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Sports enthusiasts are having a field day with sports-themed Wordle spin-offs, but they all have Poeltl to thank for it.
Poeltl is a Wordle and NBA-inspired game that set the blueprint for its successors. The title of the game was chosen to honor San Antonio Spurs star Jakob Poeltl.
When creator Gabe Danon tweeted about the game to his 328 followers on February 25, he thought:
"These weird clones are so played out at this point. Nobody’s going to really care about it.”
Danon never imagined that his creation would amass 240,000 visitors just a day later.
The NBA variation of Wordle follows in the footsteps of other game versions for major American sports.
Weddle (named after former NFL safety Eric Weddle) is available for NFL fans. WARdle (WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement) is meant for MLB fans. Meanwhile, Gordle (in honor of Hockey Hall of Famer Gordie Howe) was made for NHL fans.
Guide to playing Poeltl
Poeltl is inspired by the New York Times-owned original and follows a similar pattern.
Players get eight attempts to guess the identity of an NBA player. The first guess is purely speculative. If players are unable to name players off the top of their heads, they can select a name from the game's drop-down list.
After the initial guess is entered, the game will display the player's team, conference, division, position, height, age, and jersey number.
In line with Wordle's design, the right answers, or "matches," are highlighted in green, while yellow signifies that the user is getting close to the correct answer.
Poeltl's 'How to Play' section reads:
"Yellow in the team column indicates the mystery player at one point played for this team, but does not currently. Yellow in the position column indicates a partial match to the mystery player's position. Yellow in any other column indicates this attribute is within 2 (inches, years, numbers) of the mystery player."
The game also offers a handy feature that shows players the silhouette of the mystery player's headshot.
The feature has received mixed feedback. Some users were grateful for it, while others were unhappy with how easy it makes the game.
On the whole, Poeltl has raked in quite a number of rave reviews. Danon shared:
“The response has been so positive. Everyone seems to be having so much fun with it, and they're like, ‘This is like the best time. Finally, one of these that are for me’ — like that kind of thing. And so that's just been really gratifying to see.”
Danon used to be a producer for a comedy NBA and WNBA podcast called Dunktown. The podcast aired its last episode on March 23.
Danon commented on how his primary goal for the game after it went viral was to direct more people to the podcast, saying:
“For some reason, having the ability to code an application to me means that I should be doing the dumbest stuff with it. So it's not something I set out to monetize. If people like it and they're waiting a day for the next one to come up, they should check out our podcast because it's funny and we try to put a lot of work into its production.”
Danon was overjoyed at the positive response Poeltl received, stating that he knew the importance of having diversions like this in today's trying times.
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