Wordle is jumping from the P-H-O-N-E to the B-O-A-R-D.
Hasbro is partnering with the New York Times, which owns the popular online word puzzle, to create “Wordle: The Party Game.” The new board game “delivers classic Wordle gameplay, but now in an all new way,” the companies said in a press release.
Hasbro approached the New York Times to make a party game after noticing how popular Wordle had become online, according to Hasbro Gaming’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Adam Biehl.
“What sparked our interest was … how much fun people were having posting the results on social media,” Biehl said in an exclusive interview with CNN Business. “That’s when we knew that there was something special about it.”
Hasbro
Hasbro approached the New York Times to make a party game after noticing how popular Wordle had become online.
“Wordle: The Party Game” is one of Hasbro’s fastest launches, Biehl said, as it took the team less than a year to create it. The new title fits into the company’s pop-culture portfolio of games, including Monopoly editions based on “Bridgerton” and “Stranger Things.” Hasbro is paying the Times a licensing fee to use Wordle.
Hasbro’s gaming studio created many versions of the game before landing on the one that’s being released.
“We start with what we’re trying to achieve,” Biehl said, including being “authentic to the Wordle experience as much as possible because we want to capture what got consumers really interested in the game.”
Additionally, the team aimed to match “the quality of what the the Times is known for,” Biehl said. “It’s been a fun partnership to work with them on this.”
Pre-orders begin Thursday ahead of the game’s October 1 release. It will be sold on Hasbro’s website, Target, Amazon and Walmart at a suggested price of $19.99.
How to play
“Wordle: The Party Game” maintains the hallmark of Wordle’s game play, which gives players six chances to guess a five-letter word with the assist of some color-coded clues (yellow if the letter is correct but in the wrong place and green if the letter is in the correct spot).
In the board game edition, four different versions are available to play: fast, timed, teams and classic.
The classic version pits players against each other as they try to guess the letters in the word assigned by the “Wordle Host.” Players take turns as the host, and each round ends after six tries — unless the correct word is guessed. The host uses the colored tiles to place over the letters to indicate what’s correct. The timed and fast versions limit the amount of time players have to make their guesses.
Perhaps the most significant difference from the online game is the team version, which has two people playing off a single board versus another team and guessing the word their opponent has picked.
“We know people love to have game night and have their friends over to play games. They’re social experiences, so it’s a way to share, connect and create memories,” Biehl said.
Scoring is similar to how the online version encourages players to get the word in the fewest amount of guesses. The fewer tries a player needs, the fewer points they score — and the player with the fewest points at the end of the game wins.
The board game contains dry-erase boards and markers as well as protective partitions to prevent cheating and green and yellow tiles for hints. Also included is an official word list to use, compiled by the Times.
Although it’s a family game, Biehl said Hasbro expects the demographic “leans toward a slightly older audience” mirroring its other word games like Scrabble and Boggle. “We know those games are played by a slightly older audience, young adults and adults, but we want to make sure there’s a way in for the younger players because we know many families like to connect over games,” he added.
Wordle’s growth
Josh Wardle, a Brooklyn-based software engineer formerly at Reddit, released the online game in October 2021 and it quickly became a cultural phenomenon. The New York Times bought Wordle for “low seven figures” in January 2022, joining its growing portfolio of online games that also includes the Crossword, the Mini and Spelling Bee.
Transforming Wordle into board game helps the Times’ keep its “existing audience engaged with Wordle, and also introduces Wordle to all new audiences,” Jonathan Knight, head of games for the Times, told CNN Business. “We are thrilled about the collaboration.”
Purchasing Wordle helped boost the number of digital subscriptions for the newspaper as it aims to diversify its revenue beyond advertising. Subscription revenue from digital products increased 26.3% in the first quarter from a year ago, to $226.8 million, encompassing more than 40% of overall sales.
“Wordle brought an unprecedented tens of millions of new users to the Times, many of whom stayed to play other games which drove our best quarter ever for net subscriber additions to Games,” said CEO Meredith Kopit Levien in the earnings release from May. She added that the company picked up 387,000 net digital subscribers in the quarter and now has 9.1 million total subscribers.
Wordle remains free to play, but the Times puts its other games behind a paywall following a limited amount of free plays. Knight said the company is focused on expanding Wordle’s presence by adding it to the Times’ main news app and Crossword app.
“We are very pleased with the continued engagement and ongoing enthusiasm behind Wordle,” said Knight.
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Wordle is being turned into a board game
Oliver Davis // Getty Images
The act of having fun raises levels of dopamine, endorphins, and oxygen in a person's body: all essential ingredients for learning.
For educational games to be successful, their creators have to be meticulous about striking a careful balance between education and entertainment. Best Universities compiled a list of how different types of digital games meant for teaching students have evolved over time, ranging from DOS games like Oregon Trail to the latest version of the Scratch programming app for kids.
