You may see an ad after you finish today’s wordle

I just finished Friday Wordl – what I am reminding you now is the property of That New York Times for reasons you’ll shortly understand – and when I did I was surprised to see an addition to the results screen. Among the usual stats, the “next Wordl“Countdown” and the “Share” button, there was something new: a small advertising banner for another puzzle, the NYT’s Spelling Bee.

For fans who appreciate it Wordles Simplicity, the ad can be a nasty surprise. part of the appeal v Wordl is this simplicity: you try to solve the puzzle of the day, decide whether your trip is or not worth sharing on twitterthen close the tab and continue.

And that was intentional, as mentioned in that NYT’s profile from Wordl Creator Josh Wardle:

But since Wordle was originally built just for Mr. Wardle and Ms. Shah, the original design ignored many of the growth hacking features that are practically expected of games in the current era. While other games send notifications to your phone hoping you’ll come back throughout the day, Wordle doesn’t want an intense relationship.

“It’s something that encourages you to put in three minutes a day,” he said. “And it is. It doesn’t want any more of your time than that.”

If the NYT Bought Wordl just a few weeks laterit promised that “at the time it moves The New York Times, Wordl will be free to play for new and existing players and there will be no gameplay changes.” But that promise doesn’t seem to extend to the results screen, which has undergone a change. That NYT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If you raise your pitchfork over Wordles Spelling Bee Ad, but you should know that Wordl actually owes a lot to the bee-themed spelling game. According to the NYT Profile that Wardle and his partner entered Spelling Bee in a big way in 2020 and the decision to limit Wordl Players on one game a day “enforced a sense of scarcity that [Wardle] said was partly inspired by the Spelling Bee.”

So if you are a fan of WordlWhen you’re done your daily gamemaybe you want give Spelling Bee a shot — or just wait until tomorrow for a new one Wordl.