What’s so special about a tangy solar robot tiger? It’s made completely out of Wordles, or rather, each of those words have been answers to the popular word game Wordle within the last month. 

For anyone who has somehow avoided being peer-pressured into giving this ridiculously fast-growing game a shot, here’s how it works: each day, participants have to guess a five-letter word. Each player has six tries to guess the word. For every guess, letters which are in the correct word but in the wrong place are highlighted in yellow. Letters which are in the correct spot are green, and letters which aren’t in the correct word at all turn gray. 

I started playing Wordle about two weeks ago, and I’m completely hooked. I love the game because it usually only takes a few minutes each day — although I will admit that I’ve spent over an hour trying to guess a couple of the more infuriating words. In general though, it’s easy to keep up with. It feels like the game has a good time-reward ratio, and there’s no better feeling than finally guessing the right word. 

But my favorite part about Wordle is that, each day, everyone has to guess the same word as one another. This can cause some problems on days when I don’t want the answer to be spoiled — when I’m sitting in the back of a class, I often find myself shielding my eyes from all the computers open to Wordle in front of me. It also makes the game a lot more fun, though, when I can talk about the daily Wordle with my friends, family and teachers. 

This aspect of the game also adds an element of competition, but it’s hard for me to take it too seriously since there’s so much randomness in the guessing process. One day I might get the word in only two or three guesses, and the next I might not be able to guess it at all. Rather than a competition, Wordle feels more like a challenge we all take on together each day. 

Since there are plenty of word games out there, it’s hard to pinpoint why Wordle has blown up so fast. Part of the reason for its growth, though, is that it’s a way for us to connect with one another. With the end of the pandemic seemingly moving further and further away, Wordle provides a collective sense of accomplishment and an excuse to talk to each other. As crazy as it sounds, this word game might bring us some of the hope we all need so badly right now.