Wordle creator says plan is to stay free, and ad-free
"I don't understand why something can't just be fun."
The creator of viral word hit Wordle has said he intends to keep the engrossing daily puzzler free - and free of obtrusive advertising.
Wordle captured the attention of the internet over the Christmas holidays, and now my Twitter feed is a constant stream of people sharing their scores.
But with great popularity comes the potential to make great money.
Thankfully, Wordle creator Josh Wardle has told BBC Radio 4 that he intends for the game to remain ad-free, and available to all without paying a penny.
"I don't understand why something can't just be fun," Wardle said. "I don't have to charge people money for this and ideally would like to keep it that way."
Wordle currently exists as a simple web game, leading some to wonder whether a traditional mobile app-based experience may be on the way. That too sounds unlikely.
"I am a bit suspicious of mobile apps that demand your attention and send you push notifications to get more of your attention," Wardle continued. "I like the idea of doing the opposite of that - what about a game that deliberately doesn't want much of your attention?
"Wordle is very simple and you can play it in three minutes, and that is all you get. There are also no ads and I am not doing anything with your data, and that is also quite deliberate."
Wordle asks all players to guess a five letter word every day. The word is the same for everyone, so the fun comes in trying to guess it with as few guesses as possible.
Correctly guessed letters will be coloured yellow, with correct letters in the correct position coloured green. (But beware repeated letters, which frequently trip me up - looking at you, "TRUSS".)
If you're yet to give it a go, Wordle is the place to go.
"I am a sucker for a game where you make something as a byproduct of playing. That grid: I want to know what it is, I want to understand it," Donlan wrote this morning, chiming in with his own love letter to Wordle. "I want to be able to read it, I want to know what my own Wordle results will look like - all of that ties into the compulsion, I suspect."