Popular word guessing gameWordlehas attained the sort of fame only previously achieved by major mobile outings likeWords with FriendsorPokemon GO. From humble beginnings in November 2021, the game’s player base has grown exponentially, and players are eager as ever to share their results and discuss their strategies. However, YouTuber Squirrel Monkey imagines a version ofWordledivorced from the facets of modern gaming, created during a time in which computer access was rare and mobile gaming was totally unheard of.
In a YouTube video titled “If Wordle Existed in the 1980s…,” Squirrel Monkey offers an explanation of how the popular game is played while parodying the overtly blunt and often ludicrously corny instructional videos of the day. Featuring authentic VHS warble and muffled VO recorded in an echoey room, it’s hard to believe that the video was produced in the modern day. Plus, the video highlights an MS-DoS stylized recreation ofWordlethat’s so strikingly genuine it would make the developer ofthe recently-releasedBloodbornePSX demakeblush.
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Part of the video’s charm comes from the hilariously out-of-touch words chosen by the presenters. Painstakingly hammering in guesses like “carom” and “xylan” on what might be a yellow-tinged IBM Model M keyboard, the video inadvertently offers a glimpse at how difficultWordlemight be were players left to their own devices sans perhaps a dictionary. Were the five-dollar words seen here to actually appear in a real game, players who believeWordleto have become more pretentious since its recent acquisition byThe New York Timeswould certainly be up in arms.
The second half of the video imagines whatWordle’s social features may have looked like were it developed during a time in which less than ten percent of US residents owned a home computer. Rather than sharing results online, this MS-DoS version ofWordleasked players to print their results and display them in the real world. It’s a far cry from the comparatively hyper-advanced tech of 2022 which allowed one savvy Reddit user tosolveWordlepuzzles with a Raspberry Pi board and a 3D printer.
Squirrel Monkey has a suite of interesting videos which reimagine popular modern apps and programs in retro contexts. From a demake ofAmong Uscontained on a 3.5 floppy disc to a strange iteration of Zoom decades before online video chat was possible, Squirrel Monkey’s videos, as advertised, feel as if they come from a parallel universe. Of course,cryptocurrency mining was apparently feasible on the Commodore 64, so who is to say that these retro redesigns are all that far removed from reality?
