‘Everyone is cheating on Wordle,’ study finds, lists top at-fault states

What is Wordle?

Wordle is a daily game where the user gets six guesses to come up with the five-letter secret word of the day in as few turns as possible.

It seems as if America’s latest favorite game is not without its cheaters— and everyone is a culprit, according to a new study.

WordFinderX said since the New York Times bought Wordle in 2022, cheating is at an all-time high.

The word games reference tool said search question for "today's wordle" on Google in December registered a "0," the lowest on the scale.

But the website said by mid-February, search questions topped 100, the highest registered number on the scale. They also said the most inquiries happened between 7 and 8 a.m.

The website said, according to their research, the top cities with the most cheaters are New Hampshire, Rhode Island tied with Virginia, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and Maine.

Wordle is a free game that has been taking off across the internet. It is a daily game where the user gets six guesses to come up with the five-letter secret word of the day in as few turns as possible.

The user starts with a guess word and then there are three outcomes for each letter. If the letter is in the word and in the correct spot the square around it turns green. If the letter is in the word but in the wrong spot the square turns yellow. If the letter is not in the word the square will turn gray.

It was developed by Brooklyn software engineer Josh Wardle. It quickly took off and now millions of people play the game.

It may not be so surprising that users are now cheating to solve the Wordle puzzles. The NY Times has faced more criticism that it is making its Internet game, Wordle, too hard.

In February, after Wordle was acquired by the Times, users complained about some words like "ULCER," "ALOFT," and "CYNIC."

But Jordan Cohen, the newspaper’s communications director, said in an email that "no changes have been made to the gameplay itself," something the newspaper previously promised in January during news of the sale.

The study doesn’t now blame the rise in cheating on the NY Times takeover but said the numbers may reflect in the rise in the game’s popularity.

FOX 5 NY contributed to this report. This story was reported from Los Angeles.