The Guardian view on Wordle: let the game stay free | Editorial

Joyful and innocuously addictive, the online word game harks back to a more innocent age. The new owners must respect its spirit

Smart daily brain tease works magic, makes eager crowd happy, later turns truly viral - until game's adept maker earns great money (ample Times bucks). Yes, it is sometimes hard not to think entirely in five-letter words after an encounter with Wordle, the online game that requires participants to guess a five-letter word in six tries. It was quietly launched last October by Josh Wardle, a Welsh, Brooklyn-based software engineer who created it for the amusement of his partner.

In November, its users numbered a few hundred. Now, they are in the millions. Mr Wardle has sold the game to the New York Times for a seven-figure sum - having previously said that he felt somewhat overwhelmed by the responsibility to the game's fans to keep the site running perfectly.