Qwordle – The Wordle Game For The Multiverse

Qwordle is the new Wordle-like game that has many of the same rules but adds a bit of quantum physics into the mix as well.

By Doug Norrie

I think we will end up calling 2022 the year of the “-rdle” games. It’s been really something watching this trend unfold over the course of the last many months. Of course, things started with Wordle which became a phenomenon almost overnight and ended up commanding a pretty high price on the open market when folks started lining up to bid for the game. But others have joined the ranks over the short-term as well, including more word games that challenge users based on the original premise. One of those is Qwordle. And if you are playing Wordle you definitely need to check this one out.

WHAT IS WORDLE?

For the uninitiated, Wordle is the game created by Josh Wardle (with a name like this it had to work) with a very simple premise. Users are given six chances to guess a six-letter word. Sounds easy, right? Well not so much though you do get some help along the way. Wordle players, as with Qwordle, guess words to start and are given “clues” as to whether any of the letters match up with the goal word. If a letter is marked green it is in the correct spot. If it is yellow, then the letter exists in the final word, just not in the right place. And if there’s no highlight, well, that letter isn’t there at all.

Wordle gained quick traction in its simplicity, low barrier for entry (really anyone who knows letters and words can play), and easy social media sharing which allowed many to “brag” about solving each day’s puzzle. A few other little pieces like daily stats and streaks kept players coming back for more each day. With only one puzzle available to everyone each day (everyone gets the same word), the waiting game felt like as much a part of the fun as anything else. Qwordle operates on almost all of the same core tenets.

Ultimately, Wordle was purchased by the New York Times for a reported $1 million dollars, sparking some indignation among core users of the game who wanted it to stay independent. But kudos to Wardle for getting paid on this one and starting a trend. That’s no small feat and being compensated for it makes a ton of sense.

WHAT IS QWORDLE?

For starters, Qwordle is not to be confused with Quordle. See what’s happening here with this space? We are getting into the weeds with all of these different games. Quordle is an offshoot of Wordle in that a player is trying to solve the puzzle for four words instead of one. On the other hand, Qwordle is marketed as Quantum Wordle in that two words are existing within the same six guesses and you need to figure out just one of them. Easy right? Just Wordle with two words instead of one so you’ll have twice as much a chance to get the answer, right? Not so fast. The difficulty in Qwordle comes in how you are given clues around the proper letters. Let’s investigate some here and see how they are the same and how they are different.

THE RULES OF QWORDLE

Wordle players will know that when a letter is marked green on a guess you got it in the right spot and when it’s yellow you have the right letter but the wrong placement. Qwordle operates the same way except when you are given a color coding it’s not totally clear if you are getting it for the first or second word, or which clue belongs where. The words are an entangled pair and the game touts itself as following the rules of quantum mechanics in how clues are given out. In this way, I present the folks from Qwordle giving a scientific explanation for how the clues are laid out.

Basically, if you guess a word and letters from only one word are there, you will get a fully highlighted green or yellow box to let you know you are on the right track. Things get difficult though when you guess letters from both words. This time the green and yellow highlights will come, but you arent’ sure which letter goes to which word. This takes deduction, some trial and error, and definitely some luck to figure out if you are on the right track. Narrowing things down within six guesses is tough.

You should know though that the two final words never share the same letters so you aren’t trying to double-guess letters in both. Once you’ve found the correct letters, know that they are only part of one of them. This can take some of the guesswork out, but not tons. It still remains quite difficult to work through all of the possibilities even if you’ve stumbled on some of the correct letters.

Again, loose theories around quantum mechanics are in here with ideas around entanglement, ambiguity, and interference. On a high level, we are working with theoretical ideas behind how the universe is structured. On a low level, we are just trying to guess a couple of words over morning coffee. You can see there’s quite a bit of range where that is concerned. 

WHO CREATED QWORDLE?

Qwordle was created by developer Chetan Bhat who works at Meta as a Software Engineer. The game was originally posted in February of this year at the height of the craze around these Wordle-like games. It’s been quite the run-up in this genre.

DON’T BE CONFUSED WITH THE OTHER QWORDLE

As happened with Wordle, there are others out there looking to imitate Qwordle, but in app form. For starters, there is an app of the exact same name available on Google Play. It has more than 1K downloads at the time of this writing. This game moreso mimics the structure and play of the original Wordle and doesn’t bring in the quantum element of the game described above. One difference with the app compared to the other games is that it does set a time limit on how long you have to make all six of your guesses. This adds a new layer to the game, not found in the web browser editions. Thought your standard Wordle or Qwordle game was hard, try doing it as you watch the timer tick down to 0:00.

OTHER GAMES IN THIS GENRE

And for those looking out for other games which follow a similar pattern, a few have cropped up over the last year or so. Of course, there’s the aforementioned Quordle. And then there is the Heardle game which takes the same premise but just applies it to music. That game was acquired by Spotify recently as a part of their continuing plan to add more games and features to the music platform.

There are plenty of examples in the sports world as well with games around guessing different NBA or NFL players based on different clues. The basketball version is called Poeltl, named after the player Jakob Poeltl, and has you guessing players based on their team, position, height, age, and more. The NFL version is Weddle (Eric Weddle was an NFL safety) and follows similar mechanics.

We are sure to see more of these games over the short term and now Qwordle has joined the mix.