Can You Play Old Wordles? Archives & Past Puzzles

It’s honestly quite impressive how quickly Wordle has conquered the word games landscape. In less than a year, it’s gone from a player count in the double digits to millions. Wordle is a free-to-play word game where players are given six tries to guess a daily mystery word. It’s become part of many a morning routine, but as of now, only one puzzle is available each day via the official site. Is it possible to play old or archived Wordle puzzles?

Can You Play Old Wordles?

Yes … and No.

In the past, there have been unofficial sources that allowed players to access older puzzles. But, several of them, including one developed by Devang Thakkar and one developed by Noah Metzger, has been taken down at the request of The New York Times, who now own the rights to Wordle.

However — it is still technically possible to play previous days’ puzzles if you’re willing to use alternative methods. As of writing, the following options are tested and proven to be working. If you try one option and it is no longer working, it’s possible that it has joined the aforementioned sites that have been taken down by the rights holders.

Option #1 — Unofficial Wordle Archive by Taq Karim

This unofficial Wordle archive allows players to input a specific date and play that day’s puzzle. It appears to work great, though the developer makes a note on the home page that throws its long-term existence into question.

“If Wordle ever changes their implementation of how the answer logic works…which TBH I think they probably will, this tool will break,” Karim writes.

Option #2 — Using the Wayback Machine

If you use the trusty Internet Wayback Machine, you can access Wordle puzzles as far back as October 15, 2021. If this is the option you prefer, you’ll have to feed the original Wordle web address into the Wayback Machine. It should be noted that if you visit that web address without inputting it into the Wayback Machine, it’ll auto-redirect to the official Wordle homepage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a Wordle Archive?

There is not an official Wordle Archive. There used to be two examples of unofficial archives, but they have been taken down at the request of the new rightsholders of Wordle, The New York Times.

“It has been a fun three months since I launched this archive and it brought joy to a lot of us but all good things must end,” wrote Devang Thakkar, on the home page for their unofficial Wordle Archive. “The New York Times has requested that I shut the archive down – to be honest, I was wondering what took them so long.”

Wordle was purchased from creator Josh Wardle in late-January 2022. It was bought for a price “in the low seven figures,” as was reported by The New York Times. The company claimed the game would remain free “initially” to new and returning players.