{{Short description|Welsh game developer}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Josh Wardle | birth_date = {{Birth based on age as of date|43|2026|3|30}} | education = Royal Holloway, University of London <br>University of Oregon (MFA) | occupation = Software engineer, artist, product manager | known_for = Wordle, r/place | website = {{URL|powerlanguage.co.uk}} }}
'''Josh Wardle''' (born 1982 or 1983<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k3vz48qq7o |title='I haven't played Wordle since the day I sold it' says game's Welsh creator |last=Shone-Adams |first=Amelia |date=30 March 2026 |access-date=31 March 2026 |work=BBC News}}</ref>) is a Welsh software engineer best known for developing the viral web-based word game ''Wordle'' and the collaborative experimental project r/place for Reddit. In January 2022, the New York Times Company acquired ''Wordle'' from Wardle for a seven-figure sum.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Tracy |first=Marc |date=2022-01-31 |title=The New York Times Buys Wordle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/business/media/new-york-times-wordle.html |access-date=2022-03-02 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He lives in Brooklyn, New York City.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|title=Josh Wardle - Artist, Product Manager, Engineer|url=https://powerlanguage.co.uk/|access-date=2022-02-05|website=powerlanguage.co.uk}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite news|last=Victor|first=Daniel|date=2022-01-03|title=Wordle Is a Love Story|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/technology/wordle-word-game-creator.html|access-date=2022-02-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Wardle was named one of ''Time''{{'s}} 100 Most Influential People of the year in 2022.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2022-05-23 |title=Josh Wardle: The 100 Most Influential People of 2022 |url=https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2022/6177816/josh-wardle/ |access-date=2025-05-15 |magazine=Time |language=en }}{{Dead link|date=March 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
== Early life and education == Wardle is from South Wales, and he was brought up on an organic livestock farm in Llanddewi Rhydderch near Abergavenny.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-man-behind-hugely-popular-22724062|title=The Welsh software engineer who created Wordle for his partner|first=Jonathon|last=Hill|date=12 January 2022|website=WalesOnline}}</ref><ref name="guardian-incredible" /><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Bannerman|first1=Lucy|last2=Pavia|first2=Will|date=2 February 2022|title=$1m inventor has Wordle at his feet|newspaper=The Times|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/1m-inventor-has-wordle-at-his-feet-75dsld3kl|access-date=2022-02-06|issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite magazine|title=How Wordle's Creator Feels About Selling His Viral Game|url=https://time.com/6143715/wordle-sale-josh-wardle-interview/|access-date=2022-02-05|magazine=Time|language=en|archive-date=25 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225114602/https://time.com/6143715/wordle-sale-josh-wardle-interview/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
He attended university at Royal Holloway, University of London, and earned a degree in Media Arts.<ref name="guardian-incredible">{{cite web|date=2022-02-01|title='Incredible': from Wordle's Welsh beginnings to the New York Times|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/feb/01/incredible-wordles-welsh-beginnings-to-the-new-york-times|access-date=2022-02-05|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> A few years later, he moved to the United States to attend the University of Oregon, where he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Art.<ref name=":1" />
He has three brothers, one of whom is documentary filmmaker Tim Wardle, director of the 2018 film ''Three Identical Strangers''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Carey|first=Matthew|date=2019-08-08|title='Three Identical Strangers' Director Tim Wardle On His Emmy-Nominated Doc, And Status Of Scripted Version: "It's In Development"|url=https://deadline.com/2019/08/three-identical-strangers-director-tim-wardle-on-his-emmy-nominated-doc-and-status-of-scripted-version-its-in-development-1202664572/|access-date=2022-02-06|website=Deadline|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Wardle|first=Tim|date=3 January 2022|title=@ttwardle Fun seeing my brother's #Wordle game blow up. Ironically, he decided NOT to do all the things you're supposed to do to make a viral hit- like allowing people to play for hours or putting a hyperlink in the sharing function. It works because it's atypical.|url=https://twitter.com/ttwardle/status/1477946754939166722|access-date=2022-02-06|website=Twitter|language=en}}</ref>
== Career == === Reddit and Pinterest === After completing graduate school, Wardle moved to Oakland, California, and began working as an artist at Reddit in 2011. He later became one of Reddit's first product managers and served in this position on the community engineering team. As a community engineering product manager, he created popular collaborative experimental projects such as The Button in 2015 and r/place in 2017.<ref name=":2" />
He left Reddit for almost two years to work as a software engineer at Pinterest, before returning to Reddit also as a software engineer.<ref name="li">{{cite web|title=Josh Wardle |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshwardle/|website=LinkedIn}}</ref>
