Wordle-inspired 'Waffle' game invented last year in Portsmouth played by more than 13 million people

James Robinson, 37 from Drayton, Portsmouth came up with the idea for Waffle - a Wordle inspired daily puzzle, while doing the washing up. The name came about when he showed a diagram of his idea to his wife who immediately noted it’s shape was similar to the popular foodstuff. James’ game has now reached such heights of ubiquity that it is currently the first result returned when the word ‘waffle’ is entered into Google.

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James said: ‘I was doing the washing up and I was just thinking about different word games and how I could create something. I liked the idea of creating a daily game because it gives something people to look forward to every day and to have something small they can fit into their routines.

‘I’m always writing down ideas but I’d never actually finished one. This one I managed to keep as simple as possible and that allowed me to finish it. I tried with four letter words to begin with and that didn’t really work so I changed it to five letter words - which gave me these gaps in the middle. I showed it to my wife - a little sketch of it in my book - and she said it looked like a waffle straight away.’

The free online game shows challenges the player to arrange letters in a grid where each column and row combine to spell individual words. It has been played by roughly 13 million people since its launch in February 2022. Looking at user statistics, James was surprised to learn the game is particularly popular in Sheffield. Money made through adverts and user donations has meant it is still free to play.

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James added: ‘The other day we had our record number of players which was 474,000 in one day. When I put out a message, I have to think that I’m standing in front of 400,000-odd people.’

James, who works for a software company, said the experience has inspired him to bring more of his creative ideas to life.