Wordle Archive lets you binge past Wordles, test your self-control – CNET

Wordle Archive lets you binge past Wordles, test your self-control – CNET

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There goes my entire day. Thanks a lot, Wordle Archive.

Screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET

I went back to where it all started, Wordle 1. The dawn of a new era of word games. I took a time machine to get there: the Wordle Archive, a site that gathers the ghosts of Wordles past so you can play and play and play (and play).

The Wordle Archive is “made with love” by computational biologist and designer Devang Thakkar, who launched the site in early January. Thakkar tweeted last week that the archive is getting over 100,000 users a day, which is a testament to the public hunger for more Wordle.  

One of the great charms of the original Wordle is that you can only play once a day to guess the five-letter word within six tries. So I feel a bit naughty indulging in the Wordle Archive with its temptation to binge past games, like I’m breaking an unspoken social contract. Wordle is supposed to be a precious little gem, a fleeting moment of pleasure that’s reborn each day.

I might have mixed feelings about this stockpile of Wordle games, but Thakkar is providing a service for the Wordle-obsessed. It’s a test of your self control, like eating potato chips. Can you have just one? How about a handful? Or maybe you down the entire bag and end up with nothing but an empty, grease-slicked hole of darkness to stare into, full yet unsatiated. 

Clearly I’m projecting my own feelings onto the Wordle Archive, but I’m also proud to report that I played Wordle 1 and then stopped. The Wordle Archive will be like a treasure chest for me, something I open from time to time to grab a pretty bauble. But I will close the lid and continue to pledge my devotion to the original Wordle, once a day as it was intended.

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