It’s the BSA’s birthday, but we’re all getting a gift.
The Boy Scouts of America was founded at 11:03 a.m. on Feb. 8, 1910, meaning this great movement turns 112 today.
To celebrate, we’ve created 12 Scouting-themed Wordle puzzles just for you.
If you’re new to the world of Wordle, read on for a quick overview. If you’re a Wordle pro, skip the next two sections and start reading at “What are the rules for Scouting Wordle?”
What is Wordle?
Five-letter words are finally getting their day in the spotlight.
In October, the web-based word game Wordle appeared online — the creation of Brooklyn-based software engineer Josh Wardle. Within a few months, its popularity skyrocketed. Can you spell V-I-R-A-L?
Then, late last month, we learned The New York Times has purchased rights to the game “for a price in the low seven figures.” Can you spell D-O-U-G-H?
Quick sidebar: If the prospect of earning millions of dollars for inventing a game intrigues any of the Scouts in your troop, we have a merit badge for you.
How do you play Wordle?
The rules are simple:
- Guess a five-letter word in six tries.
- Every guess must be a valid word, meaning an all-vowel guess of A-E-I-O-U, which would tell you instantly which vowels are in the correct word, can’t be used.
- After each guess, the letters in your submitted word will turn one of three colors:
- Gray: The letter is not in the word at all.
- Yellow: The letter is in the word but in the wrong position.
- Green: The letter is both in the word and in the correct position.
- The letters in the keyboard at the bottom of the game will change to help you keep track of previous guesses.
- Here’s a sample game to help teach you the rules. Open it in a new window and come back to this post.
Guess 1: For your first guess, let’s go with … THINK. OK, we see that only the T is in the word, but it’s yellow, so it’s in the wrong place. Add H, I, N and K to our list of letters to discard. The correct word doesn’t use any of them.
Guess 2: Let’s try something that uses the T but in a different place. How about SMART? Nice! The S and T are in the correct place. M, A and R aren’t in the word at all.
Guess 3: Now we need a word that starts with S and ends with T. What about SPOUT? OK, now we’re getting close. Everything is in the right place except that second letter.
Guess 4: OK, we’re close. We need a word that fits this puzzle: S _ O U T. Any ideas?
Excellent. Let’s continue.
What are the rules for Scouting Wordle?
Using this site that lets anyone make their own Wordle for free, we have created a dozen Scouting-themed Wordles to celebrate the BSA’s 112th birthday. Twelve puzzles, 112 years!
The game uses the Wordle rules listed above but with a Scouting twist:
- Each word has something to do with Scouting. Think about all the various Scouting terms you know — words from Scouting sayings, gear used on campouts, things you’d hear at a meeting.
- While the final word is a Scouting word, your guesses can be any valid word. Depending on your strategy, you might want to start with a more common word to help narrow down the possible vowels and consonants in the correct word. Many longtime Wordle players (aka anyone who has been playing for at least a few weeks) have a favorite starting word that incorporates vowels and frequently used consonants like R, S or T.
On to the puzzles …
12 Scouting-themed Wordles
Click the game links below to play. Will you do one per day or binge all 12 right now? No matter what, good luck!
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