Wordle, the extremely popular online puzzle, is now officially being run by The New York Times after its creator sold it a few weeks ago. It lives at a new URL, https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html, but before you head there for your daily game, you should know that there’s currently issues with how player statistics (including streaks, win percentages, and guess distribution) are being transferred from the old version to the new.
Here’s what an FAQ page from The Times says about how the stats transfer should work:
How can I transfer my game statistics to the new Wordle site?
We have automatically transferred your game statistics (including streaks) to Wordle’s new home on New York Times Games. Nothing to do on your end.
Help! My game statistics or streaks did not migrate correctly.
We have automatically transferred your game statistics to Wordle’s new home on New York Times Games. If your data looks a little different than you remember, first ensure you are opening the game on the same device and browser you used previously. Your game data is stored locally on your browser and your statistics will automatically transfer without any additional action on your part.
For quite a few Verge writers, this hasn’t been the case. Some have clicked on the stats button to see a completely clean slate, with no streak or stats. One can see how many games they’ve played and their win percentage, but their streak seems to have been reset. And one of our lucky staff members experienced a peaceful transition of power, getting to keep their streak and stats.
In a tweet, the Times said it was aware of the streaks being reset, and that it’s investigating.
Hi Wordlers! We are aware that your “current streak” has been reset today. Our Games team is currently investigating. Stay tuned for more #Wordle updates.
— NYTimes Wordplay (@NYTimesWordplay) February 10, 2022
The writer that kept their stats seemed to skirt these issues when they went to the old URL (www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/) and got redirected to the Times’ version. That doesn’t seem to be a sure-fire tactic, though, as one of our writers doesn’t even get redirected at this point and is still able to access the original game (and her stats).
Again, this isn’t how it’s supposed to work — The Times says everything should just come over. The outlet didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge, where we asked if there was any way to make sure that you kept your stats. An assistant managing editor for the paper tweeted out a link to the new URL but has since taken it down — so it may be a good idea to just hold off on your daily game for a bit until things are sorted out (unless, of course, you saved your own offline version of the original game).
Left: the NYT’s version of Wordle. Right: the original Wordle.
The Times takeover has also introduced a few changes to the game. The sans serif title is replaced with a font that’s very much in the style of the game’s new owners. There’s also a new menu in the left corner that you can open to access other NYT games. And, of course, all the help and Twitter links go to Times-owned accounts rather than creator Josh Wardle.
Update February 10th, 4:50PM ET: Added tweet from the Times confirming the issue.