Foodle – Wordle That Will Make You Hungry
Foodle is a version of Wordle incorporating culinary knowledge on a daily basis.
This article is more than 2 years old
These days if you aren’t on the internet playing a game that ends with -le that entails making guesses at a finite set of words, then I don’t really know what you are doing. It’s become the craze that has taken hold over the course of the last year or so leading to at least one game getting a massive exit and a bunch of different-themed ones cropping up to prop up the space. One of those is Foodle and it is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.
Let’s take a look at the ins and outs of Foodle, how it compares to some other games we’ve seen before, and what else has been happening in this space.
FOODLE IS WORDLE FOR FOODIES
It’s probably pretty obvious at this point that Foodle is basically Wordle, but for food. The mechanics of the game are the exact same, with the only real difference being in the word pool. Foodle asks players to guess a type of food (it has to be five letters and it can’t be plural) within six guesses.
In some ways, this becomes a slightly easier task than Wordle in that there are fewer options for guesses. There are only so many five-letter foods out there, after all. But it also is extremely finite in that you will definitely need to know food vocabulary in order to have long-term success with the game.
Foodle players are given the same clues as Wordle. Make a guess and see what letters line up with the final answer. Green is a correct letter and placement, yellow means it’s there but needs to be in a different spot.
THERE ARE MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF FOODLE
Unlike Wordle, which is now copyrighted and owned by The New York Times, with Foodle there are a couple of different options when it comes to playing the game. There are foodlewordle.io and food-le.co, both of which are solid options. Fundamentally, there aren’t any real differences between these two versions except that the daily word is different from each.
They were each made by different creators and exist as different platforms. But that’s essentially where the differences stop. For all other intents and purposes, they are the same game. And really knowing about both means you can play the game twice a day. That’s because, with all Wordle-type games, the puzzles are the same for a 24-hour period and then reset.
WORDLE WAS THE GAME THAT STARTED IT ALL
In order to understand Foodle, we need to look back at where this all started. That was with Wordle, which was developed by the appropriately-named Josh Wardle. He started the game back in 2014 but didn’t pick it back up until 2021 when he fine-tuned it for sharing with others.
The premise is simple but rather genius. Find a five-letter word within six guesses and share the results (if you get it; if not, pretend it didn’t happen) with your friends and family (or the internet at large).
Wordle caught on with its simplicity, low barrier for entry, and easy play. Letters in the right spot are labeled green, letters in the word but in the wrong spot are yellow and incorrect letters are gray. Take your guesses, find the word, and share accordingly. This, combined with Wordle keeping your stats, helped make it an extremely popular offering, spurring games like Foodle to take hold.
Wardle sold Wordle to the New York Times in 2022 for a number believed to be about one million dollars. The company hasn’t made any fundamental changes to the play. This style combined with the big sales number attached made it so that games like Foodle could crop up in the wake.
IN ADDITION TO FOODLE, THERE ARE OTHER WORDLE-RELATED GAMES
These days, there is a Wordle-adjacent game out there for nearly every theme, genre, or interest. It’s become something of a craze and players now have all kinds of options, like Foodle, to choose from. For the music lovers out there, try Heardle which is now owned by Spotify. This one operates a little differently in that you listen to music clips to guess a song rather than going letter by letter.
As far as the letters go, well we have games like Qwordle which is similar to Wordle in that you are guessing words, but in this one quantum mechanics are employed to guess two different words at the same time. It’s an interesting concept that adds a new wrinkle to the original. Then there is Octordle which gives all kinds of different options. There is an eight-word section, a sequence version, and a ton of different themes to keep you going for hours.
Want to play something NSFW when the kids or the boss aren’t around? Try Lewdle which has players guessing inappropriate words in six guesses. These are words you definitely won’t find on Wordle or elsewhere. Oh, and don’t forget about Globle which will have you trying to track down a country on the globe each day. It requires honing in on the right region. There are game versions for professional sports, as well. Again, this style of game has really taken off over the course of this year.
So give Foodle a try and see if your culinary knowledge is up to snuff to try and find a different food or ingredient each day. It’s tougher than you think but will definitely make you hungry.
