In brief: The New York Times bought the viral word game Wordle at the end of last month, and now the newspaper has fully moved the game over to its website after less than two weeks. For now, it works pretty much the same, with some minor changes.
Those who play Wordle daily might have already noticed that going to the game’s old URL now redirects them to the New York Times. Even the Wordle logo is in the newspaper’s font now. It’s supposed to be a smooth transition, but there have been some hiccups along the way.
Wordle keeps track of your win streaks as well as stats for how many guesses it takes someone to solve the puzzles. That information is saved in browser data, which should automatically move to the New York Times site as long as you use the same browser, according to the newspaper’s FAQ. Some users reported their streaks being reset, and the Times said it identified the problem and is working on a fix.
? Wordle update! We have identified the problem affecting users’ streaks and are actively working on a solution. Thank you for your patience.
— NYTimes Wordplay (@NYTimesWordplay) February 11, 2022
A confirmed glitch that occurred during the transfer reset the guesses of users for that day’s puzzle. So users who failed to solve in the morning got another chance after The Times took over, and those who already knew the answer got a free win.
Other users noticed the newspaper also removed a handful of possible words. One of them is spelled differently in British and American English, while most others are considered offensive.
Some of the missing words were supposed to be upcoming answers to the original version of Wordle. So players who use a web-archived version instead of the NYT will soon see puzzle solutions between the two diverge.
When the New York Times bought Wordle, it said it would remain free, at least at first. It seems to have kept that promise, as playing the game on its website doesn’t require an account.
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