Nine telltale signs you’ve turned into a Wordle bore

stuff.co.nz:

If only every romantic gesture resulted in a seven-figure payday, men might be much more soppy. This week came the heartwarming news that Wordle – the online game created by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle as a lockdown gift for his puzzle-mad girlfriend – has been bought by the New York Times for millions of dollars.

The free daily game, in which players get six attempts to guess a five-letter word, is deceptively simple and fiendishly addictive. Amid the frequently furious bearpit of online discourse, it’s harmless, old-fashioned fun – and has duly become a bona fide phenomenon. A gaming craze to rival Candy Crush, Tetris or, for those of a certain vintage, Snake on a Nokia brick phone.

Since Wardle released his punningly-named creation to the public three months ago, it has gone viral. The number of players snowballed from 90 in November to 300,000 at New Year, to 2.7 million last weekend. It’s sweeping through the population like the omicron variant, except with consonants instead of coughs.

Have you contracted a case of this highly contagious obsession? Self-diagnose with our nine telltale signs you’ve turned into a Wordle bore.

* Worried Wordle may go behind a paywall? Here are 8 alternatives * Popular word online game 'Wordle' has been bought by The New York Times * The beauty of a 'do-nothing-much' holiday with beaches, books and a spot of Wordle * Panga: Te reo Māori Wordle

Serious Wordlers begin each game with an intensely thought-through starter word. It likely contains the most common letters (A, S, E, T, O, I, R). You might flip between a few alternatives but definitely no random guesses. You’ve become weirdly protective of your favourite. Telling someone would feel overly intimate and risk losing its