Bill Gates is a loyal Wordle player, has these tips and tricks to share

Gates revealed that he prefers starting the game with a word containing a lot of vowels, a move that Wordle owner New York Times also recommends. He cited "AUDIO, OUNCE and ADIEU" as examples

From there, Gates said, it's a chain of logic. It is helpful to think about consonants that can be put next to each other.

"I like to look for C and H, for example, or S and L," he wrote. "Then the consonants that are almost never paired with others—like Q, V, X, and Z—really jump out," he added.

While cracking the "word of the day", players often encounter a frustrating  situation where they have four of the five words. You get "IGHT", but is the solution "RIGHT, TIGHT, FIGHT or SIGHT"?

In such situations, getting it right is only a matter of luck, Gates said.

To get to obscure solutions, a good reading appetite helps, as Gates' experience shows.

"I remember one that was SMITE, a word I only know because I read the Bible," he wrote. "I got DUCHY once because I’ve read a lot of English literature."

Gates said he usually solves Wordle in four to five tries, adding that he is better at its spinoff Nerdle --where players need to solve math equations.

Wordle was created by British software engineer Josh Wardle for his word game-loving partner. It initially remained within the family but in October 2021, Wardle decided to make it available to the rest of the world.

From there, it became a global phenomenon. Its popularity was such that The New York Times thought best to add it to its valued brand. It acquired the game from Wardle for an undisclosed sum in January.

"The game has done what so few games have done -- it has captured our collective imagination and brought us all a little closer together," Jonathan Knight, general manager of New York Times Games, had said in a statement after the deal.

Wordle has inspired spinoffs like Quordle and Octordle.