Games Within Game: NFL Fans Obsessing Over Wordle Copycat

The world's most popular guessing game has a copycat version for football fans.

Jeremy Brener | Mar 29, 2022

Millions of people around the world tease their brains every day trying to guess the mystery five-letter word of the day from the game Wordle.

Eric Weddle

Washington Commanders

J.D. McKissic and Terry McLaurin — Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Terry McLaurin, J.D. McKissic

The game, created by Josh Wardle in October 2021, went viral thanks to the ability to share scores with friends and followers on social media. In late January, the New York Times Company purchased Wordle for seven figures and it prompted game creators to make copycat versions of the game, including one for NFL fans.

Enter Weddle.

Weddle, named as a double entendre for Wordle and NFL safety Eric Weddle, went live March 20 and offers one game per day, similar to Wordle.

A player gets eight chances to guess the NFL player provided and offers hints, including height, jersey number, age and the division the player plays in.

Washington Commanders fans will likely start out by guessing someone like wide receiver Terry McLaurin or running back Antonio Gibson, but not a defensive lineman like Jonathan Allen since the guessing is only limited to offensive skill positions.

Terry McLaurin

Antonio Gibson

Jonathan Allen

Weddle has been primarily advertising itself on social media, specifically on TikTok, where the account has over 6,000 followers in less than two weeks of creating videos.

On Twitter, the account is less active than TikTok, and received mixed feedback from users. Some mentioned glitches in the game, which is typical for game developers in a new project, while others expressed their support and clamored for an unlimited version to be released, where people could play more than just once per day.

You can play the game here.

Published Mar 29, 2022

JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.