[paxys]

- Fun

- Simple

- One puzzle a day, and everyone plays the same one so you can share and compare scores

- No account creation, logins, ads, subscriptions, data mining

All the right ingredients for going viral. I just hope the last point stays unchanged.

[kevinmgranger]

I hope the third point stays unchanged too. Too many services out there optimize for engagement, the expense being the encouragement of addictive behaviors.

[rockostrich]

Everything to do with the game is hard coded into the client. I doubt there's any plan to change that. But I wouldn't be surprised if clones popped up that tried to maximize engagement/revenue.

[lapetitejort]

I've already found a clone that lets me play as many words as desired with as many characters. The only downside is that I've burnt myself out two days after discovering Wordle.

[quickthrowman]

Agreed. Only one word a day makes me take my time and use the fewest guesses possible instead of brute forcing it by reusing dead letters. It feels more like a puzzle than a game, and the novelty lasts longer. I don’t think it would be getting the traction it has if it allowed endless play. It’s a throwback to the daily rebus/crossword/quiz newspaper page.

[MBCook]

Without ads or logins to sell information from, what’s the need to maximize engagement?

[kevinmgranger]

I've seen at least one FOSS project chasing engagement even with little to no financial incentive.

Notoriety and "number go up" is enough incentive sometimes.

[harscoat]

- enriching for non native speaker. (Not so easy to come up with 5 letter correct words.)

[tjpnz]

- Not banal

[snayan]

4 guesses today. First time it hasn't taken 6 lol

[serverholic]

I feel bad that he isn't making a dime from this. I think people should be able to get something in return for creating value for others.

[kelseyfrog]

Maybe they enjoy non-monetary rewards? One of the joys of the internet for me is experiencing peoples' self-less creations. More of that please!

[serverholic]

I think the inventor of the internet shouldn't have to work another day in his life. In our society that means money.

[rchaud]

This sounds like the writing prompt for a Onion.com article that begins with "local man".

[sbarre]

Did you actually read the article? It sounds like he's getting much more of a reward than money.

[quickthrowman]

Is this the setup for a new genre of joke, the punchline being The Capitalists!” instead of “The Aristocrats!” ?

[steveylang]

So when is Scott from HQ Trivia gonna start emceeing this?