feature of Waffle is that there is a mini-dictionary included with each game. After you solve (or lose) the game, you can scroll down to see the definitions of each word in the puzzle. The best thing about Waffle though, is that you can keep playing after one game. On the top left are three little lines that lead to a menu, where you can find the Archives. Here, you can play all the Waffle games from the past and replay to beat your previous scores! Watch this video for a quick playthrough!
Difficulty: 5/10
If you were a part of the Wordle craze, you might be a part of the Connections craze as well. I discovered this game when I was texting a friend during my philosophy lecture (sorry Professor Dimi!) and became immediately hooked. Rather than a spelling game, like most of the others on my list, Connections is a word association game. You start with 16 words and the objective is to make four categories of four words, with a different connection for each category. Also, you can only make four incorrect guesses before the categories are revealed. Connections can be a difficult game depending on the day. For example, I once played a game where all the words were just two letters and the categories were: State Abbreviations, Elements from the Periodic Table, Musical Notes, and Greek Letters. However, I will admit that the days that have easy solutions are less fun than the difficult categories. There’s also a website that has old Connections games starting from June of 2023. While it doesn’t have the same features as the NYT version, you can replay every game as much as you want. Watch me (struggle through) a game of Connections in this video.
Difficulty: 8/10 (dependent on the day)
Benefits of Word Games
If the games themselves weren’t enough to convince you to play, I’ve discovered that there are a few associated benefits of playing word games.
1.Improved Vocabulary: Oftentimes, after I finish a game of Waffle, I find myself searching for the definition of a word I’ve never heard of before. Connections is pretty good at forcing me to learn different definitions of words. In my playthrough, you’ll see me searching up definitions for basic vocabulary in an attempt to find a definition that might match other words on the board.
2.Challenging Your Brain: On a day when I haven’t done much, I still feel accomplished after playing a word game. A lot of these games, probably all of them, challenge me to think hard. If I’m placing pressure on myself to solve them within a certain amount of guesses, or under a time limit, I’m challenging myself even further. And on the days when I’m playing leisurely, I still feel challenged.
3.Creativity and Problem Solving: Many of these games force me to think creatively to solve the puzzles. For example, when I’m playing Weaver and don’t reach the optimal score, I go back and play again. This always pushes me to find a new “pathway” and think of a different solution. When playing Connections, I test out so many different categories in my head, and I’ve found that sometimes the most bizarre ones are those that work. A lot of these games have taught me to think carefully and creatively, which are both necessary when problem-solving.
4.While word games are not even relatively new, they can sometimes be inaccessible or time-consuming. It doesn’t have to be that way though. With online word games, there are so many opportunities to challenge yourself and have fun. You can play these games by yourself, challenge your friends, or solve them together! I won’t be offended (or even know) if you try the word games I’ve listed and hate them, but I highly recommend a quick Google search to help you find a word game that’s right for you. Word games can be challenging when you first start, but over time, and with even just a bit of practice, you’ll find that they are so much fun. I hope all of you give word games a try because I promise that they will open up a world of endless fun. Good luck and happy word(le)-playing.
Honorable Mentions
While I don’t play these games daily, both NYT’s Spelling Bee and Letter Boxed are pretty challenging word games. The objective of Spelling Bee is to create as many words with seven letters, including a letter that has to be in every word (difficulty: 7/10). Letter Boxed is a combination of Spelling Bee and those coloring connect-the-dots games you probably played when you were younger. Twelve letters are placed around a box, and the objective is to create words using all the letters. Each day, the maximum number of words you can use changes, but usually it’s around four to five words. There are two catches. One, the ending letter of one word is the beginning letter of the next. Two, letters that are on the same side of the square cannot be placed next to each other. Letter Boxed is probably the hardest word game I play, and the reason that I won’t be including a walkthrough is that I struggle to solve it most days (difficulty: 9.9/10). Another important fact, both of these games have a limited number of attempts, unless you have an NYT subscription! If you try these out and find that you are good at them, I envy you. Good luck!
