‘The only pure thing right now’: alleged Wordle copycats criticised for monetising free game

The creator of the viral word game has pledged to keep it completely free - but a host of since-removed apps have been accused of trying to cash in

No good deed goes unpunished - as is the case with Wordle, the viral linguistic guessing game which found itself with a deluge of apparent clones flooding Apple's App Store this past week.

Initially created by software engineer Josh Wardle for his partner, a puzzle aficionado, the brainteaser skyrocketed in popularity earlier this year, blooming from just 90 daily players in November to now more than 2 million.