New York Times Expands Wordle Empire With Board Game

TOPLINE

A board game based on the wildly popular online word game Wordle will be released this fall, Hasbro and the New York Timesannounced in a joint press release Thursday afternoon, as the Times expands the game’s reach following its splashy January acquisition.

KEY FACTS

The board game, titled “Wordle: The Party Game,” will come out in October, according to the release.

Gameplay will be similar to the online version: one “host” player will pick a secret five-letter word and other players will have six tries to guess that word, receiving more points based on the number of guesses it takes to get the word right.

Hasbro will pay the Times an undisclosed licensing fee as part of the partnership, Hasbro Gaming’s Senior Vice President Adam Biehl told CNN.

A Times spokesperson declined to comment on the scope of the deal, and Hasbro did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment on the financial details of the deal.

KEY BACKGROUND

Created by software developer Josh Wardle, Wordle exploded in popularity in late 2021 and early 2022, surging from 90 daily users in November to 2 million in January. The Times’ announced its acquisition of Wordle on January 31 for “a price in the low-seven figures.” The Times added a record number of digital games subscribers in the first quarter following the Wordle deal, and Wordle brought tens of millions of new users to the Times, Meredith Kopit Levien said in May.

TANGENT

Spotify announced Tuesday it will buy Heardle, a musical spinoff of Wordle. Spotify said it plans to keep Heardle free to play but will eventually integrate the game into the Spotify app, closely following the Times’ approach to Wordle. 

FURTHER READING

Exclusive: Wordle is being turned into a board game (CNN)

Spotify Buys Wordle Music Trivia Spinoff Heardle (Forbes)

By Derek Saul, Forbes Staff