The Lord of the Rings Wordle clone Lordle of the Rings has Tolkien-inspired answers, using five-letter words from the original books. Since it went viral early this year, Wordle has sparked a word game craze with copycats and clones coming out of the woodwork. From a lengthy list of iPhone and Android word games trying to profit off of Wordle’s success to fan-inspired versions that offer a unique spin, there seems to be no shortage of new ways to enjoy Wordle after guessing the daily puzzle. While some Wordle app copycats have angered players because of intense monetization, some Wordle clones keep the essence of the original without adding pesky subscriptions, purchasable features, or ads.
Wordle’s simplistic game design and viral share feature have garnered it a massive player base with millions of daily users. The New York Times recently purchased Wordle for over $1 million, though its acquisition has sparked paywall fears, with players worrying the free-to-play word game will be added to the NYTimes Wordplay subscription service. If that happens, Wordle will only be accessible with a $5 a month subscription fee, which is contradictory to Josh Wardle’s previous promise that Wordle would not be monetized. The New York Times did promise Wordle would stay free-to-play for the time being, though with a hefty million-dollar purchase, it seems unlikely it will stay that way.
According to Polygon, another Wordle clone has appeared, this time using Tolkien-inspired five-letter words as answers. Lordle of the Rings was built off of Vue Wordle, a fan-created interface using an open-source JavaScript framework to emulate the viral word game. As detailed on the game’s page, Lordle of the Rings uses “only five-letter words in the main text of Lord of the Rings,” which includes names of characters and races of Middle Earth. That means Bilbo, Frodo, and many other Hobbit names are fair game. Players cannot, however, use just any English word to gather clues. Instead, they can only utilize words like Elves, Shire, or Rings – any word that is truly Tolkien-inspired.
Some Wordle clones have become fairly popular, like Gary Whitta’s Wordle-like game Lewdle, which uses only vulgar five-letter words. The game is nearly identical to the original, with each incorrect guess revealing valuable information about the five-letter answer. The difference is that only vulgar words are accepted as answers, which drastically limits the available words that can be utilized. Deckbuilding site Moxfield did something similar with Moxle, a Magic: The Gathering Wordle clone that only uses cards, tokens, emblems, planes, and schemes from the collectible card as answers. Lordle of the Rings does something similar with Middle Earth entities.
Considering Wordle’s popularity, it’s likely many major franchises will get their own version of the viral word game. Since Tolkien’s Middle Earth is an expansive fantasy world, there are plenty of possible answers which may give the game a longer lifespan than some of the other many daily Wordle clones on the market.
Source: Polygon, Lordle of the Rings