For the few Wordle fiends still out there cranking out their daily puzzles, the New York Times’ latest addition to the popular web-based word puzzle, ‘WordleBot,’ might help you improve your game.
WordleBot is a new tool that evaluates players’ solutions and provides a bunch of interesting stats and visualizations. The tool started as an attempt to prove what the best starting word is using math. It was developed by the NYT’s ‘The Upshot‘ section, which makes data visualizations for news.
Like Wordle, WordleBot works in your browser and runs locally, evaluating completed puzzles stored on that device. In other words, to make the most of WordleBot, you’ll want to run it on the same device you use for Wordle puzzles. Moreover, you’ll need a free NYT account to access the page.
Once you load up the WordleBot, it evaluates your last solution and then you can swipe through stats, including ratings based on skill and luck. You can also see how your solutions stack up to WordleBot recommendations. Check out the screenshots below to see what it looks like (and here’s your warning that the screenshots contain spoilers for the April 9th Wordle, number 294):
Currently, the tool thinks that ‘crane’ is the best starting word for easy mode, while ‘dealt’ is best for hard mode. I’m not so sure I agree with that sentiment — my general strategy has been to use starting words with high-use letters like ‘s,’ ‘t,’ and some vowels like ‘e’ or ‘a.’ For example, ‘stand,’ ‘stare,’ or my personal favourite, ‘stank,’ are great for getting a couple of yellows or even a few greens on the first guess. Plus, if those common letters aren’t in the solution, it rules out a ton of words.
Of course, everyone plays differently — if you’ve got a strategy that works, stick with it. And, if you don’t care about efficiency and just want to have some casual word-puzzle fun, you don’t need to use the tool at all.
You can try the WordleBot tool here.