The New York Times’ version of Wordle launched Thursday, but just like most big video game launches these days, it’s been messy. While there have been reports of a few different issues, perhaps the most egregious was that some win streaks weren’t carried over from the old Wordle URLs to the Wordle URL on the Times, despite what was promised after the Times announced it was buying the popular word puzzle from creator Josh Wardle. We asked the Times what’s been going on, and spokesperson Jordan Cohen shared details about how it has been fixing things.
Shortly after Thursday’s launch, the Times identified a problem affecting users’ current streak information. “For these users, their Current Streak was being reset to one after successfully completing Thursday’s Wordle following the redirect,” Cohen wrote in an email to The Verge. He said the Times deployed a fix around 7PM ET on Thursday. “We confirmed this solution is working for users who visited The New York Times’s Wordle page after the fix was released; i.e., their Current Streak was not being reset to one.”
That wasn’t the only problem, though. “We then shifted our focus to addressing the Current Streak reset issue for users who visited Wordle between 2:30 p.m. E.T. and 7 p.m. E.T,” Cohen said. “Later that evening, we released a fix that addressed this set of users, and confirmed that it worked for users in that state. This fix does require that users successfully complete Friday’s Wordle. It may also require them to refresh their browser.”
As of Friday, the Times believes “stats and streaks should be carried over for the vast majority” of players, according to Cohen, but he did note that “we are seeing some reports of users continuing to have issues, and are investigating and engaging with these users.”
Cohen also noted that your stats are stored in local storage on your devices — the Times doesn’t have them. “This data was not stored by Josh Wardle, and is not stored by The New York Times,” he said. “The data exists in local storage on the user’s device, associated with the browser they use to play the game, and the URL at which they play the game.”
If you are still having problems with your stats and streaks, Cohen offered a few tips (emphasis his):
In order to preserve stats and streaks, it is necessary for users to first open the old URL last used to play Wordle. This will automatically redirect them to The New York Times Wordle page, carrying their stats and streaks with them. If users go directly to The New York Times Wordle page without a redirect, their stats and streaks will not go with them.
For users who are not seeing the stats and streaks they expect, the first things to try are:
Make sure you are using the same device and browser you normally use to play Wordle.
Go to the original URL you used to play Wordle, and you will be redirected.
There are a couple of additional issues that users have run into as well. Some Wordle users reported being stuck on a blank page after being redirected to the Times’ Wordle page, and the Times has reached out to people who emailed [email protected] with troubleshooting steps. “We are seeing promising results,” Cohen said.
He added that some Wordle players may experience a repeat of the same puzzle on Friday after they’ve already solved it. Solving the same puzzle again won’t “meaningfully affect [users’] streaks,” according to Cohen, but may give you an extra “solve” for free.
If you’re still experiencing problems, it might be best to contact the Times directly. It does seem intent on getting the problems solved — after all, there’s nothing quite as intimidating as strongly worded emails from annoyed word puzzle players.
