[ad_1]
Adam Biehl, senior vice president and general manager of Hasbro Gaming, said Hasbro approached The New York Times about making a party game after noticing how popular Wordle was online.
“What piqued our interest … was how interesting it was when people posted the results on social media,” Biehl told CNN Business in an exclusive interview. “It’s time we knew there was something special about this.”
Hasbro Game Studios created several versions of the game before settling on the one that is being released.
“We start with what we want to accomplish,” Biehl said, “including being as authentic to the Wordle experience as possible because we want to capture what consumers are interested in the game.”
Additionally, Biehl said the team aims to match “the quality that The Times is known for.” “It’s been a fun partnership working with them on this.”
How to play
“Wordle: The Party Game” puts the hallmark of the wordle game, which gives players six chances to guess a five-letter word with the help of some colored clues (yellow if the letter is correct but in the wrong place and green). if the letter is in the correct position).
Four different versions are available to play in the board game edition: Quick, Timed, Team and Classic.
The classic version pits players against each other as they try to guess the letters in a word named “Wordle Host”. Players take turns as host, and each round ends after six tries—unless the correct word is guessed. The host uses colored tiles to place over the letters to indicate what is correct. Timed and quick versions limit the time players have to make their guesses.
Perhaps the most unique of the online games is the team version, where two people play off the same board against another team and guess the opponent’s chosen word.
“We know people love to have a game night and they love to have their friends play. It’s a social experience, so it’s a way to share, connect and create memories,” Biehl said.
Scoring is similar to the online version which encourages players to find the word with the least amount of guessing. The fewer attempts a player needs, the fewer points they earn – and the player with the fewest points at the end of the game wins.
The board game features dry erase boards and markers as well as protective partitions to prevent cheating and green and yellow tiles for suggestions. An official glossary compiled by The Times is also included.
Although it’s a family game, Biehl said he expects Hasbro to have a demographic that mirrors other word games like Scrabble and Boggle, “leaning a bit toward an older audience.” “We know those games are played by a slightly older audience, young adults and adults, but we know a lot of families like to connect through games, so we want to make sure there’s a way for the younger players,” he added.
The development of Wordle
Turning Wordl into a board game will allow The Times to “engage its existing audience with Wordl and introduce Wordl to a whole new audience,” Jonathan Knight, The Times’ head of games, told CNN Business. “We are very happy about the cooperation.”
“Wordle has brought unprecedented tens of millions of new users to The Times, many of whom stayed to play other games, helping us increase net subscriber additions for games,” CEO Meredith Kopit Levin said in an earnings release released in May. It added that it added 387,000 net digital subscribers in the quarter and now has 9.1 million total subscribers.
Wordle remains free to play, but the Times puts other games behind a paywall following a certain amount of free games. Knight said the company is focused on expanding Wordle’s presence by adding it to the Times’ main news app and the Crossword app.
“We are thrilled with the continued engagement and continued enthusiasm behind Wordle,” said Knight.
— CNN Business’ Paul R. La Monica contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link