=== ''Wordle'' === {{Main|Wordle}} In 2013, Wardle made a prototype of the word game ''Wordle'', a play on his last name.<ref name="auto" /> Wardle's initial name for the game was ''Mr. Bugs' Wordy Nugz.''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peters |first=Jay |date=2024-06-26 |title=You will never guess Wordle's terrible, hilarious original name |url=https://www.theverge.com/24186786/wordle-original-name-mr-bugs-wordy-nugz-wardle |access-date=2024-09-28 |website=The Verge |language=en}}</ref>
In January 2021, he returned to his 2013 prototype to create a word game for his partner, Palak Shah. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he and Shah had played many ''New York Times'' games including Spelling Bee, and he wanted to make a new word game that they could play together. Shah played a vital role in the game's development before it went public. She reviewed the 12,000 five-letter words in the English language and narrowed them down to 2,500 commonly-known words that could be used in the daily puzzle.<ref name="auto" />
From January to June 2021, Wardle and Shah played the game in secret.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Statt |first=Nick |title=GDC 2022: Wordle creator Josh Wardle on his game's success |url=https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/josh-wardle-wordle-gdc-2022 |access-date=2023-01-21 |website=Protocol |language=en |archive-date=10 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610223844/https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/josh-wardle-wordle-gdc-2022 |url-status=dead }}</ref> First, Wardle shared the game with his family members before posting it on his website and making it widely available in October 2021.<ref name=":1" /> The game had 90 players by 1 November 2021, within a month of Wardle making it public. One month later the game had 300,000 daily players, which rose to two million by the following week.<ref>{{cite web|title=Infographic: Wordle: Much Ado About Nothing?|url=https://www.statista.com/chart/26667/usage-of-wordle-and-other-online-games-in-the-us/|access-date=2022-02-06|website=Statista Infographics|date=24 January 2022 |language=en}}</ref> ''Wordle'' had no advertisements and Wardle's goal was not to make money. Despite ''Wordle''<nowiki/>'s success, Wardle did not want operating the game to become his full-time job.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |date=12 January 2022 |title=A conversation with Josh Wardle, creator of viral hit Wordle |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/12/josh-wardle-interview-wordle/ |access-date=2022-02-05 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}}</ref>
In January 2022, The New York Times Company announced that it had acquired ''Wordle'' "for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures."<ref name=":0" />
=== After ''Wordle'' === From December 2021 to May 2023, Wardle worked as a software engineer at Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF.<ref name="li"></ref><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pietsch |first=Bryan |date=2021-03-28 |title=Nike Sues Over Unauthorized 'Satan Shoes' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/28/style/nike-satan-shoes-lil-Nas-x.html |access-date=2022-02-06 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Yotka |first=Steff |date=2 February 2022 |title=Obsessed with Wordle? The Founder Now Works In Fashion—Kind Of |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/wordle-josh-wardle-mschf |access-date=15 February 2024 |website=Vogue |language=en-US}}</ref> Since May 2023, Wardle has worked as a freelance creative consultant and game designer through his company Powerlanguage.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Josh Wardle {{!}} LinkedIn |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshwardle/ |website=LinkedIn}}</ref> In July 2024, he gave a presentation at the Figma Config conference that introduced him as an artist and software engineer at Gremco Industries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Config 2024 {{!}} Session Details |url=https://figma-2.bigmarker.com/agenda/session?session_id=d418949a2beb&lang=en |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=config.figma.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMhcL2yL7RI |title=Config 2024: Opting for the opposite (Josh Wardle, Gremco Industries, Creator of Wordle) {{!}} Figma |date=2024-07-11 |last=Figma |access-date=2025-05-15 |via=YouTube}}</ref>
In 2026, Wardle released a new game called ''Parseword'' based on cryptic crosswords. He described the game as a "gradual on-ramp" for those new to them.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/mar/12/parseword-wordle-creator-new-game-cryptic-crossword |title=Parseword: Is Wordle creator's new game too much of a 'chin-scratcher' to go viral? |last=Hill |first=Amelia |date=12 March 2026 |access-date=18 March 2026 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/891999/wordle-creator-parseword-cryptic-crossword |title=Wordle's creator is back with a game that aims to ease players into cryptic crosswords |last=Webster |first=Andrew |date=10 March 2026 |access-date=18 March 2026 |work=The Verge}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/wordle-creator-launches-new-puzzle-game-parseword-3933905 |title='Wordle' creator launches new puzzle game 'Parseword' |last=Shutler |first=Ali |date=11 March 2026 |access-date=18 March 2026 |magazine=NME}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardle, Josh}} Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Category:University of Oregon alumni Category:British software engineers Category:1980s births Category:Reddit people Category:21st-century Welsh engineers