Twenty years ago, children took computer science classes in school with specific units for programming, typing, and other concepts. Today, students learn these same concepts from playing Minecraft, making their own servers for games, creating and installing “mods” that change the gameplay experience, and learning old-school HTML to create ’90s flashback looks on their itch.io pages.
But with any discussion of video games comes the debate around screen time, which has long been a point of contention between parents and children. While educational games served as a compromise, the pandemic pushed most parents to concede screen time for online learning. And without a physical classroom, many educators seized the opportunity to use video games in unconventional ways to teach history, science, and coding during the height of pandemic-induced distance learning.
The world of educational video games is a rich industry with decades of history. These games directly tie with analog educational technologies like creative worksheets, classroom role-playing projects, and even educational vinyl albums from previous decades. Developers are constantly iterating to make the latest technology more educational.
Oliver Davis // Getty Images
The act of having fun raises levels of dopamine, endorphins, and oxygen in a person's body: all essential ingredients for learning.
For educational games to be successful, their creators have to be meticulous about striking a careful balance between education and entertainment. Best Universities compiled a list of how different types of digital games meant for teaching students have evolved over time, ranging from DOS games like Oregon Trail to the latest version of the Scratch programming app for kids.
Twenty years ago, children took computer science classes in school with specific units for programming, typing, and other concepts. Today, students learn these same concepts from playing Minecraft, making their own servers for games, creating and installing “mods” that change the gameplay experience, and learning old-school HTML to create ’90s flashback looks on their itch.io pages.
But with any discussion of video games comes the debate around screen time, which has long been a point of contention between parents and children. While educational games served as a compromise, the pandemic pushed most parents to concede screen time for online learning. And without a physical classroom, many educators seized the opportunity to use video games in unconventional ways to teach history, science, and coding during the height of pandemic-induced distance learning.
The world of educational video games is a rich industry with decades of history. These games directly tie with analog educational technologies like creative worksheets, classroom role-playing projects, and even educational vinyl albums from previous decades. Developers are constantly iterating to make the latest technology more educational.
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Wordle is being turned into a board game
The Washington Post // Getty Images
Before the first Windows operating system brought graphical user interfaces to most computer users, there was the disk operating system, or DOS. This text-based software worked via users inserting floppy disks into computers and running them directly using typed-in command prompts. Text was easy for early home computers to parse, which sparked the creation of text-based games.
The Oregon Trail was first developed in the 1970s as an all-text game: a way for students to interact with and learn about the journey white settlers took along the historic wagon route to the West. In the 1980s, the game received a major facelift when it was adapted into a full game with graphics that left it with the iconic look we still remember today.
The Washington Post // Getty Images
Before the first Windows operating system brought graphical user interfaces to most computer users, there was the disk operating system, or DOS. This text-based software worked via users inserting floppy disks into computers and running them directly using typed-in command prompts. Text was easy for early home computers to parse, which sparked the creation of text-based games.
The Oregon Trail was first developed in the 1970s as an all-text game: a way for students to interact with and learn about the journey white settlers took along the historic wagon route to the West. In the 1980s, the game received a major facelift when it was adapted into a full game with graphics that left it with the iconic look we still remember today.
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Wordle is being turned into a board game
San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers // Getty Images
The late 1980s ushered in the era of CD-ROMs, which trickled out to home computer users over the next decade. These read-only discs had significantly more storage compared to floppy disks, supporting 500 megabytes or more instead of just 1.44 megabytes on a 3.5-inch floppy disk.
Users were accustomed to up to 10 or more floppy disks to install DOS software like WordPerfect, but now, just one CD-ROM was all that was needed to run new games full of cutting-edge graphics and animations. This ushered in a golden age of educational CD-ROM games in the 1990s, with iconic brands like Math Blaster and Reader Rabbit helping students prep for class time.
San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers // Getty Images
The late 1980s ushered in the era of CD-ROMs, which trickled out to home computer users over the next decade. These read-only discs had significantly more storage compared to floppy disks, supporting 500 megabytes or more instead of just 1.44 megabytes on a 3.5-inch floppy disk.
Users were accustomed to up to 10 or more floppy disks to install DOS software like WordPerfect, but now, just one CD-ROM was all that was needed to run new games full of cutting-edge graphics and animations. This ushered in a golden age of educational CD-ROM games in the 1990s, with iconic brands like Math Blaster and Reader Rabbit helping students prep for class time.
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Wordle is being turned into a board game
Mark Boster // Getty Images
Early proto-social networks emerged in the 1990s along with the proliferation of CD-ROM games, such as the girl games website Purple Moon. Purple Moon linked social educational games with early sponsored content from relevant brands.
These games, starting with sites like gURL and extending through massive, multiplayer online games like Neopets and Club Penguin in the 2000s, offered at least partially safe spaces for kids to play games and improve skills like hand-eye coordination and typing. These sites sometimes didn’t have enough moderators and fell victim to trolling, brigading, and hacking: a classic problem experienced as the internet grew.
