The premise of guessing is the charm of word games. Wordle is not different from other words games in that regard as its players are required to complete a challenge within a limited set of ‘tries’.

What’s unique with Wordle is that you have to work your way into figuring the word out by analyzing the cue colors —  grey, yellow, or green — to see if your guesses are in the warm zone or cold zone.

With so many word puzzles and riddles out there, what makes Wordle a worldwide sensation is of course partly due to universality, reliability, and competitive spirit induced by the ‘word of the day’. How is the Wordle challenge different?

Related: What does Yellow color mean in Wordle?

Is the Wordle word the same for everyone?

One of the reasons that piqued the mass interest of netizens is that Wordle is a daily challenge. It means that you get your shot at guessing one ‘five-letter word’ with 6 chances in your hand to use. The idea behind the daily challenge theme is to incite excitement and anticipation in the players, as they look forward to the next day for taking on the latest challenge ‘word.’ But…What about the words? Are they randomly chosen for each player? 

No, Wordle words are not random. That is the highlight of the game. Every player from any part of the world gets to guess the ‘chosen word’ of the day. Regardless of where you live or play from geographically, there is only one Wordle word for each new day. In short, the Wordle challenge can be explained as ‘one new word each day for all players, once a day, every day.’

The backstory behind the creation of this story is quite sweet and simple. The creator Josh Wardle, created “Wordle” as a present for his partner Palak Shah who has an immense love for word games. The idea is to invoke curiosity in the players, the excitement of playing, and anticipation for the next day, without overindulging. Hence the once-a-day rule. 

When the whole world gets one word a day, the natural result is the generation of a sense of relatability. The players share a unique experience every day as they make their own guesses in an attempt to arrive at the same word. Some make it, some don’t.

Those who solve it get bragging rights on social media (or secret delight, in case you are a private person). Those who don’t would look forward to the next day with a sigh. But, at the end of the day, it becomes a light-hearted, universal moment…shared by all players, united beyond borders.

Related: What does Green color mean in Wordle?

When does Wordle reset every day for a new game?

Naturally, the ‘one word for all’ concept might create the question of ‘how’ and ‘when’? How does it work? Because geographical differences mean different time zones; so, if a player from the west side of the world and a player from the other side have to figure out the same word a day, when does it reset?

The answer is simple and very “analog,” if you will. The game system is designed to give a new challenge when the time turns 12 AM. So, your local time is what prompts Wordle to refresh the challenge for you every day. There is no “universal clock” monitoring the challenger, rather the date on the user’s system clock accounts for the ‘day’ of challenge.

Related: Can Wordle use a letter twice?

Can you play past Wordles?

Wordle introduces a new challenge when the player’s local time turns 12 AM. Does that mean the previous day’s challenge becomes history? Strictly speaking, when the date changes, Wordle resets, and the past becomes the past. The Wordle universe to designed to exist only in the present day. 

However, if you missed a day’s challenge, fret not, because, the world has found loopholes in the system. All you have to do is make the system believe that you are from the past. Since you can’t turn back time or time travel, you have to rely on your devices and the internet to help you.

Players have figured out that the Wordle system gives out the challenge based on the ‘present day’ date stamp on the device. To do that, you can either manually change the date on your device or go to internet archives like Wayback Machine to access the host website’s history. 

The ‘turning back time’ solution is the answer for players who missed a day’s challenge or those who wish to play more than one challenge a day. Of course, there is still only one new word for each day for all players. This is just a shortcut to access the previous games.

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