Wordle Waste or Wonder?

Ellen knowing my daily obsession with Wordle, gave me a book for my 68th birthday - "Wordle Challenge - 500 puzzles to do anywhere, anytime".  She introduced Wordle to me a year ago after a visit with her Uncle D'Lane and Aunt Ann (Ann must be the actual player).  Her hint was that Ann (the librarian) uses the word ASILE as the first seed word.   I used that word religiously until T. H. (Vistage Vet) suggested the best seed word is TRAIN. I'm amazed that I didn't try to research this based on frequency.    

I must admit that TRAIN (followed by CLOSE) has been the most successful for me lately.  Today, I did not do particularly well as the picture shows.   However, it does reflect my strategy to just "go for it" when I have 4 of five letters and multiple word choices versus playing conservatively to uncover the most likely fifth letter. This would be an interesting statistical profiling of risk takers.

I haven't tried to read all about the optimal strategies or use Wordlebot to understand the best possible starting word.   However, an interesting mathematical article caught my attention - "The Math Behind Wordle Guesses".  

Based on this article, I may try to start with the seed word RAISE.  The article states that there are 2,309 answers in the Wordle domain.  There are other geeky questions to ponder - "Is it better to get a yellow or green reveal?" 

In a "comparisonitis" world, I must confess I did try to look up the average distribution of a Wordle player (even with cheaters) to see how I compare.  Yes, you can find anything on the internet "Average Wordle Score" (see Wordle #534 for Dec. 5, 2022).  And who believes that 2% of the 23,153 players (2,200 hard mode) guessed WOKEN on the first try?

And if that isn't enough, there is a youtube guy (with 333 plays) that guesses each of the words interactively each day that you can watch.  I feel a little better that he took 6 tries on WOKEN.  

If this is Wordle 534 of 2,309 possible words, then we are only 23% done.  If it is like my obsession playing Words with Friends with Ellen, I may only last for another 100 days.  

A fun daily puzzle that puts boundaries around wasting time :)

PS - I've decided to switch to "hard mode" (a settings toggle switch) - that requires you use a revealed letter on the next guess.  After all I want to be considered a "hard mode" player!