Mark Boster // Getty Images
Early proto-social networks emerged in the 1990s along with the proliferation of CD-ROM games, such as the girl games website Purple Moon. Purple Moon linked social educational games with early sponsored content from relevant brands.
These games, starting with sites like gURL and extending through massive, multiplayer online games like Neopets and Club Penguin in the 2000s, offered at least partially safe spaces for kids to play games and improve skills like hand-eye coordination and typing. These sites sometimes didn’t have enough moderators and fell victim to trolling, brigading, and hacking: a classic problem experienced as the internet grew.
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Wordle is being turned into a board game
The Washington Post // Getty Images
Popular home gaming consoles gained popularity with the family-friendly Nintendo and Super Nintendo in the 1980s. When it was released in 1989, the Game Boy immediately changed how games could be carried around. A wave of ersatz children’s handheld video game devices followed.
These included single-game Tiger handhelds and educational “children’s computers” like LeapFrog, the first-ever proto tablet designed for children to be portable and durable. Sesame Street, Jump Start, and other licensed children’s properties led the way in educational games for little kids, while games like Minecraft have made their way to the extremely popular Nintendo Switch system.
Today, kids can even use smartphone apps to learn to code.
The Washington Post // Getty Images
Popular home gaming consoles gained popularity with the family-friendly Nintendo and Super Nintendo in the 1980s. When it was released in 1989, the Game Boy immediately changed how games could be carried around. A wave of ersatz children’s handheld video game devices followed.
These included single-game Tiger handhelds and educational “children’s computers” like LeapFrog, the first-ever proto tablet designed for children to be portable and durable. Sesame Street, Jump Start, and other licensed children’s properties led the way in educational games for little kids, while games like Minecraft have made their way to the extremely popular Nintendo Switch system.
Today, kids can even use smartphone apps to learn to code.
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Wordle is being turned into a board game
Andy Cross // Getty Images
Mavis Beacon is the most iconic typing software in history, published continuously since 1987, even as technology continues to evolve. But typing in schools dates back to the typewriter days of the 1950s and 1960s—especially for young women.
In the 1990s, companies made software specifically for schools and at special group rates. There are more “fun” typing games made for very young kids, while older children may have more businesslike software. There are also plenty of regular games that use typing as the mechanic.
Andy Cross // Getty Images
Mavis Beacon is the most iconic typing software in history, published continuously since 1987, even as technology continues to evolve. But typing in schools dates back to the typewriter days of the 1950s and 1960s—especially for young women.
In the 1990s, companies made software specifically for schools and at special group rates. There are more “fun” typing games made for very young kids, while older children may have more businesslike software. There are also plenty of regular games that use typing as the mechanic.
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Wordle is being turned into a board game
MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle // Getty Images
Early coding languages were very specific and text-only, with obtuse jargon that was often a necessity for code to fit into the space available. But as computers became more powerful, coding evolved as well. This reflects a movement among computer scientists toward programming languages that use whole words, for example, or visual “blocks” of code that click into place together.
The MIT-created programming language Scratch lets people of all ages make “interactive stories” on almost any device using the official app. In Minecraft, people “program” using specialized blocks in sequence. And in schools, teachers can use modified environments for languages like Python and Java to teach coding the old-fashioned way.
MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle // Getty Images
Early coding languages were very specific and text-only, with obtuse jargon that was often a necessity for code to fit into the space available. But as computers became more powerful, coding evolved as well. This reflects a movement among computer scientists toward programming languages that use whole words, for example, or visual “blocks” of code that click into place together.
The MIT-created programming language Scratch lets people of all ages make “interactive stories” on almost any device using the official app. In Minecraft, people “program” using specialized blocks in sequence. And in schools, teachers can use modified environments for languages like Python and Java to teach coding the old-fashioned way.
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Wordle is being turned into a board game
TOBIAS SCHWARZ // Getty Images
Educators can use virtual and augmented reality technologies to help engage people of all ages in innovative ways. Established entities like museums can turn their collections into virtual galleries, allowing remote “visitors” to experience artwork, science displays, and more. On-site, these museums can use AR to transform the traditional “guided tour” into a more immersive experience.
Adding game-like elements to virtual reality or augmented reality experiences, like item collection and achievements, may help students retain the information better. These same ideas have transformed everyday life into richer educational opportunities, such as prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba’s walking history of Black women in Chicago called Lifting As They Climbed.
This story originally appeared on Best Universities and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
TOBIAS SCHWARZ // Getty Images
Educators can use virtual and augmented reality technologies to help engage people of all ages in innovative ways. Established entities like museums can turn their collections into virtual galleries, allowing remote “visitors” to experience artwork, science displays, and more. On-site, these museums can use AR to transform the traditional “guided tour” into a more immersive experience.
Adding game-like elements to virtual reality or augmented reality experiences, like item collection and achievements, may help students retain the information better. These same ideas have transformed everyday life into richer educational opportunities, such as prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba’s walking history of Black women in Chicago called Lifting As They Climbed.
This story originally appeared on Best Universities and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
