They could already have cloned the game—even if the mechanics were novel, which they are not. The thing isn't even at a relevant domain name. I don't see how they bought anything but the name "Wordle" here—and, hell, maybe that alone is worth seven figures. God knows I'd have sold it for that, if it were mine.
Re:The New York Times buys Wordle
by colinmhayes on Monday January 31, 2022 @06:21PM
(#30156250)
I think nyt being the top result when people search "wordle" is probably worth 7 figures.
Sure, I'm not saying it was a dumb move at that price. Depends on how much staying-power the fad has, I guess.
Though when I first tried to find it a couple weeks ago, Wordle was not the top result for "Wordle". Result 3 or 4 IIRC. But I'd expect NYT can fix that.
Re:The New York Times buys Wordle
by chucksmash on Monday January 31, 2022 @06:55PM
(#30156627)
Just because they could have easily cloned it doesn't mean it's dumb to reward (and be seen rewarding) the creator.
This is better PR than a media goliath ripping off the success of the little guy.
Re:The New York Times buys Wordle
by johannes1234321 on Monday January 31, 2022 @06:59PM
(#30156668)
Thez bought a redirrct from the current website to their domain. At some point in time all wordle players will move to nytimes.com/wordle or similar at least once.
Well they might also have bought the trade dress.
In case anyone interested in a NYT games subscription didn't know this it is half price if you also have a NYT newspaper subscription. If your games subscription is set up to auto-renew it stays at half price even if you no longer have a NYT newspaper subscription when the games subscription renews.
Too bad it'll take months for the savings to offset the time you will invest in canceling the NYT newspaper subscription...
If you pay for a NYT subscription with PayPal, you can cancel payments w/ PayPal. NYT will auto-email you often, but eventually give up.
I've found[0] https://timewarple.com/ which allows me to play older wordles. It requires you go in order 0 & beyond, button to advance is in the statistics tab after you complete the current round.
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/wordlegame/comments/rxeg1f/you_can_...
> The business model is that you get the latest puzzle for free and you can pay a subscription to get access to old ones.
Are you sure? I just tried to see today's crossword from a non-logged-in browser, and it said that I had to be subscribed.
Re:The New York Times buys Wordle
by RandallBrown on Monday January 31, 2022 @07:18PM
(#30156873)
I've only tried it from their app, so maybe it's different. I may also be thinking only of the Mini crosswords.
The Mini is free. The main one seems to be sub/app only. The bee one lets you enter a few words and then throws up a paywall. On iOS, I cannot get the keyboard to appear on Mini as of the last few weeks, so stopped visiting completely.
The business model is that you get the latest puzzle for free and you can pay a subscription to get access to old ones. Not sure how much money they make, but I've paid more to them than most apps in the store.