How Queerdle Creator Jordan Bouvier Made the Internet's Fave Game So Much Gayer

If you're a citizen of the internet, chances are you or someone you know is completely obsessed with the web-based word guessing game Wordle. What you might not know is that there's actually a version of the game called Queerdle (a.k.a the "yassification" of Wordle) that's even better because, well, it's super gay.

Queerdle is the work of Jordan Bouvier, a queer Chicago-based software architect who created the game on a whim.

"I was scrolling through Twitter and saw that someone had created a Wordle clone on Glitch called Worble. I'm a big fan of Glitch and the way it makes it easy for people to get into programming," they recall to Out. As Bouvier tells it, they were just having fun experimenting to see how the game worked and the result was Queerdle. From there, they shared it with a few friends, with no expectations that it would blow up. "I didn't think more than a few people would ever play," says Bouvier.

As in Wordle, the game begins with guessing a word -- any word -- provided in this case is seven letters long...and gay. Using color-coding, the game tells players if their letters appear in the word and if they're in the correct place. From there, players get five more chances to find the right word through simple deduction, then show off their final score for bragging rights on Twitter.

While the words tend to be a bit on the sexier side (again, gay), it's important to Bouvier that they feel inclusive for all queer players. "I've tried to select words so that there's something for everyone in the queer community," they explain. "I also try to schedule words in a sort of rotation so that over the course of a week there's some variety."

Queerdle quickly went viral on Twitter, surprising Bouvier, who's been building various creations for more than a decade but never something that received such a huge response.

"I've played around with so many things online in the past for fun and nothing has ever caught on like this. The closest was probably a 'Borg name generator' about 10 years ago or briefly a blog where I posted Photoshopped pictures of Ornacia," shares Bouvier, who's especially glad the game's helping bring some levity to those who play it. "People seem to be enjoying it though and that brings me so much joy. The highlight of my days lately has been when I get to take a little break to see what people are saying."

Bouvier is paying attention to everything players say about Queerdle. In particular, they love seeing people posting their scores, reacting to the words they selected, and, in some cases, learning new things about queer culture. Still, there have been some detractors, including the author of one "unhinged" message that really stood out to Bouvier. "There was one tweet where someone said to count my days because they had to explain a particularly NSFW word to their mother," they reveal before adding. "I'm sorry! But also not."

As for what this remixer of viral games has up their sleeve for future creations, they report not having any definitive plans -- but they do have one very intriguing idea. "Maybe something to help keep track of which of Ru's dozen new Drag Races are airing at any given time?" they propose. "I know I could use that!"

If you want to try your hand at Queerdle, head over to the game's official website to play!

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