New features for the updated WordleBot

As more readers make WordleBot a part of their day, we’ve updated it with new features and improvements. If you haven’t used the bot before, it analyzes how skillful and lucky you are in solving each Wordle. Many of our updates are based on your suggestions, so thank you for sharing your feedback. Here are the new features:

See more people’s guesses, in more detail

Part of the fun of WordleBot is seeing how other players solve the puzzle, and now you’ll be able to see even more of that. The bot charts will show you more guesses than other players each round and display how popular each guess is. You’ll also see more guesses from players who faced the same situation as you each round, and we also analyze a larger sample of Wordles for each situation.

View and compare your previous WordleBot results

One of the most common reader requests is to view the bot’s analysis of previous Wordles. Now, for up to the past 90 days, you’ll be able to review each of your previous WordleBot results, and you can ask the bot to analyze previous Wordles that haven’t been parsed before. (The bot is always learning, so your score may be slightly different than when you first saw it.)

In order for the bot to view your Wordle history, you’ll need a New York Times account associated with your Wordle stats; If you haven’t done so yet, link it now to start recording your games.

WordleBot now also calculates a 14-day average of your last score, so you can see how your luck, skill and stride fared compared to other Times readers and the bot itself. If you had a hunch you’ve done better than other guys and even a bot lately, now you’ll have the proof.

A new starting word in (barely) hard mode: SLATE

For players competing in hard mode, the bot is now slightly preferred slate As the most effective starting words, i.e. replace the least. The new version of the bot analyzes the frequency of words over a longer period and has a more accurate understanding of ambiguous or unlikely words such as proper nouns.

the least It’s still a great opening guess on hard mode, and the difference between a best opening guess and a second best guess is negligible. (This also applies to top openings in standard mode.) The bot’s preferred starting word may also continue to change as it continues to learn.

Other notes:

The upload screenshot option, when available, recognizes characters more accurately, especially in dark mode.

WordleBot will continue to use the solve approach Wordle introduced in August – it doesn’t know the solution words – and you can read more about that here.

Common reader questions about Android

Where can I find Wordle and WordleBot?

You can find Wordle on the web or in the Games tab of the Times app. You can find WordleBot here, on the Upshot homepage or in the Wordle menu itself.

I selected an English word and the wordle guess is acceptable, so why does the bot tell me it’s probably not a solution?

There are approximately 15,000 five-letter words in the Wordle Dictionary. some of those – SybbeAnd YCONDAnd immew – rather vague. Others may be considered obscene. Still others are just in poor condition.

For suggestions to readers as part of its analysis, WordleBot considers only about 4,500 relatively common words. This is, of course, a judgment call, and many of the words are open to interpretation. As a guideline, we have aimed to include as many words as possible that we think the average Times reader has encountered before. Sounds obvious, but words like ADOBOAnd broncAnd one thousandAnd PISTEAnd ASPER And Domo It may sound familiar to some readers and downright strange to others. (And an important note: neither the bot nor its moderators have a say in which word appears as a Wordle solution.)

We then assigned the probability of it being a solution to each of the roughly 3,150 words, based in part on word frequency in New York Times archives dating back to 2000 and what the bot observed about which words were solutions so far.

Wordle’s solutions are not repeated. Does the bot take that into account?

no not like that. And yes, that’s a disadvantage for the bot against anyone tracing words that have already appeared as Wordle solutions.

The bot will say something like, “This is what 1,000 other readers who faced the same scenario as you have done.” What does it mean?

The “scenario” is determined by what solutions are left and what turn the player takes, rather than the specific path the player took to get there.

For example, for Wordle No. 417, after playing Crane and then legalThere is only one solution left: hang on. The 1,000 readers who encounter the same scenario will be the ones who narrow it down to that one solution left after their second turn, no matter how they got there.

When calculating the average NYT score of WordleBot users, what score would you give to those who didn’t solve the puzzle in six turns?

The bot uses the expected steps needed for WordleBot to solve the puzzle, based on the solutions left after the reader fails. If the reader eliminates every solution but one, the score will be 7. If after six attempts more than one solution remains, the score will be somewhat higher.

I play in hard mode, but WordleBot scores for me as if I were playing in standard mode. How can I solve this problem?

In order for the bot to analyze your Wordle applying the Hard Mode rules, go to Settings on the Wordle itself and enable Hard Mode.

Alternatively, you can upload a screenshot of your score and tell the bot – after prompting – that you played on hard mode.

Can you explain what the “expected after guessing solutions” are, as opposed to the actual remaining solutions? What do you average over?

Suppose you start guessing slate. If the solution that day He stealsyou’ll get one green “S” and the rest will turn yellow, leaving only one possible solution: He steals.

On the other hand, if the solution is hang aroundyou will be given five gray squares, 305 possible solutions left.

WordleBot performs this calculation for each of the words it uses in its analysis, and averages the number of possible solutions left to come up with a number for “expected solutions after guessing”.

Is the robot stupid now because it doesn’t know the solutions?

just a little. Wordles solve in 3.5 turns on average (instead of 3.4) in standard mode, and in 3.6 turns in hard mode (instead of 3.5). So far, you’ve successfully solved all previous Wordles in Standard Mode, failed several times in Hard Mode, and we expect you to fail several times in Hard Mode.