Popular word game converts, makes aliyah

Is there a more Jewish conversational experience than to be approached by someone and asked to guess – GUESS – which random person they just ran into, or other tangential thing just crossed their mind? So it’s almost surprising there hasn’t yet been a Hebrew or Yiddish version of Wordle … until now.

Yep. Wordle, the game that annoyingly – and/or addictively – asks you to guess a five-letter word of the day, is now playable in Hebrew and Yiddish, thanks to new versions created by developers in Israel and the US.

Unlike in the usual Jewish conversation, if you guess right in Wordle (it was Jeremy, right? from Mt David kindy? No? Doesn’t exist? Was it Jeremina? From Beth Rabbi?) you can broadcast your guessing abilities not just to whomever else is near you at the shul kiddush, but to the world via social media. Which may explain why a Morning Consult survey found Wordle was being played by 14 per cent of all adults in the US by January 20.

And now you can try Vertle, the new Yiddish version by Jamie Conway, which may prove particularly challenging with its 35-character alphabet.

Maybe we’ll start with the Hebrew version by Amir Livne Bar-on, whose alphabet draws on just 22 characters. It’s called Meduyeket – Hebrew for “exactly” (bonus Israeli attitude update included?).

WITH JTA

Play Vertle: jiconway.com/vertl/ Play Meduyeket: meduyeket.net/