Wordle is my new favorite word game. I wake up each morning eager to enter my 5-letter guesses. And in the evening, after my kids get back from school, I look forward to comparing results with them.

What has made Wordle go viral? And, what makes Boggle and Scrabble staple games in many households that are played year after year and across generations? In my household, while we play many games – from strategy games to logic games to spatial reasoning games to memory games -- the ones that we come back to the most are word games.

Why, I wondered?

One thought is that these games are simple and accessible. You don’t need to read pages and pages of rules and instructions. You just jump right in, working with 26 letters of the alphabet to create new and creative words with each game being unique in its outcomes. And, whether you are 7, 17 or 77 years old, you can still participate in the game competitively.

Also, these games spark connection and relation. Wordle has brilliantly created a quick, easy game where participants share their results on social media, creating connections across the globe and across broad groups of people.   

When you work on your next project where you are trying to create “stickiness” and “staying power,” think about what we can learn from these classic word games. Keep it simple, accessible and relationship-based. This can help to transcend time and audiences.