What started out as a love story eventually morphed into a seven-figure-plus product. Wordle has gained popularity, with millions of users logging in daily to decipher that elusive five-letter word. 

It would be crazy not to take advantage of the game’s popularity, and Wordle is now in the hands of the New York Times for a sum that slightly exceeds seven figures.

Josh Wardle, its creator, commented on the move through a public letter on Twitter, in addition to the corresponding article on its acquisition in the New York Times. 

An update on Wordle pic.twitter.com/TmHd0AIRLX

— Josh Wardle (@powerlanguish) January 31, 2022

Although it has been an agreement that has benefited both parties, the story would be different if a few weeks ago its creator did not assure that Wordle would not be a money product.

That’s exactly what happened. What was once a beloved example of the Internet is now an example of the modern Internet: a story of financial triumph for its founder and little disappointment for the most idealistic.

It’s great for Josh Wardle’s bank account and personal success, but it’s a touch bitter for those who trusted his claims that he’d “never sell it,” monetize it or have ads.

Although new promises have come out of the agreement such as “the game will continue to be free for new and existing players”, it is also part of the NYT’s strategy to increase its paying subscribers by expanding its catalog of games.

If you want to play Wordle for free “forever”, you just have to download it

If you dread the day the game changes, abandons its simplicity and becomes part of the NYT, just download the file to continue playing… until words run out. One of the best features of this game is its simplicity, and this extends to its code.

Wordle is a simple HTML file, well there are actually three of them: an HTML and a couple of static JavaScript files. All of Wordle is less than 400 KB of data. And yes, this includes all past and future words.

The point is that in Wordle, the words have been previously programmed manually, and for now there are words defined until 2024. Yes, that is why every day we all have to guess the same five-letter word, and the order is the Same for everyone.

Downloading the full web as HTML is basically downloading the full game to play from your browser, with or without an Internet connection. The only thing is that your streak will be reset and the local version you downloaded will start counting. But everything else works the same, you can play daily, see your statistics, and copy your results to share on networks.

In Chrome, you just have to go to the current Wordle website, click on the menu (three vertical dots), select “Share” and then “Save page as”. Or, in both Chrome and most browsers, just press CTRL + S on Windows or CMD + S on macOS. If you want to do it from Android or iOS there are some additional steps.

Once this is done, you will have an HTML file and a folder with the two JavaScript files. To play you just have to open the HTML file.

Image Credit: Getty

You were reading: Wordle’s creator kept his word: you may still download and play it for free ‘forever’ until words run out in 2024