From digital to tabletop: Hasbro brings the Wordle board game to life
Calling all word lovers for a P-A-R-T-Y! Hasbro, Inc. partnered with New York Times Games to turn Wordle into a board game.
After noticing how Wordle gained popularity online, the global play and entertainment company approached the New York Times to create Wordle: The Party Game. The companies said in a press release on July 14 that the board game will “deliver classic Wordle gameplay, but now in an all new way.”
“What sparked our interest was ... how much fun people were having posting the results on social media," Hasbro Gaming’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Adam Biehl told CNN Business.
He added that it took the team less than a year to create The Party Game after knowing that “there was something special about it.” Thrilled to work with Hasbro, head of Games for The New York Times Jonathan Knight said that “Wordle truly brought us all together.”
“At New York Times Games, we’re focused on quality crafted puzzles that everyone can experience together, which is why we’re so excited to team up with Hasbro to bring a fresh new format to the global sensation of Wordle,” Knight said in the press release.
💫 We're thrilled to announce that we're teaming up with @Hasbro to bring Wordle to life in a new board game, which will be available in North America for purchase in October and for pre-order today. https://t.co/f0LnBAqD51
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) July 14, 2022
The board game’s title went for Hasbro's pop-culture portfolio of games such as the multiplayer economics-themed board game Monopoly editions based on Bridgerton and Stranger Things.
As the players would now have to compete in real life to solve Wordle, the Wordle Host must first write down a secret word. Like the original game, each player will have six attempts to guess the five letter word while competing with others. To score, a player must use up fewer tries.
Perfect for friends and family game nights, The Party Game comes with dry-erase Wordle boards and markers so that the board game can be played repeatedly. Players can also switch from classic play, fast, to timed or teams.
Pre-orders for Wordle: The Party Game is now available on Amazon, Hasbro Pulse, and Target for $20 (P1,127) and will be launched on October 1.
Wordle is the latest addition to the puzzle games of New York Times Games alongside The Crossword in 1942 and The Mini Crossword in 2014 followed by Spelling Bee, Tiles and Vertex, and Letter Boxed.
It was introduced to the public by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle last October 2021 and was later on acquired by the media company in late January 2022. It then became a staple and an obsession to word solvers around the world.