I have always loved word games. Yes, I’m a proud nerd. I have enjoyed Scrabble since childhood and would play with family [until we would all get tired of waiting for my uber competitive mom take over 20 minutes trying to maximize the points on the board]. I remember for my 9th birthday my Mamoon [mom’s brother] sent me a card from Pakistan that was filled with puzzles and mazes and activities because he knew I enjoyed them. That same uncle also bought me an Usborne book when we went to Pakistan of brain teasers and puzzles that I was obsessed with. And I have always loved Lego and building whatever I can. I’m even one of those weird people who actually sort of enjoys putting together IKEA furniture [most of the time].

So when I was first introduced to Wordle I was incredibly excited for a new game, especially since I don’t really have anyone to play Scrabble with and crossword puzzles take too much time. The funny thing is, it was my husband who heard of Wordle once it started getting popular during lockdown. I had no idea it existed or how popular it was. But once I figured out how to play I was hooked and I’ve played hundreds of games since then, trying to squeeze it in daily. I always worried that Wordle would be monetized once it was bought by the New York Times and thankfully, it’s still free. I recently read though that through Wordle, they’ve made a ton of money by signing up subscribers to their other games. I held out for awhile and never tried anything except Worldle, although I was tempted. But then recently when we were visiting family for a few weeks and I had a lot more time than usual, I decied to try Spelling Bee, which I enjoyed even more fun than Wordle. Frustratingly, I would get to a certain level and then would be locked out unless I paid. I stubbornly held out until they offered me an all-access subscription for $2 Canadian a month. Even for a cheap cost conscious person like myself, that was too good to pass up and suddenly I was playing Spelling Bee throughout the day. The nice thing is, I play for a few minutes at a time and I find that I’m barely scrolling on social media or reading pointless articles now [I really do not need to know what the British tabloids said about Trudeau’s marriage].

Most days, to my excitement, I usually am able to reach Genius, although there are some days where I have to settle for Amazing [if only it was that easy to acheive that in real life!]. I’m still bitter about one of the panagrams last week being ANKLEBONE. Nearly two weeks in, it’s not as exciting for me at it first was but I’m still playing and enjoying it daily and my five year old loves it too and it’s helping her practice spelling so that’s a win-win in my opinion.

Just like I’m writing more again [yay!], it’s nice to get back to puzzles and other things I enjoy. As much as I love art, I find that when I have other interests as well I’m more excited when I do sit down to create, rather than feeling pressured or it it being my only outlet. That said, I don’t know if I’ll ever be Queen Bee [which is when you get every single possible word] and I’ll definitely never wake up at 3 am just to play Spelling Bee like some hardcore fans apparently do.