I tried to resist it, but I’ve now been swayed by the power of Wordle

It doesn’t matter how many guesses it takes me to get the answer – I just love how the game gets my brain working, writes Katy Brand

I used to think – I am not getting involved in your f**king Battenberg game (AFP via Getty)

They say there are two types of people in the world – those who are playing Wordle every day, and those who have yet to start.

I was a resister for a while. I watched these mysterious patterns of grey-, green- and yellow-coloured squares being increasingly shared to my social media timelines and much like the sister of a fellow Tweeter, I thought, “I am not getting involved in your f**king battenberg game.”

I am not especially good at word games, which I know is odd given what I do. But it’s true – my brain seizes up and enters a strange paralysis where I literally cannot remember any words I know.

I avoid crosswords at all costs, and even more than that, I avoid people who get the crossword out and say, “Right, Katy – you’re a writer, help me with this crossword, would you?” and then they read out a clue and I stare into the middle distance while everything starts to shut down internally.

So I swerved Wordle. Until one day I thought perhaps I should take a look, you know, for “journalistic purposes”. And now I do it with my morning coffee and get a bit grumpy if nine o’clock rolls around and I still haven’t had a chance to solve it.

I have sworn off sharing my results, the words “your f**king battenberg game” still ringing in my ears, but I now read everyone else’s very carefully. Unless they offer a clue of some kind, in which case they are instantly blocked. It will ruin my day.

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And apparently, plenty of people agree with me because the shortcut to social media grief these days is not attending a party in lockdown, but attempting to offer any help whatsoever to those of us who haven’t got round to the Wordle yet.

But oh, it’s a lovely little game. And though I usually end up in the 4 or even 5 guesses gang, I don’t care. It opens my synapses nicely and also allows me to observe in real-time the little ruts my brain gets into.

And there’s only one a day, so you can’t addicted. It feels like something simple from another age, an age of Donkey Kong and Snoopy Tennis – basic, achievable and now a shared activity online without any aggression or competition. I hope it stays just as it is – I need something straightforward and solvable in my daily life right now!