Overview
- This week multiple outlets reported that a Binghamton University team published a paper in April showing an entropy-based strategy solved 99% of Wordle puzzles in computer simulations.
- The method treats each guess as a source of information and uses Shannon entropy to pick words that maximize expected reduction in the set of possible answers.
- In head-to-head simulations the entropy approach reached a 99% success rate compared with about 90% for common-letter or vowel-heavy starting strategies.
- To use the strategy during live play a person must run a separate program and manually enter Wordle’s color feedback for the script to recommend the next guess.
- Authors note the work began as a class project turned peer-reviewed paper and commentators warn that fully algorithmic play could diminish the human enjoyment of the game.