The Tarrs are a competitive bunch, especially among ourselves. Every year, we compete with Super Bowl squares, March Madness brackets, and Fantasy Football leagues (that last one is just for the boys — I can’t keep up with all the trading and benching and injury reports). We place bets on individual games when our schools play each other, and board games, card games, and backyard games in our house have always been a fight to the death. [Okay, that last bit is probably a touch exaggerated, but we certainly weren’t the type of parents who let our kids win when they were young, and we definitely don’t let them win now. They have to earn it.] #lifelessons. Enter Wordle Wars, the Tarr family’s version of the winter Olympics (also knows as February Frenzy, our prelim to March Madness).
What is Wordle?
If you haven’t heard of Wordle, you’re probably living under a rock or in a monastery. In short, it’s a daily word game in which players have six chances to guess a five-letter word. It’s free, doesn’t require inputting any personal information, is available online only (it’s not an app), and you can only play one game a day. Genius!
I’ll admit, I was late to the Wordle game, but now that I’m here, I’m hooked. So much so that I challenged my husband and sons to a Wordle competition (a.k.a., Wordle Wars). For the month of February, we’re tracking our scores and the person with the lowest (i.e., best) total score at the end of the month wins $100, with bonus prizes for guessing the daily word in one try (the Wordle equivalent to a hole-in-one in golf). It’s not a huge sum of money, but it’s a big enough carrot to entice my 15-year-old to get off his Xbox for a few minutes every day and for the 18-year-old college kid to squeeze it in between classes, lacrosse practice, and parties because $100 buys a lot of cheap beer!
Wordle Strategies
There are different schools of thought about Wordle strategy — start with the same first word every day, use a word with at least two vowels, begin with a word that uses some combination of the most commonly used consonants (R, S, and T), etc.
The boys don’t use a strategy. They just start with whatever word comes to mind first. My youngest started day one using BAGEL because he was at lunch when he played, and then used TOAST on day two because he was eating breakfast. His strategy has mixed results so far.
My husband starts each puzzle with one of three words, which he’s unwilling to share with any of us … I told you we were a competitive bunch.
I fall somewhere in the middle of their respective approaches, but that’s all I’ll say because I’m also competitive like that!
Double-Letter Words
In addition to strategy talks, we’ve been pondering whether or not to use words with double letters (also known as homogeneous digraphs, for all those English teachers and logophiles out there) or even repeat letters. None of us wanted to try it and lose a guess, but then on day 6 of Wordle Wars, the correct answer was SKILL, and on day 7 it was ELDER, so I guess we got our answers.
My Worst Wordle Nightmare
A few days before we started our family challenge, my husband and I were joking about words not to guess. The discussion started out innocently enough, about whether or not to use words with double letters (see above), but it quickly devolved into whether or not to guess inappropriate words, be they vulgar or not. “Like moist?” my husband asked cheekily, knowing full well that word makes my skin crawl. After I threw up a little in my mouth, I told him I’d rather take the loss than type that word. [Yes, I know I just typed it here, and yes, I know it’s not really an inappropriate word. But it makes me, and just every other middle-aged woman I know, cringe, so I think it falls under this umbrella.] Then, on day 2 of Wordle Wars, the right answer was MOIST.
Really, Josh Wardle (creator of Wordle)? Really?? WTF?! I read that your SO, for whom you made the game, approved the database of correct answers. Did she really approve this word? I don’t think so. CAP!
Tarr Family Wordle Wars
We’re only on day 8 of Tarr Family Wordle Wars, and so far, this challenge is living up to all my expectations. It’s keeping us connected, challenging our brains, and giving us plenty of opportunity to trash talk each other — in a fun-loving way, of course.
Twenty more days to go … may the best man mom win!
-LJDT
