New York Times acquires popular word game Wordle, to remain 'free to play' initially

popular free online word game - Wordle has been bought by American daily - New York Times, publication informed on Monday. game has become more popular over last few weeks and has also become a daily obsession for many.

New York Times informed that it listed  purchase price as being in  “low seven figures”, however, it did t disclose specifics, Associated Press reported.  newspaper already has popular word games like Spelling Bee and its crossword puzzle. It also informed that game will be free to play for new and existing players.

"At time it moves to New York Times, Wordle will be free to play for new and existing players, and changes will be made to its gameplay", New York Times said 

game was created by Brooklyn-based software engineer - Josh Wordle who had initially created it for his partner. However, Wordle soon released game for public in October. Back on vember 1, only 90 people had played it but game later attracted 300,000 after people began sharing ir scores on social media - mainly Twitter. 

word puzzle lets players guess a five-letter word in six tries. However, players are t provided with any hints. Wordle has millions of daily players across world and NYT has also remarked that game has become a "viral online phemen". In addition, it has also led to more similar games like “Airportle”, wherein one is allowed to guess airport abbreviations. It also has “Queertle,” with words for queer community. 

How to play Wordle? 

To play Wordle w, you have to visit its website. Simply type in a five-letter word. If any letters turn green, you got right letter in right place. Yellow letters mean right letter wrong place and gray letters mean y are t in word of day. 

Wordle's appeal has been in part due to its simplicity, bells, whistles, or ads or asking for your email address to play — just a website with 30 blank squares and a keyboard. Some apps have tried to piggyback on its success, confusing people who downloaded — or even paid for — apps on ir phone thinking it's original Wordle.

With AP inputs